Album Reviews

What a very appropriate title for a fine CD – the remaining Heath brothers, Jimmy and Albert, are 82 and 75 respectively, but their passion for their art remains undimmed. Jimmy's tenor and soprano playing is as assured and inventive as ever, and Albert's drumming remains expert and lively. They are joined here by pianist Jeb Patten and bassist David Wong for an excellent quartet session, comprising mostly Jimmy's originals. AV

John Pizzarelli: Rockin' in Rhythm (Telarc) 12.99

Here's another winner from the urbane Pizzarelli, a tribute to Duke Ellington that is richly enjoyable and executed with characteristic polish ands good humour. Pizzarelli's guitar playing and singing are ideally suited to a programme of tried-and-tested favourites, and he leaves behind his usual trio or quartet settings to work with a resourceful eight-piece band. Telling cameos from tenorman Harry Allen and a singer of a very different stripe, Kurt Elling, add to the mix. AV

John Scott Whiteley: Prisms of Renewal (Boreas, BMCD 902) 13.99

I have never heard the organ in York Minster sounding so imposing; John Scott Whiteley's truly authentic 19th-century Romantic performance of Liszt's Fantasia and Fugue on "Ad nos, ad salutarem undam", as spectacular as you will hear, the vast tutti conclusion more glorious than is usual. There is also a lovely transparency in the quiet moments, and there is more to enjoy in six rather restrained organ works by Mendelssohn, Brahms and Reger, the engineers having performed wonders in taming the Minster's mushy reverberation. DD

Coates: By a Sleepy Lagoon etc / Sullivan: Overtures (Vocalion, CDVS 1964) 12.99

Recorded more than 50 years ago and still my top choice. The young Charles Mackerras directed the London Symphony with panache and verve in seven of Eric Coates's best-known works, including The Three Bears, Queen Elizabeth March, Merrymakers Overture, Oxford Street and By a Sleepy Lagoon. Some slow tempos for four of Arthur Sullivan's best-known overtures (Mikado, Yeomen of the Guard, Iolanthe and Ruddigore) but superb playing from the Philharmonia. Very early stereo sound that still sounds amazingly good. DD