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"His
(Ronnie Rae's) musicianship is impeccable."
Jazzwise
"Ronnie
is certainly one of this country's boss bassists"
Jazz UK
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RONNIE RAE: FROM THE CRADLE TO THE GROOVE ***
John Fordham
Friday August 26, 2005
The Guardian
Straightahead jazz with a twist or two. After several decades as a bass-playing rock of the Scottish jazz circuit, Ronnie Rae has been given his own album to lead for the first time. As befits a man of his standing, a couple of star guests are happy to help out, in the shape of the cornetist Warren Vache and tenor saxist Dimitri Shapko.
The opening Haw Maw half convinces you that you're in a Stan Tracey album (opening with clipped piano licks over a driving groove from Rae's son John's drums), McMonk mingles a folk-dance feel with a clunky blues (and a huge-toned, Mingus-like bass break from the leader), Dibby Doo Dat is like 1960s Blue Note soul-jazz, and Rumble De Thump features some superbly controlled high-register leaps from Vache. Scottish music, Basie small-band associations, Blue Note funk and a lot of good-humoured virtuosity make this not only a deserving tribute to an overlooked figure, but a fine mainstream outing in its own right.
RONNIE RAE: FROM THE CRADLE TO THE GROOVE ****
TENTOTEN RECORDS, £13.99
KENNY MATHIESON
Scotsman
BASSIST Ronnie Rae sired a mini-jazz dynasty and played with a host of major names, but had never made a record as a leader. This disc puts that right, and does so with Rae's own compositions. The titles may be Scottish (Haw Maw, McMonk, Tap Totties, Stoorin), but the music is straight-ahead American jazz, with a couple of soul jazz groovers and impressionistic ballads thrown in for good measure.
Sons Ronnie Jr (piano) and John (drums) complete a swinging rhythm section, while American trumpeter Warren Vache and Russian-born saxophonist Dimitri Shapko make for an inventive international front line.
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