Brassmatazz

Brass Band of Battle Creek
Conductor: Jeff Tyzik
Soloists: Marvin Stamm, Richard Ilman, Dave Ratacjak, Marty Erickson, Vince Di Matino, Mark Kellogg
Total Playing Time: 63.32

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Unlike 'Sing Sing Sing!' the last Battle Creek disc we reviewed, 'Brassmatazz ' centres exclusively on what we like them for best; a CD of out and out jazz that sees them as a kind of all brass big band. Given that most of the members are professional musicians the band does, to be fair, have the advantage of being able to bring in specialist players where the music dictates. Not that that takes anything away from the amazing versatility of the nucleus of the band. The stylistic ease with which they hop from jazz to straight and back again is truly staggering.

The simple fact is that no other brass band you are likely to hear plays jazz quite like these guys and if you like your swing you will love this disc.

Fortunately this recording does come with liner notes (the lack of them on 'Sing Sing Sing!' was a notable let down) and it is useful to be able to brush up on the careers of some of the star players. Marvin Stamm, special guest artist on this recording, has a CV that reads like a jazz encyclopaedia. Having spent a couple of years as soloist in Stan Kenton's band, Stamm established himself as a freelance and studio player appearing with Quincy Jones, Michael Legrand, Frank Sinatra, Paul Simon, Aretha Franklin, Paul McCartney…the list goes on. Richard Illman's career is no less impressive. Doc Severinsen, Ray Charles, Burt Bacharach and Dave Brubeck have all utilised his skills. With player credentials like that it's no wonder we get a good show!

Stamm's playing is on display right away in the opening number, 'It Don't Mean A Thing'. Duke Ellington's music features prominently on the disc and this is a cracking starter, brilliantly arranged by Jack Cortner and a great showcase for Stamm who immediately gets things off to a pyrotechnical start. The opening of this had us reaching for the remote to listen again to what we thought could well have been a string bass…well, it obviously wasn't just us who fell for it…the booklet note points out with tongue in cheek "And no, there is not a string bass playing with band"!

Jeff Tyzik's original, 'Lullaby for Basie', does however feature a discreetly employed guitar and keyboard. This is a definite chill out number, very much in the mood of 'Lil' Darlin' and superbly relaxed in style from the band. Back to Ellington and Mark Freeh's expertly assembled 'An Ellington Portrait'.

All the favourites are here and make sure you check out Stamm once again, this time on flugel horn. The selection culminates in 'Caravan', a great vehicle for the band's percussion section but also featuring some fine work from the trumpets and bones. Freeh is one of the band's most frequently used arrangers and his work comes up again in 'Ol' Man River' and 'Laura'. Like 'Malaguena' on the 'Sing Sing Sing!' disc, 'Ol' Man River' will be familiar from Rigid Containers' recording Freeh-way and was played by the Kettering boys as part of a Granada Band of the Year programme with Bramwell Tovey at the helm.

Anyone with the Freeh-way disc in their collection will notice that the kit drummer on both the Rigid and BBBC discs is one and the same player, Dave Ratacjak, whose kit playing is exemplary in both cases. Once again it's a first class arrangement but although the Battle Creekers swing we reckon that Paul Applegarth, Rigid's long serving but now sadly retired bass trombonist does add a little something extra to their recording! 'Laura' also figures on the Rigid disc when it was a chance for Richard Franklin to shine in the days before he turned to founding and organising the All England Masters. Here it's Richard Illman who takes up the flugel part and gets all misty eyed in a sentimental easy going classic.

Whilst on the subject of sentimentality Mark Kellogg is the trombone soloist in 'I'm Getting Sentimental Over You'. In many ways Kellogg sums up what the BBBC is all about, a player who sounds entirely at ease with the jazz idiom yet also happens to be Associate Principal with the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra and counts the San Francisco Symphony and Eastman Jazz Ensemble amongst his many diverse credits. Vince DiMartino is a player that we raved about on 'Sing Sing Sing!' and he appears as part of a quartet of trumpets alongside Danny Barber, John Daniel and Marvin Stamm in Jack Cortner's initially low key arrangement of Gershwin's 'I Got Rhythm'. Not that it stays low key for long as the melody flies between the soloists with some stunning high range playing. Stamm is back in action on the flugel in 'Lover Man'…what a melting sound this guy has!

The final two arrangements are by the band's conductor Jeff Tyzik who proved that he could come up with a good original in 'Lullaby for Basie'. In 'Song of the Volga' Boatmen he places the well known melody over a slow boogie woogie bass line with Danny Barber as the "dirty" trumpet soloist whilst Miller Memories is an arrangement on a serious scale, nearly sixteen minutes of classic Miller that manages to include just about all of the big tunes.

It all adds up to just over an hour of irresistible stuff that is the brass music equivalent of a good lung full of fresh air. Not to be missed!

Christopher Thomas

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