Album review: Richard Baratta - Looking Back (Savant Records)

Richard Baratta (drums); Bill O'Connell (piano, arr.); Vincent Herring (alto sax, flute); Paul Bollenback (guitar); Michael Goetz (bass); Paul Rossman (percussion) + Caroll Scott (vocal on tk 5)

Looking back is a common approach amongst the mainstream core of jazz musicians. Of course  some look back further than others, often going as far back as the days when it all began. Others draw their repertoire from the 1930s, '40s and '50s - the years that spawned those GASbook classics that began life on Broadway or in Hollywood.

Although Richard Baratta has connections with the silver screen, like so many of his contemporaries in the jazz world of today, Baratta's retrovision only goes as far back as the pop and rock songs of the 1960s. That's okay, some good songs emerged as witness the ten tracks here.

James Brown's I Feel Good opens the album with a Latinish feel to it. Herring's alto soaring above the compulsive rhythm culminating with Baratta's break.

Mention Purple Haze and Jimi Hendrix springs to mind. Bill O'Connell's guitar solo points it in a different direction where Herring again excels over an uptempo swing.

Blowing in the Wind has appeared in many guises since Bob Dylan unleashed it on the world. Somewhere along the way Stan Getz brought it to the jazz table where Bill O'Connell picked it up and transformed it into the minor masterpiece it is here.

Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds, one of two Lennon and McCartney compositions, is another fine arrangement. It swings like a carnival in Brazil. The two Beatles may not have intended it to be played as such but it is to their credit that they provided O'Connell with the tools to sculpt a work of art.

Feeling Good, features Scott's deep throaty voice that sits well alongside the alto, guitar and piano solos.

California Dreamin', inspired by the flute solo on the original hit by the Mamaa and Papas, Herring does the fluting effectively and there's some fine west coast guitar and, of course, Baratta and Rossman taking it even further south.

Whole Lotta Love, from the Led Zep squad Page, Plant, Jones and Bonham, has a whole lot of drummin' with the others hovering in and out.

Hey Jude, the second Beatles tune, is surprisingly delightful. It's more subtle than the original. It also has a band vocal - you know the one lots of na na na nana nanas. The song, as we all know, began in Liverpool although more recently the Toon Army seem to have adopted it. As they are at Anfield tonight it will be interesting to hear if they are still singing after 90 minutes!

Otis Redding's Respect swings like crazy with Herring in full flight and the others breathing down his neck.

You Can't Always Get What You Want by those troubadours of rock and roll - Jagger and Richard - brings the album to a close. It's been one rollercoaster ride that proves that good songs didn't end with Rodgers and Hammerstein and nor did jazz die with John Coltrane. Check it out, you won't be disappointed. Lance