{"id":412,"date":"2015-06-28T14:13:28","date_gmt":"2015-06-28T18:13:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/royalcitysax.com\/?page_id=412"},"modified":"2022-01-30T12:18:40","modified_gmt":"2022-01-30T17:18:40","slug":"morrison_review","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/royalcitysax.com\/?page_id=412","title":{"rendered":"The Royal City Saxophone Quartet – Smiles & Chuckles CD Review – by J. Scott Morrison"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Smiles & Chuckles
<\/i><\/span>CD Recording by
The Royal City Saxophone Quartet
Reviewed <\/span>August 9, 2003 on Amazon.com<\/a>
<\/span>by
<\/span>J. Scott Morrison<\/b>, <\/span>Prairie Village, KS, USA<\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

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A Real Hoot!<\/span><\/b>\n

Early in the 20th century the saxophone was a fairly unfamiliar
instrument in North America, having been invented in the mid-1800s by the
Belgian, Adolphe Saxe, for use in French wind bands. A group consisting
primarily of the Brown brothers, from an Ontario family whose father was a
local musician, began forming around 1903. With varying membership, and at
times consisting of all six Browns, the group toured widely and
successfully into the 1930s. When they started, the sax was a novelty; by
the time they quit touring, the sax was one of the essential elements in
jazz and dance bands. Those of us of a certain age–and those of you who
watch the Cartoon Channel–know the visceral sounds of the baritone and
bass saxophone from the cartoon scores of composers like Carl Stallings
and his buddies. In my case, I was imprinted on those sounds and love them
still.<\/p>\n

The Royal City Saxophone Quartet from Guelph, Ontario, took it upon
themselves to record many of the pieces their co-nationals, the Six Brown
Brothers, recorded and made famous; this CD is the result. Using
overdubbing–recording first a four-sax track and then adding the
additional instruments as needed–there are 22 selections, plus a couple
of bonus tracks where transfers of the original Brown Brothers recordings
start a cut and are then joined seamlessly by their modern admirers, the
RCSQ. Neatly done.<\/p>\n

The music here consists of rags, waltzes, marches, some ‘oriental’
selections–the hootchy-kootchy music all the rage back then–and some
foxtrots. There are also some specialty numbers that make use of ‘tricks’
specific to the sax, such as ‘laughing’ and animal sounds. ‘The Alabama
Jasbo Band’ is a proto-jazz number. ‘Parade of the Elephants’ makes use of
the humorous galumphing of the bari and bass sax, both played expertly by
group founder, Ernie Kalwa, who says that excessive playing of the bass
sax ‘makes your lip feel like a foot.’ I can imagine!<\/p>\n

I grew up hearing this kind of music. Some of the ‘marches’ are
actually polkas of the kind I learned at my local ‘Bohemian Hall.’ And
even in the 1940s, in my rural Oklahoma area, there were bands that
featured sax quartets playing much this sort of repertoire. I felt a
shiver of nostalgia at hearing ‘Golden Spur March’ and ‘The Silver Strand
Waltz.’ I laughed out loud at the take-off on Rachmaninoff’s ‘Prelude in C
Sharp Minor’ called ‘Russian Rag.’ The opening selection which gives this
CD its title, ‘Smiles and Chuckles,’ did indeed make me smile and chuckle.<\/p>\n

A thorough delight. Highly recommended to anyone who loves the sounds
of old-time sax music.<\/p>\n

— J. Scott Morrison<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

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Reprinted from Amazon.com<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

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