Buggin' to the Oldies

From the outset, I'd like to make it clear that I am no jazz expert and was only recently turned on to this release. To paraphrase Monty Python, "I may not know much about jazz, but I know what I like!"

I picked up this cd after hearing music from it performed live on NPR. The tunes reminded me of my favorite all-purpose composer, Danny Elfman, and some of the stuff he wrote for his own band (back when they were the "Mystic Knights of the Oingo Boingo") and other material he created for some of his motion picture scores. However, the original recordings of the music on this disc are actually what influenced much of Danny Elfman's work.

On Bug Music, the tunes are conducted by Don Byron and performed by a group of skilled musicians who seem as equally enamored as Elfman is with the cartoony (dare I call it "alternative") jazz of the Raymond Scott/Duke Ellington era.

Accompanying the cd is a short written piece by Don Byron describing why the music of this era is among his favorite of all time despite the critical pans the compositions received in their day. To the chagrin of critics, the music was embraced by the public and has gone on to influence many contemporary artists.

Most people recognize Ellington as the leader of the Cotton Club orchestra. Raymond Scott's music was featured in motion pictures and cartoon scores and his orchestra was the house band for Your Hit Parade, a popular TV show of the day. John Kirby's orchestra, as Byron puts it in the intro, had "a sophisticated sound [that] led to many society engagements, and Kirby's was one of the earliest black bands to have its own radio show."

The music is fast and intricately woven causing me to ponder the hours and hours of practice that must go into getting six or more musicians to connect with this material. The tracks that stand out for me are Scott's 'Powerhouse' (a whirlwind of a tune with bouncy rhythms, rapid fire woodwinds and horns) and 'War Dance for Wooden Indians' (a swirling stomper); Ellington's 'The Dicty Glide' and 'Blue Bubbles'; and the closing track, 'SNIBOR' which, at 9:48, is the longest song on the album -three fold.

Bug Music gets its title from Byron's favorite episode of the Flinstones... you know, the one where the adults all hate the new music that has taken over the town of Bedrock.

–Mattro