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Chris Dean's Syd Lawrence Orchestra
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The CD can be obtained from Linda Bluck.
Price. £11.50 inc. P&P
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1. Lover. 3.02 2. Basin St. Blues. 3.35 3. Autumn In New York. 3.31 4. Before The Parade Passes By. 4.10 5. My Hero. 2.52 6. Bill Bailey Won't You Come Home. 3.09 7. Maybe September. 3.28 8. Cherokee. 2.58 9. Girl Talk. 3.33 10. Lullaby Of Broadway. 4.20. 11. Just In Time. 5.55 12. Under A Blanket Of Blue. 3.00 13. This Could Be The start Of Something Big. 2.48 14. Hallelujah. 2.34. 15. I Dream Of Jeannie. 2.33 16. One. 2.21 17. Slaughter On Tenth Avenue. 6.34 |
Today it's not so
easy to find something new in the big band world as it was then, and in any
case
we have most of it in our collections, much repeated over and over again in
compilation LPs and
CDs. So when something different suddenly appears, the same excitement is
experienced and no
doubt you, like me can't wait to get your hands on it and play it.
Well your luck is in, for we have the latest release on CD by Chris Dean's
Syd Lawrence Orchestra,
and it's very different I am happy to report.
As with his last CD there are a few of the war horses included such as Ray
Noble's 'Cherokee' and
Ralph Flanagan's 'My Hero' and OK the Neal Hefty/Bobby Troup number 'Girl
Talk' which no
doubt you have as I do over and over again. However don't let that stop you
from reading on, as
there are fourteen more tracks with some real gems to enjoy.
The CD starts with the Roland Shaw arrangement of Rodgers and Hart's 'LOVER'
with Mike Hope on the
Tenor sax and Ian Moffat with a very nice Trombone solo.
Track 2 had me dialling through my record file to discover when and where
I'd heard this next tune,
which was very familiar, but played as a march. Well I could have kicked myself
on finding it because
it was Syd Lawrence's own arrangement of the 'BASIN STREET BLUES MARCH' first
released way
back in 1972. Chris has included this with Tony Dixon trumpet and Mike Hope
on Tenor Sax. (Syd did the
original solo Trumpet the Norman Brown onTenor Sax).
Ian Moffat is in first with his Trombone solo in this next track, which I don't think I have heard this
band play before 'AUTUMN IN NEW YORK'.
Another number that
makes this CD more interesting, as for the 'rarities' is 'BEFORE THE PARADE
PASSES BY' sung by
Angie Mills.
'MY HERO' the Ralph Flanagan number is the next track, not so rare but never-the-less
nice to hear included.
Chris Dean on trombone, Mike Hope tenor sax and Adrian Wilkinson clarinet
are all soloists with
'BILL BALEY WON'T YOU COME PLEASE HOME' Track 6)
When you get to Track 7 you have to stop and listen carefully, and then play
it again, it's only
then that you realise that it's Chris Dean singing. Over the past year or
two Chris has been
doing more and more of the vocals in his live concerts. He has been singing
for many years of
course, especially with the Serenaders the vocal group in the band.
When his last resident singer Matthew Ford left the band to
do his own thing our local big band
society and I expected to see a new singer take his place. It was then that
Chris Dean took on
this role whether intentionally or not, I'm not sure, and we thought this
was only a temporary
'stand-in' situation. But as time went on we found ourselves realising that
he was now the
resident singer, and he's a good singer, and seems to us to be getting better
and better.
Our enthusiasm for Chris Dean's skill as Trombonist and leader
of this band
has overshadowed our acknowledgment of him as a solo singer. He sings
two numbers 'MAYBE SEPTEMBER' and 'ONE' (track 10). In the liner
note of this CD Malcolm Laycock (BBC Radio 2 presenter) sums up what
we now have realised, he says, “ Chris himself is emerging more and more
as a singer to be reckoned with. He approaches 'Maybe September' with
an almost Tormé-ish velvety voice, whereas on 'One' he moves from a
whisper to a vocal crescendo which is completely under control, effortless
and highly effective.”
One thing we do know about Chris Dean is his amazing control
of the
trombone as demonstrated always at his concerts with
some fast moving jazz interpretation on a variety ofpopular tunes.
He has included one on this CD which was arranged by the late
master trombonist George Chisholm and who
gave this arrangement of 'JUST IN TIME' to Chris. In Chris's playing you are
able to detect
the character of George Chisholm and his ability to add comical expressions
to his
music......... Really good!
Track 8 and 9 are two of the 'War Horses' I mentioned at the start of this
article 'CHEROKEE' and 'GIRL TALK' and this is followed
by 'LULLABY OF BROADWAY' a classic number arranged by Alan Roper for the fabulous
Northern Dance Orchestra back in the
1960's & 70's who were regularly heard on Radio and TV.
Track 12, has been arranged by the band's lead sax Colin Skinner,
'UNDER A BLANKET OF BLUE' followed by another arrangement
by Colin of 'THIS COULD BE THE START OF SOMETHING GOOD' and sung by the best
of the girl big band singers today
Eleanor Keenan, who has been singing with this band for quite a few years
now, probably best not to mention how many??????
Wow! Here's a turn up for the book, and rare indeed the late Bill Finnegan's
arrangement for the Glenn Miller orchestra back in
1939 'HALLELUJAH' this arrangement being transcribed by Syd, and followed
by another Glenn Miller sound, this time arranged
by Syd, 'I DREAM OF JEANNIE'. Or should that be called, 'Jeannie With The
Light Brown Hair' by Stephen Foster?
The CD comes to an end with one of the great arrangements, transcribed again
by Syd Lawrence
and lasting 6min 34 sec 'SLAUGHTER ON TENTH AVENUE', Chris Dean with trombone
solo
and Colin Skinner on Clarinet.
Really enjoyable, something different. 'Strictly Big Band' is well worth adding
to your music
collection to enjoy over, and over again.