The Mike Sammes Singers feat Tubby Hayes and The Ted Taylor Organsound: He Who Would Valiant Be (Davjon, 1969)People who are brilliant at a particular type of music are, generally, a bit boring. People who are terrible at a particular type of music are a bit boring too. People who aren't quite sure how you're meant to play the sort of music you're attempting (in this case, street-walking, hip-swinging, nose-thumbing jazz-funk) but have a go anyway are, by some small distance, the most interesting of the lot. Now, Ted Taylor could no more swing than he could walk on water (he can barely make the words scan), but he pieces this track together with the brilliant Tubby Hayes and the ever on-point Mike Sammes Singers and, as a result, the whole thing hangs together with some sort of alarming wonderfulness. I stole this - without a thought for the consequences - from this fantastic record. Jesus wouldn't approve, but we shouldn't worry about that too much.
