In the 1984-1985 Parisian concert season, the big band of
Claude Bolling held court in the expansive lounge of L'Hotel Méridien in a series of "jazz brunches"; from the evidence of this live recording, they must have been splendidly high-spirited affairs. Though colored by the
Ellington and New Testament
Basie manners of swinging and voicing,
Bolling's band still has a perceivable, clearly etched Continental flavor that gives this music its own signature.
Bolling's ten fingers are in an unquenchably swinging mode on his "Canonette" and
Ernie Wilkins' "Sixteen Men Swingin'"; Annette Lowman provides sassy vocals (in English, fortunately) on five of the eleven tracks, scatting up a storm on "Cotton Tail." The centerpiece of
Jazz Brunch is a remarkably coherent 20-minute, three-part suite for
Basie, "From CB to CB with Love," that seamlessly merges various
Basie arrangers' trademarks within the lighter
Bolling sound. Though technically this is music out of its time and place, more often than not, this band could achieve liftoff. ~ Richard S. Ginell