Dave Gelly, Author at Jazz Journal

Ace Of Clubs – A Celebration Of The 100 Club

Dave Gelly — Fri, 18 Mar 2022 15:08:39 +0000

This October, on Monday the 24th to be exact, it will be 80 years since the sound of live music was first heard in the basement of 100 Oxford Street, London. Since then, under the name 100 Club, and quite a few others before that, it has acted as a home to music – not […]

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Al Cohn & Joe Newman: The Swingin’ Sessions 1954-55

Dave Gelly — Sat, 12 Feb 2022 14:16:35 +0000

The six albums that make up this mature and satisfying collection are presented rather like the work of a repertory company, with the same names turning up in different combinations, and Al Cohn and Joe Newman as permanent star performers. The result is the kind of easygoing teamwork that inspires the best in everyone. You […]

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Miles Davis: Sketches of Spain

Dave Gelly — Sun, 23 Jan 2022 12:58:47 +0000

The years 1957 to 1960 saw Miles Davis bring about what came to be called “modal” jazz – the use of scales and static chords in place of the constantly moving harmonies, or “changes” of bebop. His progress through these years, as captured on record, includes the album Milestones, his soundtrack music for the French […]

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Stacey Kent: Songs From Other Places

Dave Gelly — Wed, 08 Dec 2021 22:35:53 +0000

These 10 songs were recorded during lockdown and first released, one at a time, as digital singles. Each, in its own way, reveals the universal longing at that time for movement, travel and the outside world – the “other places” that the songs come from. It’s hard to believe that even the two performing artists, […]

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Louis Armstrong and Bing Crosby: Bing & Satchmo

Dave Gelly — Sun, 07 Nov 2021 09:01:03 +0000

Even though they must have spent hundreds of hours performing and exchanging banter on Crosby’s radio and television shows over at least a couple of decades, this is the only album this pair ever made together. It’s the lightest of light entertainment, but they were both so stupendously good at what they did that I’ve […]

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Jo Harrop: The Heart Wants

Dave Gelly — Thu, 04 Nov 2021 11:39:45 +0000

Like many people, the first time I heard Jo Harrop was her debut album, Weathering The Storm, last year. I thought it was marvellous, and still do. What I didn’t realise, until hearing this one, was her stylistic range. Because Weathering The Storm was a collection of ballads, and she sang them with such warmth […]

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Peggy Lee: All Aglow Again

Dave Gelly — Sun, 17 Oct 2021 13:24:13 +0000

The original All Aglow Again was released in 1960, a canny mixture of Peggy Lee’s then-recent hits, starting with the biggest of all, Fever (1958), and reaching back as far as Mañana (1947). The intention was to establish her in the public mind as not just a popular singer, but – to quote the original […]

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Various: Swing In The Films Of Woody Allen

Dave Gelly — Tue, 31 Aug 2021 22:56:08 +0000

No doubt this is aimed at those of us who hang about at the end of a Woody Allen movie, getting in people’s way as the credits roll. All those tasty little bursts of music that are gone before you can place them? Here are 21 to enjoy at full length. It’s a nice idea, […]

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Blossom Dearie: Little Jazz Bird 1952-1959

Dave Gelly — Mon, 19 Apr 2021 17:08:51 +0000

Actually, there’s only one item here from 1952. It’s tucked away as a bonus track at the end of the first disc: a 24-year-old Blossom singing Moody’s Mood For Love in her little-girl voice, with King Pleasure. Is that hip or what? The rest of the music on this triple CD runs from 1955 to […]

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Group Sounds Four & Five: Black & White Raga

Dave Gelly — Wed, 07 Apr 2021 16:14:18 +0000

Despite Beatlemania and the Swinging Sixties fizzing all around it, the London jazz scene at that time was full of young bands determinedly getting themselves together. Group Sounds Five was one of the best, both as an ensemble and individually. If you want proof, then listen to Celebrity Stomp here. You can tell that this […]

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