Mike Lovatt’s Brass Pack
Featuring: Louise Clare Marshall and Matt Ford 
Birmingham Town Hall
Thursday 8th August

Ella Fitzgerald and Frank Sinatra never recorded an album together, although there were a handful of occasions when they did link up for notable performances.

His television shows of 1959 and 1967 remain a snapshot though of what might have been aligned in lasting recording orbit, rather than in passing like blazing comets in the sky.  

What remained by the time Sinatra was presented with an Ella Award in 1990 (Fitzgerald was the inaugural recipient a year earlier) were the dying embers of their careers. 

However, their duet there on ‘The Lady is a Tramp’  was still more than touching nostalgia for artists who shared a complete mutual respect, even though it was by then a distant glow from their peak glories. 

Superb arrangements

It makes Mike Lovatt’s ingenuity in offering his star-studded 25-piece Brass Pack as the backing to reimagine them back in their prime, such a remarkable triumph. 

Colin Skinner’s superb arrangements, many with inventive Billy May inspirations adding another exploration of ‘what might have been’, offer a musical canvas both burnished as well as tempered in colour and texture. 

Colin Skinner’s superb arrangements, many with inventive Billy May inspirations adding another exploration of ‘what might have been’, offer a musical canvas both burnished as well as tempered in colour and texture. 

Wit and elegance, pulsating drive and tender interludes (with ample opportunity for generous solo spotlights throughout) flowed in contrast and razor sharp precision, with each half opening with an ‘overture’  medley of greatest hits.  

Original

Clare Louise Marshall and Matt Ford were distinctive, original voices rather than homage high class adherents. What was shared though was the elastic phrasing and nuanced inflections of elegance and energy in timing and timbre that marked their icons genius. 

Ford’s richly infused delivery was deeply knowledgeable of its source material; drawing new character to the lines in ‘I’m Gonna Live ‘till I Die’, ‘Dindi’, ‘In the Still of the Night’  and ‘All the Way’  - from the sardonic to the passionate.

'Miss Otis Regrets’ was a melancholic 'mea-culpa' – the sublime Gordon Campbell on trombone, the ghostly musical apparition of her murdered unfaithful lover.

Marshall sizzled with stylish virtuosity; from scat improvisation to belting sensuality on ‘If you can’t sing it, you’ll have to swing it (Mr Paganini)’, ‘I’m Gonna Go Fishing’  and ‘Too Darn Hot’.

'Miss Otis Regrets’  was a melancholic 'mea-culpa' – the sublime Gordon Campbell on trombone, the ghostly musical apparition of her murdered unfaithful lover.

Extra stardust

Mike Lovatt appeared throughout to add a thrilling sprinkle of extra stardust topping, although there were gems everywhere. A special mention must go to the rhythm section and percussion led by the indefatigably nuanced Tom Gordon on drums.  

Mike Lovatt appeared throughout to add a thrilling sprinkle of extra stardust topping, although there were gems everywhere.

A memorable evening ended with a medley of ‘Frank & Ella’  ‘hits’ that appropriately included a revitalised take on ‘The Lady is a Tramp’  alongside ‘How High the Moon’, ‘Mack the Knife’,  and 'Fly Me to the Moon’.

Fittingly, this opportunity was not lost to record it for a CD as well as for broadcast on the WobPlay recording platform either.

Iwan Fox