Composer Fraser MacPherson gets his songbook delivered in a wide variety of settings from a mix and match artistic group that includes Scott Hamilton/ts, Jan Lundgren/p, Hans Backenorth/b, Morgan Childs/dr, John Lee/b, Phil Stewart/dr, Harry Allen/ts, Grant Stewart/ts, Bruce Harris/tp, James Danderfer/bcl , Cory Weeds/ts and Jocelyn Gould/voc among others. The moods and atmospheres change, but the swing never leaves the room.
Hamilton croons through his tenor on “Night Spot”, while Harry Allen and guitarist Dave Blenkhorn are spacious and for “Waltz For Willy”. Vocalist Joani Taylor is lush with pianist Sharon Minemoto on “For Your Love” with Gould floating on an Autumn Leaves-ish “It’s A Human Race”. There are some West Coast Cool moments with Danderfer on “Theme” and Virginial MacConald on clarinet on the clever “Queen’s Pawn” and Evan Arntzen is cozy on “AM I Blue”. Gentle on my mind