Dance

by Blowzabella

I was unaware of this English band until last week when I noticed Dance in the Saffron Walden library. As the title of the album suggests, this is dance music. The dances are: bourrée, hornpipe, jigs, mazurkas, schottisches, waltzes. How do I know: the liner notes give concise and informative descriptions of each track (and sometimes what the audience were doing during the recording, e.g. “The audience are dancing The 5 Hand Reel”). Yes, this is what one calls “folk”, but the band — accordion, bagpipes, bass guitar, clarinet, fiddle, hurdy-gurdy, saxophones and whistles — sounds like nothing else. The sax players, Jo Freya, Paul James and Jon Swayne, add a gentle jazzy feel throughout. You can listen to the opening track, Jan Mijne Man / Go Mauve, at SoundCloud. The closing track, Blowzabella / Shave The Monkey / Boys Of The Mill, is a medley of three jigs, the first of which, of course, gave the band its name back in 1978.