Ray Gelato - Salutes The Great Entertainers (2008) 320kbps

Ray Gelato was absorbing the influence of jazz giants long before he first picked up a tenor sax 30 years ago. In this foot-stamping, curtain-shaking, door-rattling tribute to them, the London-born son of a music-loving American airman storms out of the speakers with a predictably winning swagger.

Backed by longtime cohorts, The Giants, Gelato offers homage to a host of greats – Fats Waller, Cab Calloway and Louis Prima among them – to deliver a dozen standards with all the conviction of diehard fan and the delight of an assured musician whose default is to err on the side of showmanship. ~Michael Quinn