Jack Parnell - Big Band Swing

Jazz Professional

CD Review

BIG BAND SWING

Jack, Buddy and Maynard
What the bands were doing
Parnell programmes
Jack Parnell on Ron's Pages
The Great Big Bands

Interviews
Looking back— and forward
All– electric big band
CD Review
Big Band Swing

Reviewed by Ron Simmonds

New Recording

JACK PARNELL

"BIG BAND SWING"

Kick Off, drum duet Phil Seamen and Jack Parnell; ®Fanfare Boogie; ®Trip To Mars; ®Ready Willing And Able, vocalist Eve Boswell; ®Skin Deep, drum duet Phil Seamen and Jack Parnell; ®Sky Blue Shirt, vocalist Jack Parnell; ®Sure Thing; ®Topaz, trombone Laddy Busby ; ®One For The Money; ®Sixteen Tons, vocalist Jack Parnell; ®Cotton Tail; ®Fuller Bounce; ®April in Paris; ®Blowin' Wild, vocalist Dennis Hale; ®Love And Marriage; ®Catherine Wheel; ®The Devil's Eyes, vocalist Dennis Hale; ®Carioca; ®The Hawk Talks; ®The Heart You Break (Maybe Your Own), vocalist Eve Boswell; ®Night Train, trombone Laddy Busby; ®Waltzing The Blues (Without You), vocalist Jack Parnell; ®Shake Rattle & Roll, Jack Parnell and The Crackerjacks; ®Melancholy Serenade; ®Knock Out

EMI Gold 7243 5 26347

Collective personnel:
Trumpets: Jimmy Watson, Ron Simmonds, Albert Hall, Jimmy Deuchar, Jo Hunter, Hank Shaw, Mo Miller
Trombones: Laddy Busby, Jimmy Wilson, Harry Roche, Mac Minshull, Don Lusher, Ken Wray,
Saxophones: Derek Humble, Ronnie Scott, Pete King, Tubby Hayes, Don Honeywill, Bob Burns, Ronnie Keene, Joe Temperley, Harry Klein
Piano: Max Harris, Bass: Sammy Stokes, Drums: Phil Seamen, Allan Ganley, Kenny Clare.

Tall, debonair, handsome....he could sing too, in the style of some of the finest American crooners. ...
Read John Killoch's report on this CD

What nostalgia! Most of the band titles were recorded with Jack's small band on 78 rpm between 1952 and 1954. Those with Eve Boswell and Dennis Hale came later on when Jack had the big band. I came on the band in January 1953 and stayed until 1960. That was a long time for me to stay anywhere, but it was a great band to be in—just look at all those players!

I followed Jimmy Watson into the job, but he used to come back and play with us now and then—with Jimmy Deuchar and Jo Hunter that was a hot trumpet section! I've put one or two bits of the trumpet unisons Jimmy Watson used to write for us in the Technical pages. (Watson examples)

There are some priceless tracks on this CD—outstanding among them are Kick Off and Skin Deep, where Jack and Phil Seamen play their stunning drum duets. These are not individual solos—both drummers play the same solo! The result is unbelieveable. One can imagine the impact this had on the audiences, not to mention the guys in the band. These two titles, plus Jimmy Watson's Catherine Wheel make this CD a must for everyone. It certainly brought back a whole bunch of memories for me, especially Sky Blue Shirt, one of the first charts I wrote for the band.