Home » Jazz Articles » Album Review » Doug Munro And La Pompe Attack: The Harry Warren Song Book

Doug Munro And La Pompe Attack: The Harry Warren Song Book

By Roger Farbey
January 31, 2017
View read count

Doug Munro

guitar
b.1953

" data-original-title="" title="">Doug Munro is the great nephew of Harry Warren who was the first major American songwriter to compose specifically for films. All the tunes on this CD are from movies with the exception of two Munro originals, "Blues For Harry" and "You Again" and barring those two and "Nagasaki," were all written in the 1930s and 1940s.

The music is played in the swinging style of The Quintet Of The Hot Club Of France, whose most famous stars,

Django Reinhardt

guitar
1910 - 1953

" data-original-title="" title="">Django Reinhardt and

Stephane Grappelli

violin
1908 - 1997

" data-original-title="" title="">Stephane Grappelli, were surely the greatest innovators of this genre. The recordings were organised in four sessions between June and August 2016, with notable guitarist

Howard Alden

guitar and vocals
b.1958

" data-original-title="" title="">Howard Alden present on "Serenade In Blue" and "Lullaby Of Broadway."

"Nagasaki" and "We're In The Money" include vocals copying a megaphone style of singing that do nothing to improve the songs and might well irritate. "Chatanooga Choo Choo" is fun and the ensemble arrangement of three guitars is rather effective. "The More I See You" contains some good swirling guitar soloing.

There's a nice, rather touching (albeit surprising) nod to

Jimi Hendrix

guitar, electric
1942 - 1970

" data-original-title="" title="">Jimi Hendrix on "September In The Rain" where the last few bars emulate the ending of Hendrix's "The Wind Cries Mary." "You Must Have Been A Beautiful Baby" fairly cracks along and is a reminder of just how many memorable and successful songs Warren wrote. He actually composed over eight hundred! The closer is "At Last" which opens with some delicate harmonics and solo guitar. This is a pleasant session of well-loved tunes. It isn't groundbreaking, but then that wasn't the intention, rather to revere the memory of one of the most prodigious contributors to the great American songbook.

Learn more about our star rating system

Track Listing

Lullaby Of Broadway; (I��ve Got A Girl In) Kalamazoo; Serenade In Blue; Nagasaki; Jeepers Peepers; I Only Have Eyes For You; Chattanooga Choo Choo; The More I See You; September In The Rain; Blues For Harry; Forty Second Street; We��re In The Money; Boulevard Of Broken Dreams; You Again; You Must Have Been A Beautiful Baby; At Last.

Personnel

Doug Munro

guitar

Doug Munro, Howard Alden, Vinny Raniolo, Ernesto Pugliese, Ted Gottsegen: guitar; Andrei Matorin, Howie Bujese: violin; Matt Dwonszyk, Michael Goetz: bass.

Album information

Title: The Harry Warren Song Book | Year Released: 2017 | Record Label: GotMusic Records

PREVIOUS / NEXT

La Diversit��
< Previous

OUTgoing
Next >

Support All About Jazz

All About Jazz has been a pillar of jazz since 1995, championing it as an art form and, more importantly, supporting the musicians who make it. Our enduring commitment has made "AAJ" one of the most culturally important websites of its kind, read by hundreds of thousands of fans, musicians and industry figures every month.

Go Ad Free!

To maintain our platform while developing new means to foster jazz discovery and connectivity, we need your help. You can become a sustaining member for as little as $20 and in return, we'll immediately hide those pesky ads plus provide access to future articles for a full year. This winning combination vastly improves your AAJ experience and allow us to vigorously build on the pioneering work we first started in 1995. So enjoy an ad-free AAJ experience and help us remain a positive beacon for jazz by making a donation today.