REVIEW: An Evening with Danny Bacher – Congenial Swing
When Danny Bacher sings “I Love Being Here with You” (Peggy Lee/William Schluger/additional lyrics Danny Bacher) he really means it. Few artists exude such palpable pleasure in performing. High spirited ease makes him as welcome as an old family friend.
From recent CD, Still Happy, his own “In Spite of All This, I’m Still Happy” combines 50s style with 2020s lyrics. Parlando segues to scatted conversation between a boy and girl. When Bacher scats, he moves – bends, sways, tilts a shoulder, and comes close to fingering – as if his sax were in hand. An instrumental “Cloudy”/“Nuages” also from the CD, arrives soulfully amblin’ down the road, tuneful, evocative, smooth (Bix Beiderbecke/Django Reinhardt).
The musician is something of a throwback, appreciating and presenting material from earlier eras as if yesterday, wearing “cool” as naturally as dapper threads. (Check out the shoes!) From whom else might one hear Nat King Cole’s “The Best Man?” …The way it all turned out/ There was no doubt/ That I was best man in the end/ Yes/ I was the best man/ When she married my best friend…
“Dream a Little Dream”…with me…(Fabian Andre/Wilbur Schwandt/ Gus Kahn) and “Honeysuckle Rose” (Andy Razaf/Fats Waller) are pristine. Even Bacher’s horn embroidery sticks to the songs’ appealing vertebrae. Swing is cozy and swaying.
Posted on February 24, 2020 by in Playing Around for Woman Around Town – CLICK HERE to read the full story