from the Bandcamp Web page
Another recent release on Eastlawn Records, produced by its co-founder, the percussionist RJ Spangler, has the rather extended title Planet D Nonet Live at the Scarab Club: Tribute to Buddy Johnson. Johnson was a pianist and bandleader, whose career began in New York in the late Thirties. In 1941 he formed a nine-piece orchestra to perform his own compositions. Thus Planet D Nonet is a tribute not only to the many songs that Johnson composed (many of which were “top ten” hits) but also the size of his band.
Readers may recall that the last account of Spangler’s performance involved the septet he founded in partnership with trombonist John “Tbone” Paxton on the album Ugqozi, where the ensemble turned out to be an octet. Similarly, the Planet D Nonet band on this album actually has ten members. Paxton supplements his trombone work with lead vocals. Spangler shares leadership with first trumpet James O’Donnell, who also provides background vocals. The Music Director is tenor saxophonist Jim Holden, while the saxophone section is led by Justin Jozwiak on alto and includes Goode Wyche III on baritone. Charlies Miller plays second trumpet; and the rest of the rhythm section is provided by Michael Zaporski on piano, Matt LoRusso on guitar, and Shannon Wade on bass. There are also two additional featured vocalists: Camille Price and Leonard King.
Johnson’s career took him into the Seventies. Thus, over the course of more than three decades, he turned out hits in genres including swing jazz, rhythm and blues, and “top ten” pop hits. At the same time, he seems to have figured out how to “go with the flow” with the emergence of rock and roll. All of this involves an impressive consistency of success in genres decidedly different from the South African jazz rhetoric on the Ugqozi album.
Mind you, my personal tastes tend to prefer the longer-duration developments encountered on that Ugqozi album. However, Johnson was going for the more popular trade; and that meant creating tunes and arrangements that would fit on one side of a 78 RPM record. Thus, his success in the forties basically involved building on what had worked in the past, rather than what was just beginning to emerge in the bebop movement. This was the beginning of a shift in priorities between dancing and listening. Nevertheless, the club date at the Scarab, which provided the content for this new album, probably involved a venue for listening, rather than dancing; but the resulting recording may well encourage listeners to get off their seats and refresh their memories of dancing!
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