Pigfoot: Pigfoot Shuffle

Rating: ★★★

Record and Artist Details

Musicians:

Liam Noble (p)
James Allsopp (cl, bcl)
Chris Batchelor (t, c)
Paul Clarvis (d, perc)

Label:

Pokey Records

September/2019

Catalogue Number:

PR001

RecordDate:

June 2017

This new album from London jazz eccentrics Pigfoot is a greatest hits collection drawn from their gig series at the Vortex, where the band tackled a slew of styles, everything from Motown to Elvis to opera. Like their 2014 debut, the brilliantly-named 21st Century Acid Trad, it's superbly played, scatterbrained, irreverent and a lot of fun. Some of the tracks sound like the result of a stylistic lucky dip or a bizarre game of musical blind date. ‘Isis & Osiris/Dove Sono’ pairs melodies from Mozart's The Magic Flute and The Marriage of Figaro with a jubilant South African township groove worthy of Abdullah Ibrahim. The 1950s hit ‘Love Letters’ is dovetailed with Wagner's ‘Song To An Evening Star’ and ends up as a lazy, lopsided shuffle layered with bluesy trumpet lines and scatters of quasi-classical piano. It somehow manages to be cheery and sombre at the same time. Singular takes on Curtis Mayfield's ‘Pusherman’, an Elvis medley, some Richard Strauss and a brace of Bacharach numbers round out the set. ‘The Look Of Love’ is treated particularly simply and tenderly. As whacky as Pigfoot Shuffle is there's no shortage of pretty tunes.

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