Janet Klein and her Parlor Boys • Mutiny in the Parlor

After the minimalist musical joy that was reviewing a pared-down album, I was ready to hear something just a bit more symphonic. Enter stage left—and right on cue—Mutiny In The Parlor: the latest release by Janet Klein and Her Parlor Boys. Unveiled just a month ago, it’s the twelfth full-length release by the veteran vocalist/ukulelist and her band and oy, it’s got me eager to explore their whole back catalog.

Klein has been performing early jazz since 1996, when I was still in short trousers. (Speaking of which, I was delighted to discover that the California-based singer has also voiced characters in two of my favorite cartoons: Adventure Time and Over the Garden Wall.) Vaudeville is in her blood, being a descendent of 1940s stage magician Marty Klein. She has collaborated since 1998 with guitarist John Reynolds (grandson of silent movie starlet ZaSu Pitts), peddling a combination of popular and lesser-known classics of the American and Jewish American jazz canon.

Their latest joint effort has an undeniable manouche flavor to it with Reynolds’ strumming, Benny Brydern’s violin and Marquis Howell’s bass dominating many arrangements. But with Randy Woltz at the piano (and occasionally xylophone) while Corey Gemme, Gareth Price, Geoff Nudell and Brian Clancy drop in and out on cornet, drums and saxes akimbo, the record’s tone swings gaily from ukulele solo to octet and back again.

It’s a wonderful collection of crooning and dance music, pairing favorites like “When It’s Sleepy Time Down South” and “Willow Weep For Me” (presented here in a lovely voice, ukulele and guitar format) with relative rarities like Irving Berlin’s “The Monkey Doodle Doo” and “When the Folks High Up Do the Mean Low-Down”—a rollicking Charleston-type number to which Reynolds also lends his smooth voice.

Klein’s singing tone is youthful and sweet—sitting somewhere between Annette Hanshaw and Mae Questel (that’s Betty Boop, to you)—and combines the clarity of classical training with the breathy, slightly drawling girl-next-door quality of a music hall singer in a package which is very listenable. It crowns instrumental arrangements which are imaginative and fun, evoking Merrie Melodies cartoons (particularly “On The Beach With You” and “San”) and allowing all the players their moment in the limelight.

The production is superb in the main, though there were occasions on which the balancing left me in a bit of a headspin. During the final bars of “On The Beach With You,” for instance, my brain struggled to keep up with the barrage of chords coming alternately from the piano and guitar, which were panned hard to the left and right respectively. This effect would no doubt be less noticeable on studio monitors, but on headphones it’s more than a bit dizzying.

There were also a couple of tracks—I’m thinking of “Struttin’ With Some Barbecue” in particular—on which Klein’s voice got just a little lost amongst the instruments, which could perhaps have done with being mixed just a little quieter. By contrast, album closer “When It’s Sleepy Time Down South” sounds just delightful—like Klein whispering a lullaby in your ear, while her band plinks and tootles quietly on the other side of the room.

I will definitely be checking out what else Klein and co have done over the last 27 years, and would heartily recommend that you do the same. Mutiny In The Parlor seems like a great starting point, and can be had as a download for just $10 right now on their Bandcamp.

Mutiny In The Parlor
Janet Klein and Her Parlor Boys
janetklein.bandcamp.com