The Fat Babies Uptown

The Fat Babies
Uptown
Delmark

The Fat Babies are an eight-piece jazz band interpreting classic styles of the 1920s and 30s. Founded in 2010 by string bass player Beau Sample, its members include Andy Schumm (cornet), John Otto (reeds), Jonathan Doyle (reeds), Dave Bock (trombone), John Donatowicz (banjo and guitar), Paul Asaro (piano), and Alex Hall (drums).

This is their fourth album for Delmark. Like their previous ones, this recording is a gem of traditional jazz, whether reworking King Oliver, some early Kansas City Jazz, James P. Johnson, and others or playing some original compositions that sound like they were from the 1920s and 1930s. A prominent example is "Uptown," composed by Andy Schumm. It evokes Bennie Moten, and the lesser-known George E. Lee Orchestra, with its steady gait and an opening solo from Bock on trombone working into trading licks between Bock and the other horns. Schumm wrote most of the arrangements. Doyle did arrange Bennie Moten's "Harmony Blues," with the vibrato-laden horn lines, hot cornet from Schumm, growling trombone, and a stately piano solo while Donatowicz provides a crisp rhythm on banjo. It is followed by Schumm's transcription and arrangement of Jesse Stone's "Ruff Scufflin'," with The Fat Babies transversing the intricacies of the melodic elements of this tune. The original George E. Lee Orchestra recording was one of the classics of Kansas City Jazz.

Asaro sings in the fashion of a crooner of a twenties sweet band on "Out of a Clear Blue Sky," with handsome backing and a clarinet trio chorus. After an evocative Doyle original, "Sweet Is the Night," there is the jumping James P. Johnson, "Thumpin' "N" Bumpin'." On the latter number, Bock and Schumm add a bit of heat with their short breaks. "The Spell of the Blues" is more of a torch song than an actual blues song that features crisp alto sax and cornet breaks. The spirited cover of Clarence Williams'"Harlem Rhythm Dance" features Schumm's fiery plunger mute cornet, Asaro's vocal, and Doyle's tenor sax.

There are few bands (Vince Giordano and the Nighthawks in New York is another) that play the music of the twenties and thirties as well as do The Fat Babies. "Uptown" is superbly played and an absolute delight for fans of early jazz.

I received my review copy from Delmark Records. Here are The Fat Babies in performance performing "It's Tight Like That," which is not on this recording.