JAZZY SELECTIONS: Dave Pell - Jazz Goes Dancing

The Dave Pell Octet, which made its first recordings in 1953 on the Trend label in LA, came out of the Les Brown big band and was the epitome of a swinging, cool, West Coast-style jazz group. Pell's ensemble at the time consisted of the leader on tenor sax, trumpeter Don Fagerquist , trombonist Ray Sims, baritone saxist Marty Berman, pianist Arnold Ross, guitarist Tony Rizzi, bassist Bob Bates and drummer Irv Kluger. In order to increase his audience, Pell went out of his way to play for dancing audiences without altering the melody much. This long-out-of-print LP is an excellent example of Dave Pell's music of the era, with a dozen songs (two originals and ten vintage standards) whose titles have something to do with college-age dancers. Examples include "Young and Healthy," "The Continental," "When I Take My Sugar to Tea" and "Walkin' My Baby Back Home." While every track is well worth the price of admission, one stand-out is the haunting “If I Had You”, biased though I may be as this song seems to be one that can have no bad rendition, Pell brings it to a new and delightful height. RCA out-did themselves on the engineering of all the Pell works that graced their late 50’s label, with an intimate closeness that brings the entire ensemble right into your living room without the musical pyrotechnics that many labels tried to enhance a bands performance with. 

Musical rating 9 out of 10

Performance rating 10 out of 10

Overall Album Rating 9 out of 10

Review by Al!