A delightful CD that takes me back to those days when Swing ruled and the music was aimed as much at your feet and your heart as opposed to later jazz which was more cerebral directed. Nothing wrong with either approach. Music must reach out to all of our senses and this one does just that.
Gamble is a bassist - Robert Moog once lived next door to him although you'd never have guessed from this CD!
It's an album that recreates rather than reinvents classic moments of the Swing Era. Time-Life did a more imaginative vinyl project 20/30 - maybe more - years ago using top studio guys some of whom had been on the originals. Which prompts the question - in either case - why?
The clarinet apes Benny and Artie, tenor sounds like Bud or Boomie, guitar sounds like Christian.. Laurie Windley could almost be mistaken for Billie in a blindfold test - almost!
Like the earlier Time-Life compilation, Organic Records claim that the superior recording techniques make this a viable alternative to the originals. "Recorded with modern engineering techniques, the music speaks for itself with a clarity that patrons of ballrooms like the Savoy, the Alhambra, the Cotton Club and the Palomar could only enjoy live."
Maybe.
Gamble runs Lindy Focus in Asheville, NC, The largest festival of swing and dance music in the USA. The annual five-day shindig features swing bands and dancers and it may be to this latter group that this CD is aimed at. It certainly had me Lindyhopping as I listened - the plaster comes off next week!
Forget the originals - as if! No, instead, just treat this as carrying the torch of yesterday to tomorrow.
Lance.CD Release August 12 on Organic Records.
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