The irrepressible
Ernie Andrews continues his late-career renaissance with
How About Me. Produced by saxophonist
Houston Person,
Andrews fronts a quintet with
Person, guitarist
Terry Evans, pianist and arranger Phil Wright, Richard Simon on bass, and Frank Wilson on drums. The material ranges from all over the place, but most comes from the 1940s and '50s.
Andrews is in fine form on cuts like the Eddie Lane and John Jacob Loeb classic "Boulevard of Memories," Leonard Feather's fine jump blues, "She's Got the Blues for Sale," and the
Duke Ellington nugget "It Shouldn't Happen to a Dream." The title cut is one of
Andrews' finest performances in recent years -- with his version of the
Irving Berlin masterpiece "How About Me." This is a solid date form start to finish. ~ Thom Jurek