About this Artist

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Editorial Reviews

Perhaps adopting the persona of the bands of Raymond Scott, the John Kirby Sextet or Don Byron's "Bug Music, " Ballin' The Jack primarily present music of Duke Ellington, originally arranged and adapted, with an unabashed, playful fervor, pegging the crazy fun meter. Eleven tracks of depth, swing and edge leap out of the speakers. Musicianship is rather bodacious coming from multi-woodwindists Andy Laster and Matt Darriau, trumpeter Frank London, trombonist Art Baron, guitarist Ben Sher, bassist Joe Fitzgerald, drummer George Schuller and special guests, particularly sax/brass doubler Peck Allmond on four cuts. Of the Ellington faves, "Rockin' In Rhythm" is a fairly straight read, raucously swinging with pianist Anthony Coleman's atypical Monk styled lead-in. The spy-o stealth, elongated (9 minutes) "Echoes Of Harlem" allows everyone to get at least two cents worth of solos in. An unusual non-orchestral take of "Mood Indigo" has twangy guitar, Laster's open hearted baritone sax, and Baron's wah-wah trombone, while "Jeep's Blues" recovers from an introductory acid flashback to return to an easier swing, Darriau's sax still a bit freaked. "Happy Go Lucky Local," sounds half quite unlike the original, replete with train whistle refrains, the other half resembling the true form. A non-Ellington penned piece, Charlie Shavers "Dawn On The Desert" is clarinet led, caravan rhythm informed by the tasteful Schuller, and the band full of emotional woe, then chattering about it, a true tour de-force piece. Herschel Evans "Texas Shuffle" is a head noddin' groover, multi-layered horns preceding and following a fine, clean, jazzy guitar solo ala Eddie Lang from Sher, and Rex Stewart's "Menelik" (The Lion of Judah) goes through a million changes from out to straight and bouncing off the walls in 3 1/3 minutes, trumpets of Allmond and London blaring like the author in his heyday. Of the many centennial tributes to Duke, this could be the most entertaining and forward thinking. Certainly it's the zaniest and very in your face. All but one of these tunes were penned in the thirties, but Ballin' The Jack revives them in an ultra-modern way that makes them seem like they were just written. A highly recommended CD, and a strong candidate for Jazz CD of the Year. Michael G. Nastos, All Music Guide

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