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THE MUSIC This album celebrates the music of the 1930s - the golden age of swing and song. The Cotton Club repertoire includes compositions from the early 30s as well as those from the later and more familiar "swing era", with an emphasis on the African-American genre. There is something here for everyone – swinging dance tunes, poignant ballads, some traditional jazz classics arranged in a swing style and even a latin samba. Jig Walk
Artie Shaw’s swing treatment of Jazz Me Blues is a real flag waver, but surprisingly was never recorded by Shaw (or anybody else) to our knowledge. Solos are by Simon Stribling (trumpet), Tim Shaw (clarinet), Mark Twigden (guitar) and Tim Harding (trombone).
The title track Nice Work if You Can Get It introduces the talented Melbourne singer and actor Deborah Robertson. This song was composed by George and Ira Gershwin for the 1937 RKO film ‘Damsel’s in Distress’, and our version was arranged by Adrian Daff who has an included a quote from Gershwin’s ‘Rhapsody in Blue’ just before Deborah’s vocal.
After You’ve Gone
is a 1936 arrangement written (but possibly unrecorded) by popular bandleader Larry Clinton, and features Adrian Daff on baritone sax, James Newman on tenor sax and Simon Stribling on trumpet. Simon Starr’s inspired bass playing really lifts the whole band in these uptempo tunes.Ary Barroso’s acclaimed samba
Brazil (Aquarela do Brasil) was composed in Brazil in 1939 and became a big hit in the USA for Xavier Cugat in the early 1940s. Our version features Peter Arnold on latin percussion and Mark Matthews on trombone.My Walking Stick
is sung here by Adrian Daff with a gutsy tenor sax solo by James Newman. This song was written in 1938 by Irving Berlin for the film ‘Alexander’s Ragtime Band’ and was also recorded in the 1930s by Bunny Berigan, Louis Armstrong & the Mills Brothers, and in the 1970s by Leon Redbone.Deborah Robertson next sings the timeless ballads
My Heart Stood Still by Rodgers and Hart and All The Things You Are by Oscar Hammerstein and Jerome Kern, which includes a cool trumpet solo by Paul Dooley. These songs were also arranged for us by Adrian Daff.I Would Do Anything For You
was written by the talented but under-recognised African-American composer Alex Hill, in collaboration with bandleader Claude Hopkins who recorded it in 1932 and adopted it as his theme song. Adrian Daff and James Newman feature on alto and tenor saxes respectively.Django Reinhardt’s composition Improvisation No.2 is a beautiful guitar solo by Mark Twigden. (Mark has released a separate CD of his guitar solos titled ‘Box of Dreams’).
Royal Garden Blues
was recorded by several bands in the 1920s and 30s and has since become a well-known jazz standard. Solos are by Vinnie Bourke on trumpet, Tim Harding on trombone, Tim Shaw on clarinet, James Newman on tenor sax, Peter Arnold on drums and Simon Starr on bass.Memories of You
showcases the internationally renowned Simon Stribling on trumpet. Tim Harding’s arrangement was inspired by the Louis Armstrong big bands of the early 1930s. Other solos are by Tim Shaw on alto clarinet and Peter de Ryk on piano.Ferdinand ‘Jelly Roll’ Morton’s
Georgia Swing takes us temporarily back into the 1920s, and features Tim Shaw on clarinet, the multi-instrumentalist Simon Stribling on bass sax and trumpet, Tim Harding on trombone and Tony Orr on banjo. (Tony was a member of the orchestra in the 1980s, when we played more 1920s material).Adrian Daff sings Tim Harding’s arrangement of
Gee Baby Ain’t I Good to You, which was Don Redman’s biggest hit in the early 1930s, and was later recorded by Billie Holiday, Jimmy Rushing with Count Basie and Ray Charles, amongst others. Solos are by Vinnie Bourke on trumpet, James Newman on tenor sax and Peter de Ryk on piano.Noel Matthews kindly wrote the arrangement of Lester Young’s Tickle Toe, which once again features James Newman on tenor sax, as well as Peter de Ryk on piano and Mark Twigden on guitar.
9:20 Special
was recorded by Count Basie and Duke Ellington, and has become a big band classic. Our version includes solos by Peter de Ryk on piano, James Newman on tenor sax and Vinnie Bourke on trumpet.