A Lovely Life To Live (2018)

"It actually works better than it sounds. They are very energetic for a pair of sixty year olds and are still totally in love with music and performing. Plus, they know each other well, their on/off relationship dating back to Almonds recovery from a coma after a motorbike accident in 2004. Marc never had the best voice but he brings a colourful theatricality and a winking sense of cabaret. Jools uses the opportunity to move towards proper big band music. He plays less boogie-woogie and more swing, controlling his restless left hand and allowing his right to flourish. At some points, somewhat unbelievably, he plays fewer notes than he could and allows the horn section to hog the spotlight, blowing itself nicely purple. The real stars of the Orchestra are the horns, all eleven of them. If you close your eyes, click your heels three times and spin on a sixpence, you could almost imagine you are listening to The Count Basie Orchestra." (Afterword)