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CD Review: Ethel Lee & The Eric Bascom Quintet- All That Jazz
Personnel: Ethel Lee-vocals, Eric Bascom-guitar Mark Barowsky-tenor saxophone, Edward Brainerd-trumpet, fluegelhorn, Gregory Caputo-drums, Matthew Giannaros-bass
In the latter half of the 1990’s jazz enjoyed a little comeback as a popular music genre. For a time it was jazz and cigars, jazz and strong coffee, swing dancing to big band favorites. Coinciding with that little renaissance was a comeback for the downtowns of many American cities including Springfield, Massachusetts. Sporting an entertainment district with a half dozen clubs, valet parking and the possibility of getting out alive, Springfield once again became a vibrant and fun destination for weekend entertainment. One of the Springfield hotspots was Caffeine’s Downtown Restaurant on Worthington Street, where the Eric Bascom Quintet became a regular feature, and for good reason. Eric is that rare bandleader who is equally fastidious about the music and the business that makes it possible. Always tuned in to the demands of the audience and the club owners, yet playing credible and swinging arrangements that keep the band interested, Eric’s long run at Caffeine’s makes perfect sense.
It also makes sense that Eric would approach the recording of his debut CD with a sense of business-like resolve. The music on All That Jazz is a thoughtfully chosen program of standards that maximizes the talents of the ensemble. Vocalist Ethel Lee leads the way through a package of straight ahead swingers and a couple of ballads that she has put her own individual stamp on. Ms. Lee is aided and abetted by the hip horn arrangements of trumpeter Ed Brainerd. Listening to Brainerd and saxophonist Mark Barowsky together, one can get a sense of how these horn arrangements evolved in intricacy night by night on the bandstand at Caffeine’s.
Rhythm section mates Gregory Caputo and Matthew Giannaros along with Bascom keep the arrangements moving along brightly, creating a live-performance feeling to this studio recording. Caputo is a drummer in demand who can often be found propelling any one of a number of well-known big bands, such as those of Count Basie, Artie Shaw, or Benny Goodman. He shines particularly here on Peggy Lee’s Fever , where his playing recalls and pays tribute but never copies, the great Shelley Manne.With occasional exceptions in the rhythm section, Eric Bascom’s band consistently comprises the players who appear on this CD, and there is strength in that consistency. There is a tendency in small group jazz toward pickup bands, and that’s fine when it works, but it is refreshing to hear a band with good charts well played by people who play together and know each others moves. This is such a band.
- Richard Mayer
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