Search - Johnny Keating :: Swing Revisited

Don't just sit there - BUY THIS ONE!

C. J. Graham | Johannesburg, South Africa | 03/12/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"You'll never regret it.



Starting with a blood-stirring rendition of the classic "Night Train", this album is a MUST for anyone who recognises superior big-band stuff.



The arrangements of the Miller classics "Kalamazoo" and "Tuxedo" are if anything superior to the originals! The renditions of Ray Charles' "What'd I Say" and of "Lonesome Me" are unbelievably swinging - could get the Venus de Milo clapping her hands! The latter segues into a delightfully gentle version of "Li'l Darlin'", a wonderful contrast. "Headin' North", a Keating original, is not as good as the Ted Heath recording on the album of the same name. Sy Oliver's "Opus One" is there, but again not as good as other recordings: the absolutely definitive one, in my opinion (listen to it and I think you'll agree!), is track one on "Ted Heath Salutes the Fabulous Dorseys" - another must-have CD from Vocalion.



This is a superb album, both technically and musically. The CD has been remastered from a Decca Phase 4 recording, Decca's flagship label of the 60's and later. The recording is, remarkably, of a live performance - no opportunity for retakes here! - and it is just terrific."