Judith & Dave O'Higgins: His 'n' Hers

Here is a great idea for a tough tenors face-off in the tradition of the Johnny Griffin / Eddie "Lockjaw" Davis group... Get hold of a tenor duo comprising a husband and wife who are on the verge of divorce and can barely stand being in the same room together and record them as they try to cut each other to ribbons. Nice.

Better still, perhaps, get hold of a happily married tenor-wielding couple such as London-based Dave O'Higgins and Judith O'Higgins, set them up in their self-dubbed Judy Van Gelder home studio, and let them loose in the style of the Griffin and Davis group on set of originals, Great American Songbook tunes and jazz standards.

Dave O'Higgins is well known in this parish, most recently for the Darius Brubeck Quartet's Live In Poland and his co-led album with guitar wunderkind Rob Luft, O'Higgins & Luft Play Monk And Trane (both Ubuntu, 2019). Judith O'Higgins is a forensic pathologist whose CV also includes the Matthew Herbert Big Band, Two Minds Big Band and the Abstract Truth Big Band.

His 'n' Hers includes Tommy Wolf and Fran Landesman's "Spring Can Really Hang You Up The Most," Buddy Johnson's "Save Your Love For Me" and Dexter Gordon's "Soy Califa" and "Hanky Panky," and three originals. The rhythm section is pianist Graham Harvey, double bassist Jeremy Brown and drummer Josh Morrison. The album may not break any new ground but it delivers forty-five minutes of easy-going fun.