Mike Walbridge's Chicago Footwarmers - Mike Walbridge's Chicago Footwarmers (CD)

All Music Guide

When Delmark Records President Bob Koester acquired the catalog of Blackbird Records and decided to reissue the Chicago Footwarmers' '60s LP Hip Flasks and Hotcha, he had an interesting and very good idea: how about combining the contents of that old LP (which was recorded in 1966 and 1967) with material from a new Footwarmers session he would produce? Tuba player/Footwarmers founder Mike Walbridge and longtime Footwarmers clarinetist/alto saxophonist Kim Cusack both liked the idea; thus, a new session was scheduled in 2007. Crazy Rhythm, a 63minute CD, contains eight new tracks that were recorded in 2007 as well as nine selections that were recorded in 1966 or 1967 and originally appeared on Hip Flasks and Hotcha. Walbridge and Cusack are heard on both the new performances and the Hip Flasks and Hotcha performances, but while the '60s lineup includes the late banjo player Eddie Lynch and the late drummer Glen Koch (pianist Johnny Cooper is added in 1967), the 2007 version of Mike Wa...lbridge's Chicago Footwarmers employs Don Stiernberg on banjo and guitar and Bob Cousins on drums. Regardless, there are no major stylistic differences between the Footwarmers in 19661967 and the Footwarmers 40 or 41 years later in 2007; the Footwarmers have remained firmly planted in jazz's prebop era, providing classic jazz with a strong '20s/early'30s appeal. Classic jazz, the jazz that came after Dixieland but before the swing era of 19351945, could easily be described as early swing because that's what it essentially was and that classic jazz/early swing perspective serves Walbridge and Cusack well whether they are turning their attention to "On the Alamo" and "Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea" in 2007 or "Big Butter and Egg Man," "Sunday," and "Darktown Strutters Ball" in the '60s. Walbridge and Cusack haven't lost anything in the chops department, and consistency is the rule on this pleasing disc. - Alex Henderson, All Music Guide Read more Less