September 2000

Allan Vache
Raisin' the Roof
Nagel-Heyer

By Harvey Siders

Allan Vache-a dedicated traditional clarinetist-joins soprano saxophonist Jim Galloway for what should have been a more intense gathering, but instead of Raisin' the Roof, they merely lower the floor. Solo efforts are less interesting than the Dixieland blending of Vache and Galloway. This is not to denigrate the rhythm section of John Bunch, piano; Howard Alden, guitar; Michael Moore, bass; and Jake Hanna, drums, but it says something about going in different genre directions when the high point of the CD is a 32-measure, no-rhythm mix of Vache and Galloway on "When I Grow Too Old to Dream": pure, focused, contrapuntal excitement.