Book Him Danno

This is an album that I wouldn't buy nowadays but was an impulse buy when it appeared in the small jazz section of a classical mail order catalogue. The disk in question is called Kiss And Tell and is by guitarist Martin Taylor. Taylor is a fine guitarist and there is much to enjoy and admire on he record but it does stray a bit too close to smooth or cocktail jazz for my tastes. The sort of album that is played as background music in the early evening as the sun goes down at clifftop restaurants owned by gay couples on the Algarve. Having damned with faint praise, I'll admit to getting a lot of fun out of reworkings of things like the theme from the movie / tv series The Odd Couple and a witty slow drag version of Five - 0 ( yep, Hawaii, Jack Lord and all ) plus the Maria Muldaur hit Midnight At The Oasis. The standards Mona Lisa and The Nearness Of You are tastefully played and among the originals Ginger, written for a prize fighting great grandfather, is particularly striking. Apart from Taylor, there are solo contributions from piano, sax, and trombone although I have to admit that the names of the players mean nothing to me, Randy Brecker on flugelhorn excepted.