The Diva Cooks Up a Storm

"Here it is - the much-requested book to answer all your party needs and put your mind at rest when cooking for a crowd."

Some of the music on these Woody Herman big band sessions from 1958 is exciting and such soloists as valve trombonist Bob Brookmeyer, tenor Al Cohn, trumpeter Danny Stiles, guitarist Charlie Byrd and even Tito Puente on timbales are heard from. Unfortunately this CD reissue of recordings formerly on Everest has terrible echoey sound that is quite distracting and brings down the level of the music by attempting to make it sound like stereo. There are many more rewarding Woody Herman recordings currently available.

Drummin' Up a Storm continues Sandy Nelson's collaboration with producer and session ace Richie Podolor, co-writer of the drummer's smash "Let There Be Drums." While nothing here matched their previous commercial success, this is nevertheless a better-than-average entry in the vast Nelson catalog, achieving a fine balance between well-chosen covers and original material. While the former category establishes Nelson in contexts like New Orleans R&B (Fats Domino's "I'm in Love Again") and jazz (Duke Ellington's "C-Jam Blues"), everything here pales in the looming shadow of the Nelson original "All Around the World with Drums," a protean 12-minute epic that employs virtually every rhythm and studio effect known to man.