Closed Session

AMG Review of Closed Session

Scott Yanow
All Music Guide

This 1979 LP contains extra selections taken from sessions that found clarinetist Buddy DeFranco paying tribute to the music of Benny Goodman and Artie Shaw. DeFranco, who actually sounds nothing like the earlier swing pacesetters, is heard in an octet with trumpeter Don Fagerquist and tenor saxophonist Georgie Auld and in a sextet with trumpeter Ray Linn. The music (which has not yet been reissued on CD) swings but is generally fairly boppish, while occasionally hinting at the earlier recordings. Highlights include "After You've Gone," "Softly As In A Morning Sunrise" and "'S Wonderful."