Review by Reina Riley

Release Date: 06/26/07
Producers: Joel Frahm & Manuel Valera
Musicians: Anat Cohen (clarinet, bass clarinet, soprano sax, tenor sax, alto sax); Avishai Cohen (trumpet); Joel Frahm (tenor sax, soprano sax, alto sax); Manuel Valera (piano, Wurlitzer); Jason Lindner (Hammond B3, piano, Wurlitzer, Moog); Barak Mori (acoustic bass); Daniel Freedman (drums, percussion). Special guests: Scott Robinson (baritone sax); Vic Juris (electric guitar).
Format: CD (2 Discs)
Label: Anzic

The members of the Waverly 7 represent a rare breed in contemporary popular music: young, talented players with great taste. Whoever chose the songs for this 2-CD tribute knew a lot about Bobby Darin, and his broad musical interests. Harvested from nine original Darin albums, two hit singles, unreleased material, and one movie, these tunes run the gamut, from smash hit singles such as Splish Splash and Artificial Flowers, to lesser known but equally important tracks, such as Darin's magnificent All The Way from the 2004 Aces Back to Back compilation. Cherry picking some of Darin's best, the Waverly 7 pays proper respect to the man's swinging soul. It is beyond wonderful for a Darin fan to see the relevance that Bobby has to musicians so many years after his passing. Wake up, Bobby, here we go again.

Disc 1 starts off with a bang, as the combo launches into a Darin-style up-tempo performance of Charade. Anat Cohen's solo work on clarinet is excellent. Avishai Cohen on trumpet, tenor sax player Joel Frahm, and pianist Manuel Valera are also standouts. You can double your pleasure by imagining you hear Bobby singing with them.

The members of this septet are multi-talented. Most of them play more than one instrument, and thus the listener is treated to many different instrumental colors: bass clarinet, soprano sax, and Wurlitzer keyboards, to name a few. They also share an understanding about Bobby Darin: He is a jazz-based, R&B influenced singer of standards who inspires a number of young musician/singers that are coming to flower in our time.

Their rendition of Splish Splash is a rhythm and blues shout-out. Everyone is having a ball, including the listener. Humor and raunch abound throughout the raucous playing of baritone saxman Scott Robinson and the sizzling guitar work of Vic Juris. Pianist Jason Lindner joins in for a solo and Daniel Freedman on drums provides lots of joyful entertainment. No doubt Bobby is grinning.

Nature Boy is another highlight. Nat Cole recorded this song and had a big hit in 1948. In 1962, Bobby Darin brought some rock n' roll ambience to it. Who can ever forget his background sha-la-la-la-loos and his use of falsetto? Now in 2007 we have an excellent instrumental from the Waverly 7 to add to the song's exotic mysterium. It's interesting to observe how a song evolves over time based on the interpretations of its past and current performances.

I Guess I'm Good For Nothing But The Blues finds Anat Cohen exploring the melody with one of the deepest sounding instruments of all, the bass clarinet. Blues can't get much deeper than this. A gorgeous In Love In Vain, with its beautiful Jerome Kern melody, is exquisitely interpreted by Joel Frahm.

Disc 2 contains a lot of ebulliently played Darin associated tunes. Some Of These Days, the ubiquitous Mack The Knife, Black Coffee (talk to me, Joel), How About You, and Skylark are all wonderful. In my heart I can hear Bobby singing along. The set ends with a terrific ensemble rendition of It's You Or No One, as the musicians feed enthusiastically off each other's ideas.

I also like the packaging. From the graphic-novel-style cover art and its fold-out cover, to the CD itself, which looks like an LP with grooves and all, to the careful delineation of who's playing what on which tune (thank you thank you), to the careful identification of the composers--it all brings a Darin smile to my face. Inside, you will find excellent music professionally played and filled with honor for the great, great Bobby Darin. "Yo! Waverly 7."

Tracks:

Disc 1:
1. Charade
2. A Nightingale Sang In Berkeley Square
3. Splish Splash
4. Nature Boy
5. Oh Look At Me Now
6. I Guess I'm Good For Nothing But the Blues
7. Call Me Irresponsible
8. In Love In Vain
9. The More I See You
10. I Can't Give You Anything But Love
11. That Funny Feeling
12. Artificial Flowers

Disc 2:
1. I Can't Believe That You're In Love With Me
2. The Good Life
3. Work Song
4. All the Way
5. I Wanna Be Around
6. Spring Is Here
7. Some Of These Days
8. Black Coffee
9. Mack the Knife
10. How About You
11. Skylark
12. It's You Or No One