Band leader
Don Neely has been mining nuggets from 1920s syncopated jazz and 1930s big band music and making them the subject of albums featuring his Royal Society Jazz Orchestra for about 25 years. His latest,
Jump Start, continues in that vein, but has the added attraction of including for the first time some of
Neely's compositions. Among the four tunes penned by the leader is the title tune, which has some clever drumming by Steve Apple. The
Neely material is the principal source for 1920s vintage music popularized by the likes of
Paul Whiteman,
Red Nichols,
Fats Waller, and
Rudy Vallee.
Neely is also the band's boy singer. On some tunes he sounds like
Rudy Vallee, and listening to "When I Dance with You," one is reminded of the megaphone-amplified vocals of old time singers of this syncopated music. On other songs, he adopts a
Fats Waller vocal stance.
Carla Normand does most of the vocal work. Her most memorable warbling comes on "Why Don't You Do Right?," "Somebody Loves Me," and "Goody-Goody." She affects that little girl, wide-eyed ingenue tone in her voice which was so popular in the 1920s. The band takes care of most all the 1930s material. There is some fine instrumental playing and soloing on such old favorites as
Jan Savitt's "720 in the Books," "Sweet Georgia Brown," and
Louis Prima's "Sing, Sing, Sing." All the major instruments used during this period are represented in the band (even a theremin). The musicians in this group are masters of both these musical styles and of their instruments. The arrangements faithfully replicate the music from the 1920s and '30s, at least as played by white jazz musicians. You will not hear any
Duke Ellington,
Louis Armstrong, or
Fletcher Henderson orchestrations on this CD. Nonetheless, this album is entertaining fun and is recommended. ~ Dave Nathan