Together

 Monarch Records

Kathy Troccoli and Sandi Patti

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The Tunes

Together, Come Rain Or Come Shine, Get Happy/Happy Days Are Here Again, A Foggy Day, Somewhere Over The Rainbow, Embraceable You, They Can't Take That Away From Me, You Made Me Love You, Summertime, The Man I Love, The Trolley Song, The Last Day, I Remember

The Review

 I've seen it all the time. From Subway platforms to street corners, there are excellent, unknown musicians in our world playing for donations. The music business has got to be one of the most fiercely competitive industries in the world, or at least in the United States where all things are treated as products. Now, I consider myself to be fairly in touch with the jazz world and most of the artists therein. Along comes a CD with a wonderful duo, Sandi Patty and Kathy Troccoli and I don't have a single clue as to who they are.

 After listening to their music several times over, I am even more befuddled as to why I haven't heard them before. While they're not purely jazz singers, sic. Each of them is heads and shoulders above a lot of the pop cultured icons that parade before us daily through the media. Sandi Patty and Kathy Troccoli are two excellent singers with wonderful range, TASTE, and sounds and should be known to a much wider audience. Doing some detective work on my own, I came to find that each of these singers has their backgrounds singing within the Christian tradition. Well, on behalf of George Gershwin, Judy Garland, Sarah Vaughn and the rest of us, welcome.

The set starts off with the pair singing the title song, Together with a nice light and bouncy show business introduction. They don't try to knock your heads off with ultrasonic dynamics and ear splitting high notes.

Sandi Patty solos on The last day. She is articulate and has an unembellished sound that is as pure as silver. Her breathing and intonation are well controlled, again, without the hysteria of dynamics.

Kathy Troccoli solos on Embraceable you. Kathy, more relaxed and grooving more in the jazz tradition. She knows exactly where to accent, linger on a note, fade, stretch and at times I am hearing some of Sarah in her sound. She gets some neat backing with the small group with a tender solo by flugelhornist, Steve Huffsteter.

Sandi Patty shows us she too can swing. On A foggy day. She lopes along splendidly with a nice arrangement and good big band accompaniment.

Kathy, cuts loose on a real swinging, Latino feeling, arrangement of, Come rain or come shine.

Summertime is treated to all of the respect its due by Patty. The arrangement is tight and swings. There is a nice clarinet solo (uncredited).

Kathy gives us a breathy and, un - Christianlike sensual reading of You made me love you. The big band arrangements of all the sides really swing and help propel both singers to heights unknown.

I Remember sounds like it could have come off a soundtrack of some super Hollywood flick. Kathy sings it straight and also had something to do with the penning of the song.

We get treated to hearing the verse of They can't take that away from me from Sandi. This is my favorite track featuring Sandi on the CD.

Kathy starts the Judy Garland evergreen, The Trolley song, in 6/8 time before kicking into 4/4 overdrive.

Sandi shows us some feeling and control during, The man I love. What may be missing is that feeling of pain, longing or suffering that usually accompanies the lyric. The ending disappoints in its flag waving, show stopping climax.

They sing a duet again on Somewhere over the rainbow. They give it a lofty rendition paying homage to Judy Garland as they sing it.

They close the set with another duet combining the lyrics of Get Happy/Happy Days Are Here Again done in a rousing curtain closing climax.

I like both singers and feel they have a lot of excellent qualities together and individually. I would love to hear future recordings singing some Duke Ellington, Bobby Troup or Johnny Mercer so as to catch their flavors on a much larger plate.

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Bradley Allen

Tunes

Itty Bitty Bill, All the things you are, Jump, jive & wail, St. Thomas, Route 66, Nostalgia in Times Square, Mercy, Mercy, Mercy, Cherokee

Bradley Allen, Drums

Tom DeMasters, Guitar and Vocals

Craig Akin, Bass

Johnie Eager, Trombone

Phil Brenner, Sax

Review

This is a nice toe tapping set with a mixed bag of jazz standards from this young drummer from Missouri's first recording. With the sudden revival of the swing era upon us, Bradley seems to fit right in with this current trend, especially with tunes like, Jump, jive and wail, and the funky blues, Itty Bitty Bill which get nice vocal treatments from guitarist Tom DeMasters. On St. Thomas, Bradley offers a nice melodic drum solo that clings to the lines of the Sonny Rollins original. Cherokee, is a fast tempoed romp and gets treated to a nifty tenor solo by Phil Brenner. All the things you are is played straight ahead with some original lines from guitarist, Tom DeMasters who later trades some nice fours with Bradley. The Mingus tune, Nostalgia in Times Square works nicely with the guitar trio. DeMasters solos once again on Mercy, Mercy, Mercy with some clever guitar licks.

All the pieces on the CD are short and there's no stretching out or explorations by these young and talented musicians. They play the set straight and swing with a subtlety that lends itself to dancing and having a good time. This is the kind of group you like to hear in your favorite local supper club, if for no other reason, to have a good time, have a couple of drinks and tap your feet to their steady beat.

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Bruce Arnold

Tunes:

A few dozen

Reflection

7th Street

Numbers prelude

Numbers

Broadway Y2K

Dialog

Review

A few dozen, for twelve tones, takes us on a musical exploration in the classical structure venturing us from ballads to rumbas. Bruce Arnold, who has written all of the compositions on this CD, is complemented by two superb musicians, Tony Moreno, drums and percussion and Ratzo B. Harris, acoustic bass. Together, they take us out a bit but do not lose us on their musical journey. All the compositions are extremely interesting and bear re-listening. I found this set to be far from academic as it does contain elements of charm, humor and it swings hard in places as well.

The CD opens with the title track, A Few Dozen. Played in a total twelve tone environment, it manages to swing well with some nice lines from Arnold and sparkling rhythms from Moreno.

Reflection is a dreamy ballad that has some nourishing lines that paint a lovely portrait. Ratzo plays an in depth bass solo in back of some lush compings by Arnold. Listen especially to the brush work in back of Arnold's solo.

7th. Street demonstrates some swinging trio work in back of a twelve tone blanket encompassing the group. There are some rather intense moments that sparkle throughout the piece like the dialog between Moreno's drums with R2DT.

Numbers prelude floats like a mobile in space and is dark, brooding and mysterious. There's an eerie feeling in the music reminiscent to that of a Kubrick film.

Broadway Y2K is a mixed bag with some swinging Latino lines.

Dialog is completely a twelve tone contrapuntal extended piece. All three swing in a remarkable way. There is a complete feeling of freedom during the solos. Ratzo plays a remarkable bass solo that defies musical gravity as he explores, wanders and expounds upon the outer reaches of his instrument.

A few dozen is rich with new ideas for jazz. For most of us this is a welcome addition to the jazz vocabulary. These three, very talented players, have a lot to offer us and we look forward to future recordings.

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