Twice The Talent

Out of the Blue was formed by Blue Note records as a way to showcase some of its top young talent. The lineup of players in the original version of the band (trumpeter Michael Mossman, altoist Kenny Garrett, tenor saxophonist Ralph Bowen, pianist Harry Pickens, bassist Robert Hurst, and drummer Ralph Peterson) has certainly lived up to its potential. O.T.B. was a strong training ground for the talented musicians. Similar in concept to Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers, the sextet performs seven group originals on their debut recording. Everyone but Mossman contributed a song, with Hurst and Garrett represented twice. The music swings hard and, despite being a touch derivative, works quite well.

Growing up as the child of one of the greatest icons in American music can't be easy, but Nancy Sinatra managed to create a sound and style for herself fully separate from that of her very famous father, and her sexy but strong-willed persona has endured with nearly the same strength as the image of the Chairman of the Board.

The ever-increasing popularity of Handel and his contemporaries, and their employment of alto castratos, has encouraged the development of countertenors capable of similar vocal feats to the original interpreters of the heroic roles in these works. Among these the distinguished American, David Daniels, who burst on to the scene here a couple of years ago at Glyndebourne in Theodora, is a leading contender. If I would place Scholl in the category of Deller and Esswood, with their luminous, soft-grained tone, Daniels is closer to the more earthy sound of Bowman, his voice — like Bowman's — astonishingly large in volume.

This album will raise eyebrows. After all, didn't Johnny Hates Jazz have only one hit song? Forget the band's brief popularity on the American charts. Johnny Hates Jazz was a vastly underrated group, a British pop act whose handsome looks blinded many to the talent bubbling underneath the surface. Most of the record consists of tracks from the band's debut LP, Turn Back the Clock, and their lesser-known follow-up, Tall Stories. Tall Stories was recorded after vocalist Clark Datchler left the group, replaced by Phil Thornalley. Since the long-deleted Tall Stories is hard to find, this might be the only opportunity for fans to hear songs from it. Three of them are collected here: "Let Me Change Your Mind," "Last to Know," and "Fool's Gold." Sounding no different than anything on Turn Back the Clock, these tracks prove that Johnny Hates Jazz didn't lose their knack for soulful, danceable hooks after Datchler's departure. Given that Turn Back the Clock has no filler, the songs taken from that album shouldn't been seen as providing the complete picture.