Quicksand
- Big Rude Jake
- Independent
Jake Hiebert's latest disc is a guided tour of vintage song styles of the thirties and forties. But while the streets are familiar, the addresses are new, and they often bring a fresh sparkle to the old neighbourhoods. There's a gospel tune performed in jubilee quartet style, a dark shabby waltz from a Weimar cabaret, and a song or two that would be right at home in the Cotton Club. Hiebert serves the blues raw and with a suave piano trio, and includes a couple of songs that mine the same vein of comic innuendo as his underground classic, The Girl in the Pink Canoe . A leaping bebop number (anchored by pianist George Koller) blows hot in the instrumental choruses, cool in the spoken-word verses. The whole disc is beautifully written and performed, with some of the best sidemen in Toronto.
Big Rude Jake plays the Drake Hotel in Toronto most Sundays at 1 p.m.