Kenny Clarke-Francy Boland And Company – The Golden Eight – Encore! (180gr.)

All the tracks, taken from the second of the May 1961 Golden Eight recording sessions, are now released for the first time, with liner notes by Mike HennesseyThis reissue is great news for the jazz-loving community. The multi-national Golden Eight ensemble assembled by Gigi Campi featured Kenny Clarke and Jimmy Woode (USA), Francy Boland and Chris Kellens (Belgium), Dusko Gojkovic (Yugoslavia), Raymond Droz (Switzerland), Derek Humble (UK) and Karl Drevo (Austria). And it was the forerunner of the legendary Clarke-Boland Big Band. Seven of the eleven pieces in the album are distinctive originals by Boland, the remaining four tracks being devoted to classic standards.The album opens with You Dig It, a brisk, marching blues by Boland with sprightly solos by Dusko Gojkovic, Derek Humble (in Parkerian mode), Karl Drevo and Kenny Clarke. There follows the Arthur Schwarz/Howard Dietz ballad, Alone Together, written in 1932 for the musical, Flying Colors. It is taken at a lively tempo and has Raymond Droz playing the melody on alto horn, followed by solos from Boland, Drevo, Humble and Woode.