Johnny Dankworth: What the Dickens!

One of Britain's finest jazz musicians, arrangers and composers was Johnny Dankworth. The alto saxophonist and big band leader was best known here as the husband of singer Cleo Laine. The pair married in 1958 and made the rounds of variety shows for years. But Dankworth was a giant in his own right and one of the U.K.'s most inventive arranger-composers. His recording career began in 1944 and by the late 1940s he was recording bebop. Once the 12-inch LP era began in Britain in the late 1950s, Dankworth recorded often as the leader of a big band and wrote scores for TV and movies. Among them was the television series The Avengers.

In 1963, he signed with Fontana, a Philips subsidary. Asked to compose and arrange a series of concept albums for the label, Dankworth chose as his first a thematic tribute to novelist Charles Dickens. As quoted in the album's liner notes, “Dickens is the only author I've ever really read." The idea was to create songs to different Dickens characters and moments in his storied books. The name of the album was What the Dickens!, which today is one of Dankworth's finest and an album that deserves to be digitized in the U.S. for streaming and released on CD.

The tracks for Side 1:

• Prologue
• Weller Never Did (from The Pickwick Papers)
• Little Nell (The Old Curiosity Shop)
• The Infant Phenomenon (Nicholas Nickleby)
• Demdest Little Fascinator (Nicholas Nickleby)
• Dotheboys Hall (Oliver Twist)
• Ghosts (Christmas Carol)

The tracks for Side 2:

• David and the Bloaters (David Copperfield)
• I Want Some More (Oliver Twist)
• The Artful Dodger (Oliver Twist)
• Waiting for Something to Turn Up (David Copperfield)
• Dodson and Fogg (The Pickwick Papers)
• The Pickwick Club (The Pickwick Papers)
• Serjeant Buzfuz (The Pickwick Papers)
• Finale

The Johnny Dankworth Orchestra: Leon Calvert (tp,flhrn); Dickie Hawdon and Kenny Wheeler (tp,tenor horns); and Gus Galbraith (tp); Tony Russell and Eddie Harvey (tb); Ron Snyder (tuba); Johnny Dankworth (as,cl); Roy East (as, cl, flute); Art Ellefson (ts,b-cl); Vic Ash (ts,cl); Alan Branscombe (p,vib,xyl); Kenny Napper or Spike Heatley (b); Johnny Butts (d). [Photo above of Johnny Dankworth]

Even more impressive were the soloists and special guests: Jimmy Deuchar (trumpet), Tubby Hayes, Ronnie Scott, Peter King, Bobby Wellins and Dick Morrissey (ts) Tony Coe (ts,cl); Ronnie Ross (bar); Ronnie Stephenson (d), Roy Webster (perc) and David Snell (harp).

The album was recorded in London on July 29 and 31, August 7 and October 4, 1963. It swings and sways and is as catchy and instrumentally textured as it is bold and hip. [Photo above of Johnny Dankworth and Cleo Laine]

JazzWax tracks: In the U.S., you'll find Johnny Dankworth's What the Dickens! (Fontana) on LP only.

The album has been uploaded to YouTube in tracks.

JazzWax clips: Here's Side 1 (you'll find Side 2's tracks on YouTube):

Here's Prologue...



Here's Weller Never Did...



Here's Little Nell...



Here's The Infant Phenomenon...



Here's Demndest Little Fascinator...



Here's Dotheboys Hall...



And here's Ghosts...