When just about everybody was breaking out the shovels to bury
big bands
as a serious medium for modern
jazz
, along comes
Francy Boland
and
Kenny Clarke
to put together a band that not only swung, but was a vehicle for modern arrangements.
Boland
was associated with his co-leader since 1958 when
Clarke
, one of
bebop
's early practitioners and an emigre from the United States, was a member of
's unit.
wrote all the charts for this co-led outfit, including masterful arrangements of some of America's top
pop
standards
that are on this release. The band was populated with an international cast of musicians, allowing
to take a page from
Duke Ellington
's book to create arrangements and award solos on the basis of the individuals in the band at any given moment. And, like
Ellington
, his piano snuck in a few comps from time to time to keep matters on track. This particular iteration featured the trumpets of
Benny Bailey
Idrees Sulieman
on such cuts as
"By Strauss"
"When Your Lover Has Gone."
The vibes were regularly featured in
's arrangements.
Dave Pike
is highlighted on several cuts, including title tune
"Let's Face the Music and Dance"
"I'm All Smiles,"
trading lilting eights on the latter with
Sahib Shihab
's flute. One of the qualities that set apart this aggregation from others of the same mettle was the smoothness of the playing. Smoothness here means sensuous and bluesy, not lifeless in the sense the term is used in
contemporary jazz
. There's a bounce to the up-tempo tunes, but the ostentatious playing other bands were noted for is shunned. A fine performance that should be released on CD. ~ Dave Nathan