Bob Dorough - The Devil's Best Tunes: the Beatnik Scat of Bob Dorough (2011)

Subtitled The Beatnik Scat Of Bob Dorough, this second release from Fingertips Records was one of last year‘s must-have vocal reissues. Not only does it include Dorough‘s classic 1956 debut set for Bethlehem, Devil May Care, in its entirety, you also get his four inimitable contributions to Jazz Canto Vol. 1 on which he interprets the poetry of Lawrence Ferlinghetti (‘Dog’ is a stream of consciousness highlight) and Langston Hughes. As if this wasn‘t enough, the set signs off with an additional four instrumentals (also dating from the 1950s) by the Bob Dorough and Sam Most Quartet, in which Dorough‘s formidable skills as a pianist are heard alongside flute/clarinet virtuoso Most. But it‘s the wit, musicianship and imaginative energy of ‘Devil May Care’ which makes this such a worthwhile reissue, from the self-penned title track covered by Diana Krall and others and brilliant vocalese tribute to his friend Charlie Parker (‘Yardbird Suite’) to singular interpretations of Carmichael’s ‘Baltimore Oriole’ and Ellington/Strayhorn‘s ‘I Don‘t Mind.’