Next, Herb Alpert placed Pete Jolly in his natural habitat, a nightclub -- North Hollywood's legendary Donte's -- with a piano trio and what sounds like an overdubbed quartet of trumpets and trombones. The unnecessary window dressing was probably supposed to help the record sell, which it didn't, and most of the tracks are faded out prematurely. Jolly manages to keep the invention flowing consistently on four then-current hits and two standards (the title track was originally a minor protest hit for Spanky and Our Gang), ...
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Next, Herb Alpert placed Pete Jolly in his natural habitat, a nightclub -- North Hollywood's legendary Donte's -- with a piano trio and what sounds like an overdubbed quartet of trumpets and trombones. The unnecessary window dressing was probably supposed to help the record sell, which it didn't, and most of the tracks are faded out prematurely. Jolly manages to keep the invention flowing consistently on four then-current hits and two standards (the title track was originally a minor protest hit for Spanky and Our Gang), yet he is often defeated by the ghost horns mimicking his lines. But when Jolly is turned loose on "The Trolley Song" at some length, he responds with some madly uninhibited, uniquely styled, two-fisted swinging to the grooves of bassist Chuck Berghofer and another loaner from the TJB, drummer Nick Ceroli. ~ Richard S. Ginell, Rovi
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