Artist: Andy Panayi

Date of Release: 31/01/2006

Catalogue no: WVCD 109

Label: Woodville Records

Price: £12.99

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Track Listing

Appearances by

Simon Woolf

A tribute to the wonderful artistry of Gerry Mulligan, baritone saxophonist and composer. Featuring the Andy Panayi Quartet, Andy on baritone sax, Mark Nightingale on trombone, Simon Woolf on bass and Steve Brown on drums.

Reviews

27/01/2006 John Fordham - The Guardian

One of the UK's younger stalwarts, former National Youth Jazz Orchestra saxist Panayi has been a quiet presence on the scene - but his swing, depth of knowledge, and improvisational fluency have been enhancing other people's groups for more than a decade.
This tribute to the classic 1950s piano-less quartet, featuring the late baritone saxophonist Gerry Mulligan, is Panayi's pet project and, slightly unexpectedly, it's an absolute delight. The old arguments that you'd be better off listening to the originals don't apply, because Panayi and the buoyant, superhumanly fluent trombonist Mark Nightingale capture so much of this old two-horn format's freshness that it becomes a new experience. With Simon Woolf on bass and the unerring Steve Brown on drums, they mirror precisely the lightness and airy lyricism that Gerry Mulligan caught, despite playing the sepulchral-toned baritone.

The quartet applies the method to other related material than Mulligan's own, opening with a sizzling account of Art Farmer's Blueport, beautifully catching the floating coolness of Mulligan's classic, Line for Lyons, and even visiting Jimmy Rowles' The Peacocks as a smoky drifter of great tenderness. But the standout is almost the quietest track, the delicately stepping Festive Minor - conveying so much swing just with an understated bass walk and a hi-hat click.