Terry Waldo, a major classic jazz pianist and bandleader since the 1970s (remember his series of highly enjoyable Stomp Off albums of 1979-89?) is now 80 but still quite active. While the first of the three volumes in his Treasury series for the Turtle Bay label mostly featured the 2022 version of his Gotham City Band along with two earlier numbers, the recently released Volume Two has one session from Oct. 2018, and two songs apiece from May and June 2022.
The opening number, “Guess Who’s In Town,” features Veronica Swift in 2018 sounding a bit like Ethel Waters who made the song famous in the 1920s. Most impressive is that Ms. Swift, who normally sings both bop-oriented material and rock, sounds very much like a vocalist who performs 1920s music on a fulltime basis. Even her scatting is very much in the late ’20s style. It is a pity that this is her only appearance on this CD. I wish she would record a full album in this idiom.
Another major highpoint is a wonderful version of “Smiles” which begins with a relaxed scat chorus by Waldo. Trumpeter Mike Davis follows with a hot Bix-flavored solo before Waldo, with Arnt Arntzen contributing harmony, sings the lyrics in a charming fashion.
Among the other selections are “Snake Rag” in the King Oliver style (despite only having one trumpeter), a mid-1920s rendition of “Muscle Shoals Blues,” Molly Ryan sounding delightful on “Get Out And Get Under The Moon,” two features for banjoist Jerron Paxton, a near recreation of Bix and his Gang’s version of “Since My Best Gal Turned Me Down,” and a hot version of Sidney Bechet’s “Viper Mad.” With such key players as trombonist Jim Fryer and clarinetists Evan Arntzen and Mike Alexander in addition to Mike Davis, it is of little surprise that Terry Waldo so generously features his sidemen, but fortunately the pianist also has his spots. The results are so enjoyable that one looks forward eagerly to Volume 3 in Terry Waldo’s Treasury series.
Treasury Volume 2
Terry Waldo and his Gotham City Band
Turtle Bay TBR 25001
www.turtlebayrecords.com
Since 1975 Scott Yanow has been a regular reviewer of albums in many jazz styles. He has written for many jazz and arts magazines, including JazzTimes, Jazziz, Down Beat, Cadence, CODA, and the Los Angeles Jazz Scene, and was the jazz editor for Record Review. He has written an in-depth biography on Dizzy Gillespie for AllMusic.com. He has authored 11 books on jazz, over 900 liner notes for CDs and over 20,000 reviews of jazz recordings.
Yanow was a contributor to and co-editor of the third edition of the All Music Guide to Jazz. He continues to write for Downbeat, Jazziz, the Los Angeles Jazz Scene, the Jazz Rag, the New York City Jazz Record and other publications.
