The Exciting Joe Williams

The Exciting Joe Williams is among the best of several big band jazz records I've acquired in recent months. It's one of those LPs which just sounds fantastic from the moment the needle hits it, despite getting off to what is, to my mind, a slightly shaky start, thanks to an inadvisably upbeat, jazz-hands waving version of 'Ol' Man River'. The second song, 'This is the Life', however, is much more like it, and puts things on a surer footing that's then maintained throughout.

On 'This is the Life', among other numbers, Williams' smooth and strong baritone sounds somewhat Sinatra-like, and his delivery has a similarly (and justifiably) confident swagger about it. Frank may have had the edge when interpreting a slow ballad, but on uptempo numbers, Joe was at least as good.

Other favourites of mine on the record are 'Come In Out Of The Rain', 'Gypsy In My Soul', and, especially 'Last Love, Last Kiss, Goodbye'. The last-named starts as though it's wandered in from a different album, in a Ray Charles-like R&B vein, with just guitar, piano, bass & drums backing Williams, until all the horns kick in - to exhilarating effect. I wonder if the choice of songs could have been improved upon in some cases, and maybe 'Ol' Man River' given a more conventional arrangement, but everything else about this record: the playing & singing, the production & recording, the mastering & pressing is excellent.

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