AprilCadence2013

FAT BABIES
CHICAGO HOT
DELMARK 253
SNAKE RAG / LONDON
CAFé BLUES / SAN /
ALEXANDER’S RAGTIME
BAND / I SURRENDER DEAR
/ DARDANELLA / BLACK
SNAKE BLUES / HERE COMES
THE HOT TAMALE MAN /
FROGGIE MOORE / WILLOW
TREE / WEARY BLUES / LIZA
(AL THE CLOUDS’LL ROLL
AWAY) / PLEASE / SUSIE /
TIGHT LIKE THIS / STOMP
OFF, LET’S GO*. TOTAL TIME:
59:49.
Beau Sample – b; Andy
Schumm – cor; John Otto
– clt, sax; Dave Bock – tbn;
Paul Asaro – p; Jake Sanders–
tenor banjo; Alex Hall – d. on
* add Mike Walbridge – tu.
6/19-20/12, Chicago , IL.
New Issues
129 | CadenCe Magazine | april May June 2013
The Fat Babies (great name for a band but if you
google it, you get a bunch of frightening
images) are young band from Chicago who specialize in
the music that emanated from the WIndy City
in the 1920s. On Chicago Hot, their repertoire is drawn
from classic Armstrong, King Oliver and Bix
Beiderbecke associated material.
Frankly, it's not an era of music with which I'm all that
familiar apart from the essential stuff. But
the band's enthusiasm for this music is easily conveyed
in their performances and it is infectious. Led by
bassist Beau Sample, their interpretation of the classic
repertoire lacks the scholarly stiltedness found in
many other modern interpretations of the music from
that era. This band’s music dances with the glee
that some of the best music of that era contained. If
there’s a concession to modernism, it’s in the
recorded sound which precludes the rough edged
catch-as-catch-can quality of the original records.
“Liza” is given over to pianist Paul Assaro whose florid
intro also conveys a certain elegant aspect of that
era’s music that seems to have been forgotten. When he
goes into stride, one can’t help but be
impressed by his technique. But for the most part, this is
not a band that’s out to impress the listener
with their virtuosity. They’re seem to be about playing
the music as authentically as possible and
engaging the listener’s fun zone. And in that, they
succeed.
Robert Iannapollo