Home Of My Heart

Walden's virtuoso jazz team plays excitingly, enthusiastically, and they blend, integrate splendidly. The programme has plenty of variety; there is always something to excite and stimulate the ear. The programme opens in high-spirited, up-beat style with Ray Noble's well-known Cherokee that includes some breath-taking solo alto sax and trumpet solos from Jeff Driskill and Kye Palmer. Feet First is another breezy, foot-tapping track with Alan Steinberger's hot piano. In a more relaxed mood I especially enjoyed Christopher Gross's Rainy Day in Vancouver with a gorgeous, hypnotic, Latin-inflected percussion ostinato and a beautifully, slinkily-paced, tenderly romantic tune carried by trumpets and trombones. This track is worth the price of the CD alone. Another enchanting �rainy' number comes with the band's hauntingly romantic rendering of Here's That Rainy Day. The title number, Chris Walden's Home of My Heart is another treasure with lovely romantic solos, including a non-billed piano part, and impressively sophisticated multi-part interplay between the instruments. Rob Lochart's smoky tenor sax beguiles in Here's Looking At You. Tango takes over as the brass proudly rasp out Astor Piazzolla's Nonino with Frank Marocco's accordion providing appropriate colour. The only vocal number is delivered in great style by smoky-voiced Tierney Sutton, her voice moulding, blending silkily with the band in How Long Has This Been Going On?

Of the film-related numbers, Walden's three fun pastiche Film-Noire tracks capture, in No.1, the sleazy world of B-film thrillers, No. 2 seems to suggest a more sinister, shadowy, more sophisticated world with blousy trumpet by Bobby Shew, while the faster No. 3 is sardonic and reminds me of something of the world of Bullitt or Dirty Harry. Dave Grusin's music for Mulholland Falls, sparkles; all dark sophistication

I hope this programme does not languish in Promo-CD land. It deserves a wide general release and every success. Hugely enjoyable.

****1/2 STARS