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​GARY BRUMBURGH - Moonlight

CAFÉ PACIFIC RECORDS NO NUMBER LISTED

Gary Brumburgh (v); Jamieson Trotter, Terry Trotter (p); Gabe Davis (b); Christian Euman, Conor Molloy (d); Bob Sheppard (ts,f);Larry Koonse, Pat Kelley (elg); Gail Pettis, Paulette McWilliams (v)
Los Angeles 2018

This is Brumburgh’s second CD and he is in upbeat mood throughout the programme having just recently recovered completely from two bouts of neck and tonsil cancers. He begins with a flying version of Lennon and McCartney’s Day Tripper which features a bright vocal and a sturdy, blueish tenor sax solo from Sheppard. The vocalist sings in straight mode, scats and has his own form of hip delivery scattered throughout the CD. His next selection is I’ll Close My Eyes which gets a straight ahead ballad reading and continues with a set that includes standards, old and new jazz staples, a country pop song (Wichita Lineman) and a song by Sting. His reading of Sweet Georgia Brown includes a Miles Davis Dig quote and then develops into a hard swinging, scatting performance in classic Anita O’Day at Newport mode. His voice is a light tenor and he sometimes strays into alto range but his sound and swinging style is consistent through all these selections.

On Sting’s Heavy Cloud, No Rain he is helped along by Paulette McWilliams’ backing vocals. There is a duet with Gail Pettis that works well and this very mixed and varied collection of songs ends with the Berlin standard What’ll I Do, sung heartily in basic, crooner mode. Gary has a very warm voice that rides easily on the beat and the band supports well, particularly the father and son pianist Trotters and Bob Sheppard whose tenor and flute swing crisply on most tracks. The two guitar players also get plenty of solo space and accompany well in the section.

​Overall this jazz vocal session is a winner and recommended.

Reviewed by Derek Ansell

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ECM celebrates 50 years of music production with the Touchstones series of re-issues