STU BROWN’S TWISTED TOONS - Vol 2
Stu Brown - drums, percussion; Daniel Paterson -violin; Tom McNiven - trumpet; Emma Roche - flute; Brian Molley - tenor sax; Martin Kershaw - clarinet; Paul Harrison - piano, samples; Mario Caribe - bass; Allan McKeown - guitar
As current events both in the UK and the wider world seem set on a course of fretful uncertainty, it’s nice to have something to lighten the mood. Stu Brown’s latest release is the ideal way to put a comic gloss on your day and re-connect you with the absurdity than lurks in the heart of even the most perilous situations. As a follow-up to 2009’s album devoted to the music of maverick bandleader, composer, inventor and electronic music pioneer Raymond Scott, he’s assembled another set of riotous re-visitings of claasic cartoon soundtracks from the golden age of Warner Bros and the like. There’s representations from such relatively unsung geniuses as Carl Stalling, who scored out the many misadventures of Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck, and Scott Bradley, whose frantic arrangements accompanied the relentless violence of Tom and Jerry and the Tex Avery cartoons that delighted audiences in the similarly troubled 1930s.
Brown has assembled a superb band to play what are, despite their comedic intent, actually very challenging pieces, full of rapid fire twists and turns, tight ensemble riffing and all kinds of musical gags. There’s space on tracks like ‘`Goblins In The Steeple” for Tom McNiven, Brian Molley and Mario Caribe to stretch out for some well-planned solos, but the fun is really in the arrangements, which are delivered with admirable precision and a real sense of fun throughout. Brown spent many eye-popping hours watching cartoons to research his own transcriptions, mash-ups and re-arrangements for this project, and you may well feel inspired to do the same.
Reviewed by Eddie Myer
Stu Brown - drums, percussion; Daniel Paterson -violin; Tom McNiven - trumpet; Emma Roche - flute; Brian Molley - tenor sax; Martin Kershaw - clarinet; Paul Harrison - piano, samples; Mario Caribe - bass; Allan McKeown - guitar
As current events both in the UK and the wider world seem set on a course of fretful uncertainty, it’s nice to have something to lighten the mood. Stu Brown’s latest release is the ideal way to put a comic gloss on your day and re-connect you with the absurdity than lurks in the heart of even the most perilous situations. As a follow-up to 2009’s album devoted to the music of maverick bandleader, composer, inventor and electronic music pioneer Raymond Scott, he’s assembled another set of riotous re-visitings of claasic cartoon soundtracks from the golden age of Warner Bros and the like. There’s representations from such relatively unsung geniuses as Carl Stalling, who scored out the many misadventures of Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck, and Scott Bradley, whose frantic arrangements accompanied the relentless violence of Tom and Jerry and the Tex Avery cartoons that delighted audiences in the similarly troubled 1930s.
Brown has assembled a superb band to play what are, despite their comedic intent, actually very challenging pieces, full of rapid fire twists and turns, tight ensemble riffing and all kinds of musical gags. There’s space on tracks like ‘`Goblins In The Steeple” for Tom McNiven, Brian Molley and Mario Caribe to stretch out for some well-planned solos, but the fun is really in the arrangements, which are delivered with admirable precision and a real sense of fun throughout. Brown spent many eye-popping hours watching cartoons to research his own transcriptions, mash-ups and re-arrangements for this project, and you may well feel inspired to do the same.
Reviewed by Eddie Myer
