If you’re a big band fan, you’re going to want to have this baby in your collection. What you’ve got here is a 1980 session from Stockholm of Bernt Rosengren, who was a big fish in the small pond of Sweden back when Reagan was in the White House. He plays tenor, alto and flute, wrote a bunch of the material here sans a couple standards, and arranged the music to make it current and cookin’. Most of the artists you won’t recognize, but you’d better know Tim Hagans on trumpet, Doug Raney on guitar and the wondrous Horace Parlan on piano who is one of those guys that left the States to clear out his mind and made America a little sadder for it.
The 19 piece band mixes the modernity of a Thad Jones ensemble with the dance-ability of a Herman Herd. Tunes like the bop infested “Blues Nerves” and “The Humming Bees” sizzle like a T-bone steak, and Ramey’s guitar work is linear and as sharp as a #1 pencil as his work with Chet Baker. His licks on “New Life” skip like a rock on Lake Superior. Parlan’s unique, splashy syled touch is exquisite as well, laying down block chords like a mason as on “Hip Walk,” while Rosengren’s treatment of “How Deep is the Ocean?” and “Naima” are thoughtful and illuminating. Rosengren’s tenor is as thick and fatty as grass fed prime rib as on “Autumn Song.” The sections are as crisp as an Italian suite, making the whole mix make you wonder why they never got any traction here in the States when they were around. Anyway, be glad that at least you have a record of a different time, place and attitude. Yeah!
Caprice Records
www.capricerecords.com