Doug Munro’s New “Pompe Attack” Album

Doug Munro’s video introduction to his new La Pompe Attack album, Putt Lake Toodleloo (screen shot from the YouTube video)

A little less than two weeks ago, guitarist Doug Munro released the third album of the quintet he leads called La Pompe Attack. He describes his group as follows:

La Pompe Attack is a collective of like-minded musicians, we all share a special bond. We've created a community of players that are dedicated to each other and dedicated to the music. This is not a ‘paid for hire’ band put together for the sole purpose of making a recording. These are the people I work with day in and day out. We have a musical connection that can only come from playing together… a lot.

The title of the new album is Putt Lake Toodleloo; and as the hyperlink reveals, it is currently available only for MP3 downloads.

That musical connection has its roots in the legacy of gypsy jazz guitarist Django Reinhardt, who led a quintet of his own called the Quintette du Hot Club de France. Reinhardt led the group in conjunction with violinist Stéphane Grappelli. There was a fair amount of variation in the rhythm section; but the best known members were guitarists Roger Chaput and Joseph Reinhardt (Django’s son) and bassist Louis Vola.

Munro’s quintet differs primarily in his sharing leadership with an alto saxophonist, Albert Rivera, rather than a violinist. However, the second guitar varies among Vinny Raniolo, Ted Gottsegen, Ben Wood,  and Ernie Pugliese; and there are two alternating drummers, Ian Carroll and Jon Doty. The bassist is consistently Michael Goetz. Unlike Reinhardt, Munro also provides vocals on four of the tracks, creating his own eccentric lyrics for one of those tracks, “CastYourFateToTheWindCriedMary.”

The title of that song, along with along with the title of the album (which is also the title of the opening track) and the name of the group all suggest that there is a prankish side to the performance of all of the selections. Those selections include old standards such as “Confessin’,” whose tune by Chris Smith was originally sung by Fats Waller with different lyrics under the title “Lookin’ For Another Sweetie.” From the more recent past there is “Honey Pie,” composed by Paul McCartney for the double album best known as “the White Album;” and, on the modern jazz side, there is a Gypsy-style take on Wayne Shorter’s “Black Nile.”

It did not take much poking around Google to discover that La Pompe Attack has given concert and club performances, rather than spending all of its time in recording studios. Indeed, a YouTube search for “La Pompe Attack” yields an impressive number of videos, including a documentary about the making of the album The Harry Warren Songbook. However, the most recent performance video dates back to a gig at the Poli Club that took place on August 9, 1918.

In other words there is no shortage of material to provide the curious listener with background knowledge; however, writing as one for whom Putt Lake Toodleloo was a “first contact” experience, I can say that getting hooked on La Pompe Attack’s style is as easy as falling of a log.