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Based on the paperwork that accompanied this album, bassist, bandleader and composer Alex Gershman's goal in creating this record is two-fold. First, it’s his “hope that the Sasha’s Bloc will help bring these great American cultural achievements (i.e., Fats Waller, Scott Joplin and Duke Ellington) to modern life and contemporary audiences.” Second, he wants to create a “signature sound” that is “fresh, well-developed and above all lyrically progressive.”


On the former point, Gershman succeeds in emulating the sound and song structures of the aforementioned masters. “Day In Paris” screams Sinatra in the big old ring-a-ding-ding fashion that pretty much anyone from Iowa to India can spot from the back seat of the barroom. Trombonist Bob McChesney stands up for a nice solo and the vocalist -- whomever he is -- does an adequate find-me-at-The-Sands-at-midnight job of handling the chart. (There are four male and four female singers listed in various parts of this package but only Jane Monheit is given direct attribution to specific songs. A bit of an insult to the others, unintentionally though it probably is.)

“Feels Like Jazz” is the first of four Monheit features, a sexy silk stockings cabaret number that’s about a well-worn nightclub singer who apparently doesn’t know when to quit. “Anything Is Possible” is much like its predecessor, taken at a bit faster tempo and fortified with the Dixieland standard issue instrumentation of banjo, clarinet and tuba.

Trumpeter Kye Palmer does a nice Satchmo imitation but the female vocalist -- whomever she is -- comes off as a bit abrasive.

The ballad “Black and Blue,” which is apparently a part of a musical Gershman is developing, is one of the finer songs on the album. The male singer -- whomever he is -- has the royally romantic pipes on par with James Ingram and the woman who chimes in doesn’t do anything to tarnish the proceedings. The harmonies sound a little cheesy -- is this musical a variation on Bye Bye Birdie? -- but it’s a pretty good song otherwise. Monheit returns for the classic 20s soft shoe of “Breakfast,” another well-conceived composition that evokes thoughts of the Andrews Sisters hanging with Django Reinhardt at Rick’s Cafe. (Play that clarinet thing again, Budman.)

“Take A Chance” is not so well-conceived, a seven-plus minute piece that sounds more like Edith Head than Edith Piaf, if the former had crashed headlong into the bandstand after one too many Mohitos. Monheit brings a romantic Great White Way dauntlessness to “Hearts Of Fire,”a Streisand-esque Broadway ballad that’s actually as good as anything being written in the genre today. The guy singer from “Black and Blue” salvages “Angel” from being tragically silly while “The Duke,” a cinematic scene change featuring Brandon Fields -- one presumes -- on sax is a worthy late-night-in-New-York instrumental that provides a nice balance to bombast of Gershman’s “show tunes.” He might consider writing more of those. Kye Palmer gives some life to the last Monheit feature, “Sunday Blues,” and “Manhattan” is a nice enough tribute to The Andrews Sisters. By now, however, the charm of the aforementioned ring-a-ding-ding starts to wear thin.

And that’s the how it is that Gershman achieves his first goal of honoring “great American cultural achievements” but falls short of creating a “signature sound” that is “fresh, well-developed and above all lyrically progressive.” Fact is, you can’t emulate someone else’s sound and have a “signature sound” of your own at the same time -- that’s musical “forgery” -- nor can you create something “fresh” and “lyrically progressive” by co-opting melodies that have been done to death.

The final verdict: Well-conceived and honorable? Yes? Some good songs and strong performances? Absolutely. Unique, fresh or lyrically progressive? Not so much.

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