I was going to type "this is fun" which indeed it is - very much so. However, it is also much more - very much more.
The title gives the game away. Six hot shots from Frisco's Bay Area attempting to improve what can't be improved. In this case the classic jazz of the 1940s, 1950s and 1960s. A dozen tracks inspired by tunes that have become modern jazz standards with short solos that stay with you the way they did back then. No marathon choruses with plenty of notes and little else here we have melody, lyricism and lots of feeling.
Greerin' Out, Snow Day and Shreddin' are bebop pure and simple - think Groovin' High, Ornithology and the like and you've got the idea. Manny Manhatten is a happy cat whilst Basie Boy is self explanatory and features Will Shannon's sole appearance on the album. He doesn't so much as blow up a storm, rather more of a pleasing and cooling breeze.
Weenie Martini features Wong and Schulz. A catchy piece of nothing that turns out to be a chunk of something. Not unlike the old Garland/Rooney fave Our Love Affair. I'm not sure who Dear Sammy refers to but Jekabson's trumpet pays emotional tribute to him/her as does Schultz. Schmaltz Waltz is just that.
Orthopedic Hell has bossman Belson walking the bass beneath the minor keyed theme and the solos from the soloists which means everybody. All Blues springs to mind. 35 seconds of Odie-O (Scribble Dogs Theme Song) flashes past so fast there wasn't time to give the dog an apostrophe!
Big Business has a nice easy bounce to it, whilst Mighty Joe gets his bass bow out of hock for some beautiful arcology on Starry Night.
The Doodle Cats may not have reinvented the wheel but they certainly didn't buckle it! Available from Oct. 17. Lance
Greerin' Out; Manny Manhatten; Basie Boy; Weenie Martini; Dear Sammy; Schmaltz Waltz; Orthopedic Hell; Odie-O (Scribble Dogs Theme Song); Big Business; Starry Night; Snow Day; Shreddin'
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