Alex Webb: British Standard Time

Editor's Choice

Rating: ★★★★

Record and Artist Details

Musicians:

Carroll Thompson (v)
Luca Manning (v)
Tony Momrelle (v)
Jo Harrop (v)
Tony Kofi (ss, as, bs)
Leo Richardson (ts, f)
Sophie Alloway (d, perc)
Jamie McCredie (g)
Flo Moore (b, el b)
Alex Webb (p, org, MD)
Nathaniel Cross
Ciyo Brown (g)
Andy Davies (t, flhn)

Label:

Lateralize Records LR013CD

March/2022

Media Format:

CD, DL

RecordDate:

Rec. 2021

This new 15-track album from pianist, songwriter and MD Alex Webb presents a quartet of exceptional vocalists, a stellar cast of supporting musicians, plus a pleasingly eclectic song list cast in imaginative new light. Famously recorded by George Benson, former Incognito frontman Tony Momrelle delivers a superb, swinging take on Rod Temperton’s ‘Give Me The Night’ bolstered by a blistering solo from Davies.

Momrelle also delivers a beautiful, understated interpretation of the Ray Noble standard, ‘The Very Thought Of You’. Carroll Thompson showcases her scat in George Shearing’s ‘Lullaby of Birdland’, coaxes the listener with her conversational style in ‘Try A Little Tenderness’, and breathes new life into Noel Coward’s ‘Mad About the Boy’.

Luca Manning gives a compelling, marble-smooth reading of John Dankworth’s ‘Let’s Slip Away’, from the 1960 film Saturday Night and Sunday Morning, and similarly impresses in Rag ‘N’ Bone Man’s ‘Human’. Jo Harrop captivates with a stripped back take on Lionel Bart’s classic torch song, ‘As Long As He Needs Me’, seamlessly splices together ‘Man In The Station’ and ‘Don’t Want To Know’ from John Martyn’s classic 1973 album, Solid Air, and sprinkles her vocal magic on Elvis Costello’s ‘Almost Blue’, the latter featuring a superb soprano solo from Tony Kofi. A brace of impressive originals from Webb, ‘Breakfast For Two’ and ‘Moments’ is a very welcome bonus.

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