Musicians: Buddy DeFranco (clarinet); John Pizzarelli (guitar, vocals on tracks 2,3); Martin Pizzarelli (bass); Ray Kennedy (piano); Butch Miles (drums).
Review: Here’s Buddy DeFranco, the world’s foremost be-bop clarinetist, in a very different setting. The winner of countless awards from Downbeat, Metronome and Playboy jazz polls makes an appearance with the John Pizzarelli Trio and drummer Butch Miles.
A veteran of the reed sections of the bands of Gene Krupa, Charlie Barnet, Tommy Dorsey and Boyd Raeburn, DeFranco pushed the clarinet to its limits exploring the world of Be-Bop. His acceptance was immediate, even at a time when his chosen instrument had fallen into disfavor among jazz fans. This writer still cherishes the Lennie Tristano-Buddy DeFranco session titled Crosscurrents of the late 1940s. It stands as a classic today and this 2004 session prompted me to grab the old vinyl disk from the shelf and give it a spin. It’s still great!
DeFranco has aged very well. At 81, he continues to perform in the classy manor that has always been his trademark. The comparative “youngsters”, Pizzarelli and Butch Miles have now time to relax when in the company of the swinging veteran. When seeing the personnel listed on the CD for the first time, my first thought was “This won’t work”, but it does. John Pizzarelli takes a couple of vocals on Prisoner Of Love and What Is This Thing Called Love. DeFranco fans will rejoice when they hear Buddy’s old MGM hit Dancing In The Dark but the lid blows off when the quintet launches Bird’s Scrapple From The Apple and the clarinetist’s own Cookin’ The Books. A highlight is Ray Kennedy’s great solo on Scrapple.
Cookin’ The Books is a delightful album with wide appeal to fans of all jazz genres.
Tracks: Softly, As In a Morning Sunrise; Prisoner Of Love; What Is This Thing Called Love?; Cookin’ The Books; I Lost The Blues; East Of The Sun; Dancing In The Dark; Poor Butterfly; Gone With The Wind; Scrapple From The Apple.
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