I speak little German so
the language of music has to resemble the
universal language of love where one doesn’t
sacrifice brain cells trying to read or translate
whilst involved in something that should be
entirely pleasurable!
Initially I was taken aback
by "the new words" (German) on track
1 replacing the "Old Words" in "You
are my Lucky Star". But once I’d got
over the shock of the guttural elements of
a language, that unlike Italian, Spanish,
French and American-English seems to lean
toward the Fitness Suite as opposed to the
Romantic Lounge, it was turning into a nice
sound.
Unfortunately when I had
just musically naturalised and had begun on
easy listening, a horrendous, "bib-and-breeches-
curly-feather -in-hat" track which developed
into a "multi lingual, jovial, bum-slapping"
event stomped into my headset!
At this point most jazz fans
would either consign this CD to a jumble sale
where the donor could remain anonymous, or
send it rattling into the waste-bin.
But I subverted my aural
facilities by concentrating on my computer’s
elegant graphic display and was rewarded by
track 5,
"Es war einmal eine
Liebe" which is a true, well-honed German
Evergreen, followed by
"Mackie Messer"
(Mac the Knife)
In track 9 there was a very
nice sax solo but this homogeneous band sound
was beginning to grow too schmalz for comfort.
The band is superbly accurate;
the timing, the tuning one could not criticise.
The vocals are equally well delivered, but
the overall effect is a magnificent version
of "Come Dancing" tinged with "Sing
Along".
There is no way one can condemn
this CD, - it’s good value with 19 tracks
delivering nearly one hour’s playing time.
As a Tea Dance Special it
is beyond reproach and I felt my feet twitch
into quicksteps and foxtrots as I sat in my
chair.
It is a top quality Dance/Swing,
but Jazz it is not.
And some of the ‘jolly’ tracks
verge on being just too embarrassingly jolly
by half.
Adrienne Fox
CD Reviews
cpo 777 357-2
