Plays Music from South Pacific

Harry Allen/Harry Allen-Joe Cohn Quartet: Harry Allen (tenor saxophone); Rebecca Kilgore (vocals); Joe Cohn (guitar); Joel Forbes (bass instrument); Chuck Riggs (drums).
Personnel: Eddie Erickson (vocals).
Audio Mixers: Jim Czak; Bill Moss .
Liner Note Author: John McDonough .
Recording information: Nola Studios, New York, NY (10/29/2009/10/30/2008).
Photographer: Rebecca Kilgore.
Harry Allen and Joe Cohn decided to give these tunes their own jazz take, something that had been done before, but not to this extent of swinging and bopping them. With vocalists Rebecca Kilgore and Eddie Erickson, this island setting of a postcard love affair gone wrong via bigotry is rendered in heartfelt tones by the singers, and jammed on by the instrumentalists in a carefree manner that easily reflects the idea of a getaway-from-reality holiday. Kilgore is particularly miffed at her man during the more commercially known "I'm Gonna Wash That Man Right Outa My Hair," but easily turns around with cute praise for "A Wonderful Guy." Erickson is much more under a swoon on several tracks like the corny, fluffy "Honeybun," sounding very much like Jack Sheldon, but has to concede he has everything but the girl for "There Is Nothin' Like a Dame" and readily admits to cheating on "My Girl Back Home." Most of the songs are in easy swing mode, but "Twin Soliloquies" is a Brazilian lover's paradise song, "Some Enchanted Evening" is an eight-plus-minute discourse on the blues as they question the pairing, and "You've Got to Be Taught" represents a preachy cautionary tale on hormonal overflow. There are three strictly instrumental numbers: the good bopper for Allen "Bloody Mary," the ballad for the cool tenor man "Dite-Moi," and the exceptional feature for Cohn "Happy Talk" (where his co-leader follows along).