Elly Roberts reviews
Parlophone
Johnny Mercer is best known for huge hits likeHooray For Hollywood, Moon River, Days Of Wine And Roses and co-founderof Capitol Records.
New Orleansjazz fusionist Mac Rebennnack, aka Dr. John, respectfully tackles some ofthe songs that are imbedded in the American national psyche and folklore.That olOrleans magic comes into play with almost everything Dr. Johntouches, and this is no exception.
From the start it has to be said its abold move on his behalf, because you invariably know that the outcome willbe different to the original, particularly with classics like Moon Riverfrom hit film Breakfast At Tiffanys. Overall, its a peculiar blend ofjazziness and popular hits, though it shows that Dr. John has both thecapability, and more importantly, the credibility to conquer the dauntingtask of making them believable all over again.
Originally an idea bydaughter Tina, who initially suggested a cover of Personality, it blossomedinto a full albums worth of material. With possibly one thousands worth ofMercer material at his disposal, hes plucked a good range to re-work.Starting with a swampy blues style accompanied by steel guitar, he soonventures into a masterful interpretation of Blues In The Night as the LowerThird swing into a funky jazzy shuffle.
You Must Have Been is virtuallyunrecognisable, not that it matters as the Doctors adds his southern drawlto the chorus check the beauuuutiful baby. The shuffling wonder of ImAn Old Cow Hand, a lightweight instrumental, leads to a cabaret stylekeyboard lead Dream.
Big hit Moon River is handled with great care andattention, now re-worked into a steady funky jaunt, again cleverlytransformed by his unique voice and stylings. Jazzing it up for the close,Save The Bones For Henry Jones closes a classy collection, effortlesslydoing justice to a great songwriter.
The full list of tracks included are :
1. Blues In The Night
2. You Must Have Been A Beautiful Baby
3. Personality
4. Hit The Road To Dreamland
5. Im An Old Cow Hand
6. Dream
7. Lazy Bones
8. That Old Black Magic
9. Come Rain Or Come Shine
10. Moon River
11. Tangerine
12. I Aint No Johnny Mercer
13. Save The Bones For Henry Jones
Elly Roberts passed away in 2011, but he was a man who was so passionate about all types of music and loved meeting his musical heroes, such as Mick Hucknall at a book signing at the Trafford Centre, Manchester in 2007.
A former teacher and also a music journalist, DJ and radio presenter on local community station Calon FM, plus appearances on BBC Radio Wales, BBC Radio Cymru and BBC Radio 2, Elly started doing reviews for DVDfever.co.uk in 2004 and he did the majority of the CD and concerts reviews on the website.
I know also that he loved getting away for the summer to Spain and I hope that wherever he is now he is enjoying the hot sunshine and, as one of his friends has said on his Facebook page, that he is interviewing his musical heroes.