RSSRuby Braff and Ellis Larkins [extended]
- Very Sinatra [Finesse, 1982] A-
- Calling Berlin Vol. 1 [Arbors, 1995] A-
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Consumer Guide Reviews:
Ruby Braff: Very Sinatra [Finesse, 1982]
At fifty-five, cornetist Braff has eleven years on the object of his veneration, but that's not why he adores melody so much more effectively than Frank these days. It's that in the end he's just as devoted to craft and a lot more modest about it; he has less talent, I suppose, but more taste. And it's taste above all that enables one to make a convincing case for the ersatz elegance of traditional pop. A-
Calling Berlin Vol. 1 [Arbors, 1995]
So imagine you walk into this, well, lounge in Miami. Or Atlantic City, say. Maybe Chicago. Two old guys are playing, one black and one white, piano and trumpet (cornet, actually, but why quibble?). It's jazz, all right, but not the arty kind--mostly you can follow the melodies, some identifiable ("Alexander's Ragtime Band," "Easter Parade," even you know those) and many vaguely familiar. The tunes are a little corny, and so's the playing now and then, yet the playing also has an attitude--jaunty or humorous or gently sarcastic or just damn pleased with the whole situation. Not campy at all, and never bad even when it seems generic. In short, it embodies the sophisticated spiritual ideal toward which lounge aspires while remaining too serious and self-possessed to tickle the young twits who claim to have rediscovered the stuff. If you're no twit yourself, two first-rate players and one major 20th-century composer may have something to offer you. A-