Forty years into his career, who would have ever thought electric guitar master Pat Travers would start swinging…for real? On his eight-song album Swing!, Travers interprets classics of the swing genre, with his rockin’ trio of Tommy Craig on drums and David Pastorius playing bass. Augmented by keyboardist Michael Franklin, who helped with the horn arrangements as well as corralling the baritone sax, trombone, alto sax, and trumpet players for the album’s recording, Swing! pretty much accomplishes the amalgamation it sets out to prove.
Craig pounds the opening of Louis Prima’s “Sing Sing Sing,” which starts the record off. Travers cuts his single electric line interplay with the horns on “Opus One,” while Pastorius’ fat bass walks under Traver’s warbly crooning on “Is You Is Or Is You Ain’t My Baby.” This trio of tunes kicks us off and sets the mood.
Travers maintains the delicate balance of wailing on the main melody line of “Take The ‘A’ Train,” but sits back when his horn players take their leads, illustrating the best mix of what this album is most about. It’s a balance well maintained throughout the record. On “Tenderly,” the album’ final tune, Travers may overdo it a bit as a distorted guitar bleeds over the piano and slippery upright lines of Pastorius. It’s still pretty damn effective for a ballad, and doesn’t in any way mar a really tight little rock swinging
~ Ralph Greco, Jr.
