Search - Belleville Outfit :: Time to Stand (Dig)

Gypsy jazz, blue swing and country harmony

hyperbolium | Earth, USA | 06/07/2009

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Though the Belleville Outfit makes their home in Austin, Texas, three of the members originally hail from South Carolina, and two more were drawn from school connections in New Orleans. Only violinist Phoebe Hunt is an Austin native (and a UT graduate to boot!), and the Southern roots help account for the original flavor in the band's swing, particularly in Rob Teter's pinched, Satchmo-style vocals. Along with the long-running Hot Club of Cowtown, this sextet has become one of Austin's foremost proponents of gypsy jazz. The group hots things up with Reinhardt-influenced guitar runs and dramatic Grapelli-like violin flurries, but they also pick more ruminative mid-tempo blues, add keyboards (piano, B3 and Rhodes), vary their vocals from sly old-timey to fetching country harmonies, and make room for a few instrumental string jams.



As on last year's debut, the group's written most of the songs, adding covers of the Louis Prima/Keely Smith hit "Nothing's Too Good for My Baby" and an up-tempo take on Walter Hyatt's "Outside Looking Out." The originals strike immediately with their melodic and instrumental complexity, but themes of falling, being in, running from, lamenting and losing love provide Teter and Hunt words over which to stretch their solo and harmony vocals. The jazzier tracks have a cool-cat hipness that's balanced by earthier harmonies on the country tunes. The group's hot-picking is impressive, but the mid-tempo twang of "Safe" and countrypolitan harmony of "Will This End in Tears" are equally fetching. The album closes with the uncharacteristically pop production of "Love Me Like I Love You," suggesting the Belleville Outfit has a lot of musical range yet to explore. [©2009 hyperbolium dot com]"

Wonderful CD, even better live!

Kaley Ruebush | SC | 10/27/2009

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Been seeing these guys every chance I get for years. Wonderful performers, great enthusiasm, they can do no wrong in my eyes! It's rare that individual musicians this talented can collaborate so seamlessly but they really seem to have their groove figured out. Only getting better with time, already looking forward to the next album. Try and get out to a show sometime, guaranteed good time!"

The sophomore release from a young Austin-based band making

Steven I. Ramm | Phila, PA USA | 05/25/2009

(3 out of 5 stars)

"I loved the debut album from this fine young Austin-based band and this follow-up is almost as good. Its also a uniquely produced CD as they got friends to contribute money to "adopt" each of the 13 songs on this disc. This helped them fund its production.





Like their previous effort all the songs were written by the band members (mostly violinist Phoebe Hunt and guitarist Rob Teter) except for one Walter Hyatt-penned number and a 1930s swing version of "Listen to the Mocking Bird" titled "Nothing's Too Good For My Baby" . And, again, there's a wide range of music styles from gypsy jazz ("Sunday Morning") to the bluegrass-country sound of "Two Days of Darkness As". "Once and For All" - one of my favs - is probably best described as "world music" while "Will This End In Tears?" could have been a country hit in the 1950s. And lastly "Good As It Gets" is a real toe tapper that will put a smile on your face.



Though I think their previous CD - "Wanderin'" - was a little more enjoyable, this sophomore effort is fun to here too.



Steve Ramm

"Anything Phonographic/In The Groove















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