Description
Release Date: 2011
Label: Onager Records
Track List
1 If I Walked On Water
2 It’s Cold In Here
3 You’ve Gotta Take Steps
4 Color Me Blue
5 Greyhound Coach
6 Trust My Gut
7 This Song Won’t Sound The Same
8 Get On The Train And Ride
9 You Took Away The Best Part (Instrumental)
Personnel
- Ted Hefko – vocals, clarinet, tenor sax, acoustic guitar tracks 5,6
- Satoru Ohashi – trumpet, valve trombone
- Luca Benedetti – lead and rhythm guitars
- Scott Ritchie – upright bass
- Moses Patrou – drums, piano, percussion, backing vocals
- Billy Blend – hammond b3 organ
- Neil Thomas – accordion
Notes
If I Walked on Water opens with a playful song of courtship in the language of the King James Bible set to a gypsy jazz backdrop of clarinet, accordion and exotic percussion. Next on “It’s Cold In Here”, The Thousandaires lay down their best shuffle, for a tale of long-distance love and we’re off on a jovial journey through the Jazz Age and its varied musical children from Dixieland and Rhythm and Blues to New Orleans style funk and Cajun Country. In the spectrum of American songwriting we find, at one end, the simple elegance and sophistication of Duke Ellington, exploring the instrumentation and spirit of jazz, to the lyrical virtuosity of Bob Dylan, dealing in folk and blues traditions, at the other end. In between, we encounter a myriad of ways to split the difference, between Johnny Mercer, Ray Charles, and Dr. John. Musician and songwriter Ted Hefko is finding his own way to toe the line with wry lyrics that make sense when you write them down and plenty of live improv over a backdrop of stirring rhythms all with the optimistic spirit and the dogged determination that define America’s musical heritage.
