![]() |
|
JCCD-3047:
One Never Knows - Do One? : Geoff Cole does Fats Waller
|
|
Personnel:
Geoff Cole [tb], Tony Pyke [rd], Pat Hawes [pn],
Ken Matthews [sb], Colin Miller [dm] |
|
Reviews for:
JCCD-3047: One Never Knows - Do One? : Geoff Cole does Fats Waller Jazz Gazette - Belgium jazz magazine From the first number on it is clear that Pat Hawes was a great choice
for this session. Pat [1928] started his recording career with John Haim's
Jelly Roll Kings [1946], recorded with the very first Humphrey Lyttelton
Band [1948] and was the first pianist of the Crane River Jazz Band [1948]
[well known by the many Ken Colyer fans] and has recently retired from
Brian White's Band. His rendition of Fats Waller's music, also vocally,
is just excellent. IAJRC Journal - U.S.A. Fats Waller wrote over 450 songs and also left a legacy of hundreds of
recordings, so Geoff Cole and his Hot Five quintet ha dample material
from which to choose. Many on this recording are familiar tunes such as
"Rosetta" and "Ain't Misbehavin," yet others are lesser-known
pieces. Cole leads the way on trombone and shares vocal honors with pianist
Pat Hawes. The music has a subdued quality to it. It is not raucous barroom-style
playing but instead progresses conservatively along a dedicated course
with everyone in the quintet taking a hand at soloing. Just Jazz - British Magazine Not an easy CD to review, because inevitably, of comparing the tribute
to the original recordings, so it has to be looked at on its own merit.
The problems of a non-trumpet line-up is to get the right voicing between
the other two instruments, but we don't have a problem here. Geoff Cole
[trombone] and Tony Pyke [clarinet & alto sax] have worked together
before and both know how to compliment each other's role. Boxell Jazz Website Fats Waller, jazzman or entertainer? Both of course! I am too young to
have seen the man alive, but I have seen film clips. Who can forget the
suggestive leer and knowing wink that Fats used to draw you into his private
joke> But he was no lightweight, either physically or musically, and
you dismiss and his type of jazz at your own peril. One of the blessings
in recent years has been the re-issue of much older material. An extra
blessing is the music industry's under valuing of old masters, such as
Fats. The result has been a plethora of cheap CDs - and I have many. Jazz Journal International-British Having already saluted Ory and Morton with albums for Jazz Crusade, Geoff
Cole has turned his attention to Fats, tackling a comprehensive range
of Waller material. Veteran pianist Pat Hawes is pivotal to the success
of the project and rises to occasion with aplumb, dispensing tasteful
relaxed stride in the appropriate idiom, without specifically replicating
Fats note for note. Sensibly the group interprets the material in its
own way, acknowledging but not attempting to reproduce the sound or the
arrangements of the original recordings. Geoff's relaxed but swinging
and melodic phrasing is echoed in Tony Pyke's similarly relaxed, unpretentious
and free-wheeling clarinet & alto. I enjoyed Tony's delicate but not
mawkish handling of the pretty, sentimentalmelody lines of Cabin In The
Sky and Two Sleepy People-a nice solo feature with a sensitive piano chorus.
It all ticks along most enjoyably. Geoff sings a couple agreeably enough,
but the revalation for me on the album was Pat Hawes's three excellent
vocals in the Waller style and spirit! The instrumental performance is
tasteful and appropriate and the material well chosen. All in all, happy
and enjoyable listening Doctor Jazz-Netherlands Geoff Cole was first known because of his playing with Ken Colyer but
during recent years he turns out to be someone who can do more than playing
New Orleans jazz. On two previous Jazz Crusade CDs he paid tribute to
Kid Ory and to Jelly Roll Morton and now it's the turn of Fats Waller.
This is not the first time a band does a tribute to Fats but, happily,
there are, besides a number of well known titles, some lessor ones as
well. Some numbers are sung by Cole and Hawes. There is no slavish copying;
everyone keeps to their own style. That's good to hear, particularly from
the pianist Hawes who ran the risk of imitating Waller but he certainly
doesn't. Jazzreview.com-U. S. A. This new CD by British trombonist Geoff Cole is guaranteed to put a smile
on your face. Geoff and his little band play 17 Fats Waller specialties
including some of his best including Honey Hush, The Minor Drag, Two Sleepy
People, Yacht Club Swing and Truckin'. The quintet really makes no attempt
to copy note for note Wallerisms but do their best to capture Fats' humor
and zest for life. This is "happy" music performed by musicians
who have studied Waller's mannerisms and delivery. AMG *** Review - U. S. Jazz Guide With his grammatically outlandish "One Never Knows, Do One?"
and other malapropisms, the one and only Fats Waller was doing Yogi Berraisms
long before Yogi Berra was doing them. This tribute album takes Waller's
music and puts it in a traditional jazz (U.K. style) framework while keeping
intact the sometimes ribald swing that characterized this larger-than-life
man's own works and his performance of tunes of others he was well known
for. The result is more than 70 minutes of listenable jazz music, which,
while not quite up to the standard Waller set, nevertheless comes close.
While the English jazzman Geoff Cole is the leader on the set, it's Pat
Hawes' piano and occasional vocals on such tunes as "Curse of an
Aching Heart" that strengthens the link to Waller. Hawes' piano work
on "Black and Blue" with the Freddy Gardner-like sax of Tony
Pyke make this a premiere track. Cole's Kid Ory-fashioned trombone provides
the structure for the set. The muted trombone soulful solo on "Honey
Hush" is especially arresting. His vocals on "Truckin'"
and "Ain't Misbehavin'" come close to capturing Waller's satirical
way with a tune. From time to time, Cole lays on a Waller-like quip at
the end of a tune. But this is not the Cole/Hawes show by any means. In
addition to his sax work, another U.K. musician. Tony Pyke. gets in an
admirable clarinet solo on "Lulu's Back in Town" and a haunting
"Two Sleepy People." All in all, this is an album revealing
another perspective of Waller that is credible and enjoyable. Mississippi Rag - U. S. Magazine Geoff Cole gets a chance to star on One Never Knows - Do One, a tribute
to pianist/singer/organist/composer/ personality Thomas "Fats"
Waller. There are no shortage of Waller sets currently available, but
this one is a little different in several ways. The quintet lacks a trumpet
and is comprised of trombonist Cole (whose playing sometimes recalls Kid
Ory), the valuable Tony Pyke on clarinet and alto, pianist Pat Hawes,
bassist Ken Matthews and drummer Colin Miller. The repertoire is a fine
mixture of Waller's hits and some obscurities, and Fats himself can be
heard at the end of several songs making comments that were taken and
isolated from his Victor recordings. |
|