The Shirt Tail Stompers: Billet Doux

Of all the things being cancelled by you-know-what, the saddest to see knocked on the head would undoubtedly be Shirt Tail Stompers’ tenth birthday bash in Vilnius, Lithuania. (In my humble opinion, anyway.) The three-day music and dance spectacular scheduled for August will (hopefully) celebrate a remarkable decade for Steve Coombe and crew, who have wowed dancing and sit-down audiences from the West Coast to South Korea (travelling the long way around). Should the worst happen, however, we’ll still have their ten-year commemorative album to enjoy. Billet-doux is an audio love letter already signed, sealed, and delivered to the band’s many supporters (at least a thousand of whom are hoping for a Vilnius holiday, judging by Facebook interest). Released this month, the ten-track collection was free to download for ten days (I sense a theme…) and reached number one in the Bandcamp all-jazz charts. It’s easy to hear why: Coombe’s compilation sees floor-filling favourites like “Bei Mir Bist Du Schon” and “All Right, OK, You Win” rub shoulders with relative rarely-heards like Johnny Hodges’ “Something to Pat Your Foot To” and Buddy Guy’s “The Blues Don’t Care”; all delivered with the panache which make the band hot property at music and dance festivals worldwide. Each arrangement packs a rich, full sound which nonetheless leaves enough room for so