charlie watts meets the danish radio big band is the kind of album that many jazz fans had probably given up hope of hearing. in the glory days of big band jazz and arrangers like oliver nelson coming up with brilliant music, albums like this were, if not commonplace, at least more readily available. the truth is there is nothing commonplace about this album, it is a sheer delight.
anyone who knows charlie, knows how much he loves jazz. a few years ago when he and i were looking at a photo of the stones playing in the 1960s he pointed at a particular cymbal and said, “i’ve still got that cymbal, but i don’t use it on stones’ gigs, it’s too good for them. i just use it on my jazz gigs.” there’s no doubt, that’s the cymbal you hear on the first part of the ‘elvin suite’.
charlie watts is one of the great ambassadors for jazz and every jazz lover will relish this record, and the fact that charlie is involved may bring jazz to the attention of some that are not sure if they like jazz. listen to this and you know you do.