The West Coast of the U.S. has long been blessed with a large complement of traditional jazz bands—professional and semi-professional—societies, and festivals, it seems. Before the COVID virus pandemic, there was a jazz club meeting or festival just about every week somewhere in Washington, Oregon, or California—an embarrassment of riches. Among the West Coast bands is the Black Swan Classic Jazz band from the Willamette Valley in Oregon, founded in 1989. From then until now it has appeared at many clubs and festivals, both on the West Coast and elsewhere, such as those to be found in Montana, Arizona, Missouri, Iowa, and British Columbia. The band has also issued numerous CDs, this one being the fourteenth.
Given these credentials, we might expect a fine CD, all other things being equal, but things are not. Not only has the band not been able to accept engagements for over a year, they also have not been able to record live as a group or in a studio because of the COVID pandemic. Yet despite these obstacles, the band has managed to rise above them and produce this fine CD.
Of the fourteen tracks, three feature original compositions by band members: “Git On Out the Door and Cut to the Bone” by tubaist and leader Kit Johnson and “Black Swan Glide” by clarinetist Steve Matthes. The first of these is a blues that evokes shades of “Shake That Thing” and is enhanced by
