A Nightingale Sang In Berkeley Square
In The Still of the Night
It Happens Quietly
I'm Glad There Is You
A Love Like Ours
My Foolish Heart
Make Someone Happy
Blame It On My Youth
Ill Wind
At Last
The Man
The Folks Who Live On The Hill
Personnel: Jacqui Dankworth: vocals; Henry Lowther: trumpet; Barnaby Dickenson: trombone; Dave Laurance: French horn; John Dankworth: alto saxophone; Tim Garland: soprano saxophone, tenor saxophone; Jimmy Hastings: flute, bass clarinet; Karen Sharp: tenor saxophone, bass clarinet; Malcolm Edmonstone: piano; Chris Allard: guitar; Alec Dankworth: bass; Andrew Bain: drums; Sally Herbert: violin; Everton Nelson: violin; Francis Dewar: violin; Alison Dodds: violin; Gareth Griffiths: violin; Peter Hanson: violin; Ian Humphries: violin; Tom Piggott-Smith: violin; Clare Finnemore: viola; Bruce White: viola; Ian Brurdge: cello; Chris Worsley: cello; Ben Davis: cello; Steve Watts: bass (2, 5, 7); Steve Brown: drums (2, 5, 7)
rec.2011 [56:15]
Poignantly, this disc features arrangements by John Dankworth, who can be heard counting in the band in the opening track. The dozen tunes benefit from a variety of approaches and from some of the imaginative and immaculate instrumental contributions from the soloists. And of course they are graced by Jacqui Dankworth's voice, which is capable of richly thoughtful and pitch perfect deployment.
A Nightingale Sang In Berkeley Square is a lovely arrangement
and showcases Jimmy Hastings' flute playing as well as Jacqui's effortless
sounding vocals. John Dankworth ensured that there was sufficient
cross current between the soloists and the string accompaniments,
and that the result was a fruitful product of the two and not a cancellation
of them both. Thus Karen Sharp turns in a fine solo on In The
Still of the Night which is a wittily arranged number, rhythmically,
and Chris Allard follows with an excellent guitar passage. I'm not
so keen on the fade ending. The strings are heard at their most articulate
on It Happens Quietly where it's also the lyrical soprano
sax of Tim Garland that takes honours. Listen out too for Steve Watts's
arco bass solo on A Love Like Ours where one can't help but
feel that Jacqui comes closest to sounding like Cleo Laine, her mother
in her restrained but clear vocal curlicues.
Make Someone Happy gets a suitably snappy, show tune work
out - a real up-tempo swinger - whilst one finds Garland curling seductively
around Dankworth's vocals on At Last. The sax solo on The
Man has been airlifted into this arrangement from a previous
recording, and is played by John Dankworth himself. To end, we have
The Folks Who Live On The Hill which is just vocal and guitar,
played with a stripped back delicacy that affirms the laudable warmth
and taste that runs throughout the set.
Jonathan Woolf
CD Reviews
SPECIFIC JAZZ SPEC014
