BEN CROSLAND QUINTET - The Ray Davies Songbook Volume II
Jazz Cat - JJCD117
Dave O Higgins - tenor & soprano; John Etheridge - guitar; Steve Lodder - piano &keyboard; Ben Crosland - bass; Sebastiaan De Krom - drums
Back in a pre-referendum 2016 Ben Crosland assembled an all-star band to explore the repertoire created for lacy-cuffed sixties rockers the Kinks by their leader, the quintessentially English melodist Ray Davies. While their contemporaries the Beatles have inspired a host of jazz covers, the Kinks were a less obvious choice; but the enduring popularity of their legacy is evidenced by the continuing success of Davies’ musical ‘Sunny Afternoon’, still packing them in at the Harold Pinter theatre, and by the appearance of this follow-up to the first popular disc.
Crosland has kept the same line-up of UK A-listers, and they combine to give this project its artistic heft. Opener ‘Sittin On My Sofa’ is a standard funk outing, ’Til The End Of tThe Day’ is a classic hammond shuffle, ‘Apeman’ has a jaunty faux-calypso feel, like a mid-80s cricket TV theme, and the Lola’s famous swagger is repurposed as a muted bossa nova , but the quality of the soloists elevates the entire project time and again, be it O’Higgin’s muscular high-register chromaticisms on ‘I Gotta Move’ or Etheridge’s effortlessly fluid sprays of notes on ‘Where Have All The Good Times Gone’ and chameleon-like versatility of tone and attack. De Krom is in superb form throughout, as at home with the more rock-based material as he is in more familiar jazz surroundings; Lodder is fleet of finger, and Crosland himself anchors effectively. The entire package is highly crafted and immaculately presented, and if, like its predecessor, it may not challenge any listener with its audacity it cannot fail to win them over with its charm.
Reviewed by Eddie Myer
Jazz Cat - JJCD117
Dave O Higgins - tenor & soprano; John Etheridge - guitar; Steve Lodder - piano &keyboard; Ben Crosland - bass; Sebastiaan De Krom - drums
Back in a pre-referendum 2016 Ben Crosland assembled an all-star band to explore the repertoire created for lacy-cuffed sixties rockers the Kinks by their leader, the quintessentially English melodist Ray Davies. While their contemporaries the Beatles have inspired a host of jazz covers, the Kinks were a less obvious choice; but the enduring popularity of their legacy is evidenced by the continuing success of Davies’ musical ‘Sunny Afternoon’, still packing them in at the Harold Pinter theatre, and by the appearance of this follow-up to the first popular disc.
Crosland has kept the same line-up of UK A-listers, and they combine to give this project its artistic heft. Opener ‘Sittin On My Sofa’ is a standard funk outing, ’Til The End Of tThe Day’ is a classic hammond shuffle, ‘Apeman’ has a jaunty faux-calypso feel, like a mid-80s cricket TV theme, and the Lola’s famous swagger is repurposed as a muted bossa nova , but the quality of the soloists elevates the entire project time and again, be it O’Higgin’s muscular high-register chromaticisms on ‘I Gotta Move’ or Etheridge’s effortlessly fluid sprays of notes on ‘Where Have All The Good Times Gone’ and chameleon-like versatility of tone and attack. De Krom is in superb form throughout, as at home with the more rock-based material as he is in more familiar jazz surroundings; Lodder is fleet of finger, and Crosland himself anchors effectively. The entire package is highly crafted and immaculately presented, and if, like its predecessor, it may not challenge any listener with its audacity it cannot fail to win them over with its charm.
Reviewed by Eddie Myer
