THE ED PALERMO BIG BAND - OH NO! NOT JAZZ!!

• ed palermo big band: oh no! not jazz!
      (2014, 2cd, usa, cuneiform records)

Apparantly, years ago, 8-year old Sally Palermo (who is Ed Palermo's daughter and is now in her twenties) yelled out "Oh no! Not jazz!!' when her dad flippe a Cannonball Adderley cassette in the car tape player. I wonder how she would have reacted to the music on this album.
"Oh No! Not Jazz!!" is a fine double album. On the first disc, the EPBB plays a bunch of Zappa tunes, while disc two presents original Ed Palermo material, also performed by the Ed Palermo Big Band.

The Zappa pieces sound really good. It's a great selection, the arrangements are beautiful and the playing is exellent.
The EPBB released their first album with Zappa material in 1997. After "The Ed Palermo Big Band Plays The Music Of Frank Zappa" (1997), "Take Your Clothes Off When You Dance" (2006) and "Eddy Loves Frank" (2009), this is the fourth album in which Ed Palermo and his band pay tribute to Frank Zappa. Each and everyone of these is essential listening.

As I said earlier, "Oh No! Not Jazz" presents a great selection of Zappa tunes.

1. Inca Roads

2. The Uncle Meat Variations

3. Little Umbrellas

4. The Dog Breath Variations

5. Chunga's Revenge

6. Lumpy Gravy

7. The Black Page #2

8. America Drinks And Goes Home

'Inca Roads' features the inimitable Napoleon Murphy Brock on vocals. 'Little Umbrellas' sounds so sweet. Great bass sound by Paul Adamy, and a trombone solo by Charley Gordon !!
And  'The Black Page #2' is my favorite track on this album. With a great solo by Cliff Lyons !!

Disc two of the set is original Ed Palermo material.
No Zappa references, but top notch swingin' big band jazz.

Nice. Very nice.

You definitely need to hear this.

"Oh No! Not Jazz" is out on the Cuneiform Records label.
www.cuneiformrecords.com

The album's also available from Mandaï.
www.mandai.be