JOHN DANKWORTH & CLEO LAINE: SPREAD A LITTLE HAPPINESS (2 CD)

If ever there was such a thing as jazz royalty it would be found among the grooves of AVID Entertainment’s latest release featuring the king and queen of British jazz, John Dankworh and Cleo Laine.It may be hard for todays jazz fan to imagine these two stalwarts of the jazz aristocracy way back in their earlier incarnations as young jazzniks playing up and down the country in small clubs and pubs and being captured on tape at the BBC, but here’s the proof!
Our set features both musicians seperately and together in a number of musical combinations, from Dankworth’s early quartet recordings to the famous Seven and on to the 16 piece orchestra, both of which featured Cleo on vocal duties. Cleo’s own work is featured with The Keith Christie Quintet featuring Dankworth and her own Orchestra featuring Dankworth again as arranger.
From these early beginnings in the late 40’s and 50’s we can witness the birth of a dynasty that was to endure up to the present time and produce such great jazz offspring as singer Jacqui and bassist Alec.

CD1
JOHN DANKWORTH QUARTET
1. Second Eleven
2. Body And Soul
JOHN DANKWORTH SEVEN
3. Two Ticks
4. Moon Flowers
5. Honeysuckle Rose
6. Swingin’
7. Easy Living
8. Oo-Be-Doop
9. I Get A Kick Out Of You
JOHN DANKWORTH & HIS ORCHESTRA
10. ‘S Wonderful
11. Younger Every Day
12. The Slider
13. It’s The Talk Of The Town
14. My Buddy
15. Runnin’ Wild
16. Ain’t Misbehavin’
17. I Got Rhythm
18. I Know You're Mine
19. I Got It Bad (And That Ain't Good)
20. You Go To My Head
21. Four Of A Kind
22. Perdido
23. Bugle Call Rag
24. Cole Storage
25. Get Happy
26. Singin’ In The Rain

CD2
CLEO LAINE with the KEITH CHRISTIE QUARTET
1. It Was Lover And His Lass
2. Spread A Little Happiness
3. You’re Blasé
4. I’m On A See-Saw
5. You’ve Done Something To My Heart
6. Mad About The Boy
7. It’s A Pity To Say Goodbye
8. A Love Like Ours
CLEO LAINE & HER ORCHESTRA
9. Jeepers Creepers
10. I’m Beginning To See The Light
11. Deep In A Dream
12. I’m Putting All My Eggs In One Basket
JOHN DANKWORTH AND HIS ORCHESTRA
13. Non-Stop London
14. Feather Merchant
15. Indiana
16. Moby Dick
KEITH CHRISTIE QUARTET
17. I Got It bad (And It Ain’t Good)
18. Main Stem
JOHN DANKWORTH SEVEN (Live Broadcast)
19. Introduction By Dill Jones
20. Easy Living
21. Scrapple From The Apple
22. Too Marvelous For Words
23. Lover Man
24. Deed I Do
25. Body And Soul
26. Marmaduke