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REVIEWS:

DAVE GELLY THE OBSERVER

Never was a band more aptly named. These four – Henry Lowther (trumpet), Jim Mullen (guitar), Dave Green (bass) and Stu Butterfield (drums) – are all top players in their own right, but something special happens when they get together. Warm, relaxed, subtle and unfailingly melodic, their combined sound is irresistible. This collection of less familiar standards, plus a couple of originals, is marked by the same blend of lyricism and wit that made last year's The Sound of Music such a winner. This time the four are joined by saxophonist and kindred spirit Stan Sulzmann on three tracks.

SEBASTION SCOTNEY

The Great Wee Band (christened thus after an early gig by guitarist Jim Mullen) exists to play what might be termed classic jazz (standards, established jazz originals, the odd in-band original in keeping with same) in a dignified, thoughtful but none the less virtuosic and vigorous manner. In addition to Mullen's cultured, classy playing, this album showcases the burnished, full-toned lyricism of Henry Lowther's flugelhorn and the pinpoint accuracy and fluency of his trumpet playing; the unobtrusive but impeccable bass of Dave Green, and the tasteful propulsiveness of drummer Stu Butterfield (plus the elegant saxophone of Stan Sulzmann on three tracks). The material ranges from out and out classics (Ellington's 'Prelude to a Kiss' a ravishing opener beautifully interpreted by Lowther, Gershwin's 'I Loves You Porgy', standards such as 'I Wanna be Loved', 'You're My Thrill' and 'For Heaven's Sake') to slightly less well-trodden ground (Monk's title-track, Ahmad Jamal's 'New Rhumba'), plus compositions from Johnny Mandel ('Emily' and Henry Mancini ('Dreamsville'), but what is more important than the matter is the manner of the playing. As the cover's photographs suggest, this is a band that is totally at ease with itself and its remit, which is to address the core jazz repertoire employing core jazz values: total familiarity with the material that in no way compromises freshness and originality, mutual responsiveness and respect, all the qualities that add up to merit that rarely applied adjective, 'musicianly'.

JOHN FORDHAM THE GUARDIAN

The Great Wee Band is a 12-year-old acoustic group joining four of the most experienced and melodically sensitive straightahead jazz musicians on the UK scene – the silver-toned trumpeter Henry Lowther, guitarist Jim Mullen, bassist Dave Green, drummer Stu Butterfield, and a guesting Stan Sulzmann on authoritative, slow-burn tenor sax. Lowther, celebrating his 70th birthday this year but sounding as casually sprightly as he did four decades back, plays with the pristine tone of Clifford Brown, a bottomless supply of uncliched improvised melody, and at times the solemn purity of a brass-band musician. Lowther and Mullen supply an original each, but the repertoire otherwise focuses on elegant covers – the title is a strutting Thelonious Monk piece, Ellington's Prelude to a Kiss opens the tracklist, Gershwin, Mandel and Henry Mancini also figure in the credits, and Ahmad Jamal's New Rhumba features vivacious horn solos over Mullen's crisp chordwork. The guitarist characteristically combines swing with a soulful tone, Green and Butterfield are a rock-solid rhythm section, and only the faithful adherence to a straightahead acoustic-jazz language that matured in the late 1950s might prevent newcomers from sampling the wares of these stalwarts.