Disc of the day: 08-11-09

Geoff Gascoyne: Pop Bop (Jazzizit Records JITCD 0952)
Gascoyne made his reputation as bass player and MD in the Jamie Cullum band, and is joined here by fellow JCer Sebastiaan De Krom on drums, Jim Mullan on guitar and Graeme Blevins on saxophones.

He has chosen a bunch of pop songs to rework as jazz vehicles and the cover is a neat take on the Pop Hits tackiness favoured by kids and  housewives. Pop is taken in its wider sense because although Take That and The Supremes are represented, so are David Sylvian and Ryuchi Sakamoto. There is a very pretty whirl through Ben Folds’ waltz, Fred Jones Pt2, with Blevins on soprano, and John Mayer’s Stop That Train has a suitably chugging rhythm. And Earth, Wind & Fire’s Star gives them all a bit more meat to chew on, with some lively wah-wah electric bass from Gascoyne.

Overall, though, it’s all a bit bland. Sure, the playing is tight and efficient, and Mullen is always a pleasure. But Blevins is one of those super-efficient and fast players who lacks much character. If he wasn’t from Australia I would have assumed him to have been off the NYJO production line.

Or maybe it’s just that Gascoyne, accomplished sideman and supporter as he is, is just not meant to lead.