Builders Brew VEGCD28002
OT Records
BUILDER'S BREW

David Tughan with Jim Mullen's Organ Trio, plus Steve Kaldestad's tenor to add some extra spice, make one of the most swinging and delightful combinations imaginable. For a singer, as David says, the format combines the dramatic power of a big band with the intimacy of a small combo, but there's more to it in this case. I think it comes under the heading of that over-used term 'empathy'. It's a vague concept, but you can't help recognising it when you hear it. Just listen to the first few dozen bars of the opening track here, 'Luck Be A Lady'. That simmering intro, subdued yet purposeful, has the song a couple of inches off the ground immediately, so that when David comes in he's already swinging.


"His passion for Sinatra's big band vocals is unmistakeable"
The Times


'I first met Jim when we were both booked on the same gig, and I remember feeling an instant affinity with his musical approach. And, of course, he's a consummate accompanist. Naturally, it helps that the Organ Trio is a regular band and they play together a lot. They understand one another so well that they can put routines together very quickly. This whole project only took two days actually creating the music, one for rehearsal and one recording. In fact, the most difficult part was mixing it afterwards. Vocal and organ is an unusual combination, and the organ takes up so much sonic space. In that respect it really is rather like recording with a big band.'


"His light voice and blue eyed soul flourishes slip comfortably into the mix"
Clive Davis - The Times


The more you listen, the more you hear: the perfect match between voice and guitar in the colla voce introduction to 'Little Girl Blue', the subtle rhythmic shift in Mike Gorman's bass line at the middle-eight of 'Come Dance With Me', the sheer poise of Steve Kaldestad's solo on 'Something's Gotta Give' - and so on. Good songs deserve such active and alert treatment. It keeps them alive. And good songs can also take the occasional touch of judicious innovation, such as David's additional lyrics in 'Luck Be A Lady' and 'There'll Be Some Changes Made'. But the operative word here is 'judicious'. His whole style is a matter of good taste and fine judgement, and that includes his choice of material. All these songs are older than he is, so he is unaffected by nostalgia and hears them with a young man's ears. 'There'll Be Some Changes Made', for instance, was written in 1921, but he only came across it a year or so ago. I'm pleased that he elected to sing the whole of 'Making Whoopie', because the point of the song is its cynical second verse, and 'Ay Fond Kiss' makes the perfect, gentle coda to the programme.

Oh, yes. And what's the CD's title all about? Well, a builder's brew is a cup - or more likely a mug - of tea. It's simple, quick and easy to make, but always welcome. It's something nice that you can rely on. That, says David Tughan, is the way he would like people to think of this CD - uncomplicated and accessible to everybody. Actually, I think it's a rather superior beverage, a rare blend perhaps, and served up with a definite flourish.

Track listing

1.Luck Be A Lady
Frank Loesser

2.There'll Be Some Changes Made
Billy Higgin / W. Benton Overstreet

3.Little Girl Blue
Richard Rodgers / Lorenz Hart

4.The Best Is Yet To Come
Carolyn Leigh / Cy Coleman

5.Making Whoopee
Gus Kahn / Walter Donaldson

6.Love Me Tender
Elvis Presley / Vera Matson

7.Something's Gotta Give
Johnny Mercer

8.Round Midnight
Thelonious Monk / Bernie Hanigen

9.Saturday Night Is the Lonliest....
Sammy Cahn / Jule Styne

10.You Don't Know What Love Is
Don Raye / Gene DePaul

11.Come Dance With Me
Sammy Cahn / James Van Heusen

12.Ay Fond Kiss
Robert Burns / Eddie Reader

JUST IN TIME
VEGCD28001
OT Records

"With a voice and style just as distinctive as Cullum's but entirely different. His light voice and crisp diction are ideally suited to fast tempos and witty lyrics both of which he handles with tremendous aplomb"
Dave Gelly - The Observer

Since signing with new independent record label OT records (Originally an idea formed by leading UK jazz singer Clare Teal) David Has Shook the jazz singing scene with his awesome debut album. Dave Gelly saw fit to name it, "CD OF THE WEEK" in The Observer and it has been garnering accolades from top jazz Journalists and radio DJ's throughout the country.

"A rising star... a cross between Mel Torme and Chet Baker."
Crescendo & Jazz magazine

"The epitome of cool."
The Observer

David is backed by some of the most exciting and talented young musicians on the contemporary Jazz scene in the UK, Simon Colam, Tom Herbert, Steve Kaldestad and Chris Higginbottom.

"The rhythm section of Simon Colam, Tom Herbert and Chris Higginbottom is immaculately poised and alert"
Jazz UK

Track listing

1 I Can Do That
2 Dancing In The Dark
3 Just In Time
4 That Old Feeling
5 A Nightingale Sang In Berkeley Square
6 Nothing Like You
7 Get Me To The Church On Time
8 The Night We Called It A Day
9 There Will Never Be Another You
10 Honeysuckle Rose


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