1. Box 703, Washington DC
2. Griff's Groove
3. Volcano
4. Love Which to no Loved One Permits Excuse for Loving
5. Now Hear My Meanin'
6. And Thence We Issued Out Again to see the Stars
7. Rue Chaptal
8. I Don't Want Nothin' from Noboby and I Ain't Giving Nothin' Away
9. Sax No End
10. You Stepped out of a Dream
11. The Minor Blues
12. The Girl and the Turk
13. Kenny and Kenny
Benny Bailey, Idrees Sulieman, Dusko Goykovich, Tony Fisher - Trumpets
Åke Persson, Nat Peck, Eric van Lier - Trombones
Derek Humble - Alto sax
Johnny Griffin, Ronnie Scott - Tenor saxes
Tony Coe - Tenor sax, clarinet
Sahib Shihab - Baritone sax, soprano sax
Francy Boland - Piano
Ron Mathewson - Bass
Kenny Clarke, Kenny Clare - Drums
The Kenny Clarke/Francy Boland Big Band was unusual in several respects.
Its members came from a variety of countries: not only France, the
USA and Britain but also Sweden (Åke Persson), Russia (Idrees
Sulieman) and Yugoslavia (Dusko Goykovich) And Francy Boland was a
Belgian pianist who had played and arranged for bands in France, Germany,
Italy and America.
So the band was a sort of United Nations in jazz. It was also unusual in that Francy's arrangements allowed the soloists plenty of space. Too many big bands have the habit of backing most solos with section work, which tends to obscure what the soloist is doing. On this CD, tenorist Johnny Griffin is allowed to fly freely in Griff's Groove, backed only by the rhythm section.
Perhaps the strangest thing about the band was that it had two drummers. This often made their performances very rousing but also very noisy. When Jiggs Whigham sat in with the band, he commented "Funny band: no dynamics!" Nat Peck replied: "Yes there are. One is loud, the other is louder". The presence of two drummers has its effect on several tracks. They are too busy in Box 703, Washington DC, filling every gap and sometimes tumbling over one another. On the other hand, their dual solos on Volcano and Kenny and Kenny are very exhilarating.
One of the British members of the band in the late 1960s was Ronnie Scott, and the recordings on this album were made at his London club in February 1969 and originally issued on two albums - Volcano and Rue Chaptal. Francy Boland wrote eight of the 13 numbers but he is content to stay mostly in the background, so that the piano is seldom prominent. However, he gets to introduce and play a solo on The Girl and the Turk, a comparatively gentle waltz which unexpectedly turns into a march featuring Benny Bailey's forthright trumpet.
Other soloists who are featured prominently include three Brits: altoist Derek Humble (excellent on Now Hear My Meanin'), tenorist Ronnie Scott, and Tony Coe (playing clarinet as well as tenor sax). Other star soloists are trumpeter Idrees Sulieman (sparkling in Box 7003) and Sahib Shihab (impressive on baritone sax in I Don't Want Nothin' from Nobody and on soprano sax in The Minor Blues).
The Clarke/Boland Band existed throughout the 1960s but disbanded in the early 1970s, so it is good to have this recording which preserves the excitement of them working before an appreciative audience.
Tony Augarde
CD Reviews
Rearward RW 138 CD
