In recent years I have been thoroughly enjoying the works of big band leader and arranger Ed Palermo as he has taken songs and turned them into jazz classics. The person getting the treatment this time is none other than Edgar Winter, an artist I have consistently admired since I discovered ‘They Only Come Out at Night’ some 45 years ago. The first thing I did when I got this album was to check the track listing, and immediately smiled as neither of the two tracks I expected to see are here! Yep, no “Frankenstein” and no “Free Ride”! There are a lot of people, particularly in Europe, who only really know Edgar for the first of those, so this really is aimed at the solid fan. For this outing Ed has also brought in quite a few guests to expand on his 17-strong big band, so we have the likes of guitarists Robben Ford (who I have been a fan of for years) and Jimmy Leahy, violinist Katie Jacoby, and singers Kimberly Davis, Keith Anthony Fluitt, Vanesse Thomas, Chrissi Poland, Deb Lyons, Carlos Murguía, and Rob Paparozzi.
I must admit I don’t know all the songs being covered here, but that does not really matter as I know that Ed will stay both true to the original and totally change it as the same time, which is what makes his albums so invaluable to fans of big band jazz and the original artists alike. There are times when he makes the album swing in the way which only happens when there is a big band in the house, but one of the highlights is “Dyin’ To Live” with a stellar vocal performance from Keith Anthony Fluitt, as here we switch from ballad to torch song, always passionate, always special. Contrast that to “Jump Right Out” which sounds like it has come to us straight from the Golden Age – Ed’s arrangements for brass are simply stunning.
In some ways it is strange that it has taken Palermo so long to come around to covering Winter as he is a self-confessed superfan, and he even had Winter session on his own debut album back in 1982. “When I was in high school, I was just a rock and roller,” he notes. “I didn’t listen to any jazz — but me and my friends were all fans of Johnny Winter, because we liked blues.” That put Edgar, then a member of Johnny’s group, on Palermo’s radar, and after hearing Winter’s first recording as a leader, 1970’s ‘Entrance’, he was wowed. “I couldn’t believe what I heard,” he recalls. “There was so much jazz on it, and I was amazed I liked it so much. Jazz to me was corny stuff I heard on The Merv Griffin Show. But I was a saxophone player, and Edgar’s sax playing was astonishing, and the songs were so cool.” For fans of big band jazz or Edgar Winter, this is yet another triumph.
Rating: 9/10
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