The backbone of the sextet, doghouse bass man Little David Rose and hide-beater Bowen Brown, formed the group after recording in the San Francisco Bay Area band Indigo Swing. Sadly, after their departure, Indigo Swing steadily deteriorated (in regards to Jazz output) and it was no surprise when it became defunct a short while later.

Brown and Rose continue to swing on and thrive in their present band setting; Stompy Jones. Scott Lawrence rounds out the rhythm section with his artistic and tasteful touch on piano. Consummate Jazz players Tim Hyland on trumpet and Jeff Ervin on reeds augment and compliment the outfit instrumentally with their rousing riffs and dynamic runs. Brown, Rose, Hyland and Ervin also enhance the band with their vocals much as the musicians in Jimmie Lunceford’s band whispered, wheedled and cozened during the Swing era. While not polished vocalists, in the crooner sense, their vocal ensemble work provides a hip and complimentary backdrop to the blues vocal stylings of Peter Walsh.

The appearance and demeanor of the rotund and jovial Pops, as he is known, belies his ability to deliver both blues vocals and ballads alike in a style truly his own. Pops sound is somewhat guttural like Louis Armstrong but as smooth as Joe Williams, as jumpin’ as Louis Prima, as hip as Mose Allison and as suave as Dean Martin. If you can imagine all these vocalists rolled up into one, with soul akin to the great Mr. Five By Five, Jimmy Rushing; you got Pops Walsh.

On their debut release under the Stompy Jones headline these genuflectors of jumpin’ Jazz swing through seventeen tunes, six of which are originals. Several of the cover tunes are done in a style altogether different than one could fathom.

The tune Dream for instance (written by Johnny Mercer and a hit for Tommy Dorsey And The Pied Pipers) is normally cast as a snuggle-up ballad, but not for this band; rather it is done in the style that one would imagine Louis Prima and Sam Butera And The Witnesses creating, complete with shuffle rhythm (originally popularized by Jan Savitt) and melodic background vocals ala The Witnesses.

On the instrumental Rug Cutter’s Swing (originally in the Fletcher Henderson Orchestra band-book but also recorded by the Glenn Miller Orchestra) the sextet relies on its talent of creating a big sound with a masterful arrangement and some high-spirited trumpet blowing by Tim Hyland with Jeff Ervin doubling on alto and tenor.

In the late 1930s bass-man John Kirby formed a sextet that Duke Ellington called The Biggest Little Band In The Land. The group had some of the greats of the period in its ranks including Russell Procope, Buster Bailey and all-star trumpet man Charlie Shavers who wrote the tune Close Shave. It is a monumental statement about the musicianship of Stompy Jones that they even attempt to cover this John Kirby Sextet flag waver; let alone cover it with such vigor, talent, and passion that one is treated simply to an in-stereo extension of the original three minute masterpiece.

Perhaps our favorite songs on the release are originals (and fun tunes at that) delivered in the inimitable vocal style of Pops Walsh.

That Wig’s Gotta Go is a humorous look at the aging process and what some women will go through to attempt to look young in their own heads. This spoof on an extreme makeover gone bad is highlighted by the early Ray Charles type piano backing of Scott Lawrence on eighty-eights.

That’s Earl, Brother is written around a slang statement popular during the 1950s and possibly coined after the Dizzy Gillespie instrumental of the same name waxed in 1946. This medium tempo bouncer is not the same song as the Diz recording of That's Earl, Brother and if I dare say is much easier to sink your teeth into, as well as shuffle to on the dance floor.

These are just a few examples of the extreme delight it is to hear a band performing songs like these and doing it with a sense of rhythm, taste and musicianship par excellence. Although we were delighted with the Swing Session’s two releases we highly encourage you to give this disc by the band Stompy Jones a listen. Its Earl, brother!