CD Review: Glenn Crytzer Orchestra - Ain't it Grand?

(Review by Lance).

We're back in 'The Swing Era', that gorgeous period twixt Dixieland and bebop when big bands ruled the roost. To draw another parallel, and one closer to home, none of the tracks would sound out of place if performed at Mike Durham's Classic Jazz Party held annually just outside of Whitley Bay. In fact, at least one of the musicians has indeed played there - trombonist Jim Fryer.

Jazz historian Will Friedwald, who wrote the accompanying blurb, prefers to think of them as, "not so much recreations but rather reimaginings".  A pretty fair description, although A String of Pearls doesn't sound that much different from the original Miller version even down to the solos. But then again, who's going to improve on the original Bobby Hackett chorus?

Thirteen of the thirty tracks are originals by Crytzer and he has captured the mood of the era so well that I was never sure which was which. And Crytzer's a man still in his mid-thirties!

I'm unable to identify the soloists, suffice to say they are all well-versed in the idiom. Booting tenor,  wailing alto, Artie/Benny clarinet, screaming trumpet, growl trumpet, blistering trombone, mellow trombone, romantic crooning, comic vocals. Music to listen to or dance to.

If you're old enough it's nostalgic, if you're young enough and haven't been media brainwashed, it's a voyage of discovery!

Lance

Buy/sample - Amazon.

Glenn Crytzer (guitar/banjo/MD/arranger); Sam Hoyt, Mike Davis, Jason Prover (trumpets); Rob Edwards, Joe McDonough, Jim Fryer (trombones); Mark Loperman, Marc Schwartz, Matt Koza, Henry 'Ricky' Alexander (reeds); Rob Reich (piano); Ian Hutchison (bass); Andrew Millar (drums); Hannah Gill, Dandy Wellington (vocals).