If you’re a fan of vocal jazz, this album by the Royal Bopsters is a real treat. TRB consists of Amy London/sop, Holli Ross/a, Peter McGuinness/ten and Dylan Pramuk/b. They’re supported by the snappy team of pianist Steve Schmidt, bassist Cameron Brown, drummer Steve Williams and percussionist Steven Kroon/pec, with some clever instrumental and vocal charts that range from The Meltones to The Inkspots and The Manhattan Transfer.
They do some wondrous vocalese and harmonics to Chet Baker’s scat solo on a bopping read of “But Not For Me” while their voices are reminiscent of vintage Four Freshman during “How I Love You” and the west coast coolness of “My Shining Hour”. A dash of Lambert, Hendricks and Ross is thrown in on an R&B ish “Rusty Dusty Blues” and rich velvety voices get angelic on an angular read of “Daydream”. The late proto-bopster Bob Dorough sat in for a jivey and hep guesting on the streetwise “Baby, You Should Know It” and Sheila Jordan is in a fun mood for the intro to “Lucky To Be Me”. Bassist Christian McBride teams up with Ross on a salsa’d “Cuando Te Vea” and the upbeat “On A Misty Night/Gypsy” with Lond slinky on a bluesy “Why’d You Do Me The Way You Did”. Not all is nostalgia, though, with McGuinness doing wonders with Wayne Shorter’s “Infant Eyes” as the voices swirl through the composers classic sax solo. Majestic and musical masseters.