The New Morty Show - Straight Ahead

Bitrate: MP3@320K/s
Time: 41:27
Size: 94.9 MB
Styles: Retro Swing
Year: 2000
Art: Front

[3:50] 1. Tico Tico
[5:10] 2. Stella By Starlight
[4:32] 3. Maiden Voyage
[5:47] 4. Long Long Summer
[2:05] 5. Destination Moon
[4:58] 6. Spring Can Really Hang You Up The Most
[3:07] 7. No Moon At All
[3:48] 8. Pork Pie
[4:33] 9. Samba Du Morpheus
[3:32] 10. All The Things You Are

Straight Ahead is a delightful mix of warm, vibrant jazz music and silky, seductive cocktail lounge. After hearing Rigormorty, you might be quick to write the band off as a rock 'n' roll act trying to cash in on the swing craze (a year late, even). After all, it has more rock influences than swing influences. But, after hearing tracks like "Destination Moon" and "No More At All," you'll instantly see the band for what it is, a modern swing act that loves the past but isn't afraid to re-create it for the present and beyond. ~Alex Steininger

Straight Ahead mc
Straight Ahead zippy

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The New Morty Show - Mortyfied!

Bitrate: MP3@320K/s
Time: 44:16
Size: 101.3 MB
Styles: West Coast jazz, Retro Swing
Year: 1998
Art: Front

[4:11] 1. Baby What's Up
[3:28] 2. White Wedding/Rebel Yell Medley
[3:29] 3. Out Of Control
[3:51] 4. 15 Months In Jail
[3:43] 5. Buddah's Bounce
[6:50] 6. Blue Martini
[3:15] 7. In The Groove
[3:48] 8. Shoppin' Mall Mama
[2:50] 9. Knockin' At Your Door
[2:48] 10. Enter Sandman
[5:58] 11. Caldonia

While it seems a paradox to say covers of rock anthems are reinvention, it is when The New Morty Show does it. People say the current swing trend is short lived, but a fresh take on good music, like Mortyfied, is always in style. The band's songs tend to have some unexpected hook, lyrically or musically, that keep you coming back. The New Morty Show seems to dare to ask the question with their covers of "White Wedding" and "Enter Sandman," is it so wrong just to have fun with the music? Some of the album may be a little rough around the edges, but it only seems to enhance the gritty, by-the-seat-of-your-pants attitude the band exudes. The New Morty Show strikes the perfect balance between the over the top Cherry Poppin' Daddies and the sedate Big Bad Voodoo Daddy. This group has an amazing live energy, which I don't think any recording could capture, but this offering comes close. Mortyfied will be a favorite in an collection! ~Amazon

Mortyfied!

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The New Morty Show - Straight Ahead

Bitrate: MP3@320K/s

Time: 41:19

Size: 94.6 MB

Styles: West Coast jazz

Year: 2000

Art: Front

[3:50] 1. Tico Tico

[5:10] 2. Stella By Starlight

[4:31] 3. Maiden Voyage

[5:46] 4. Long Long Summer

[2:02] 5. Destination Moon

[4:58] 6. Spring Can Really Hang You Up The Most

[3:07] 7. No Moon At All

[3:48] 8. Pork Pie

[4:32] 9. Samba Du Morpheus

[3:31] 10. All The Things You Are

Trumpeter Morty Okin isn't shy about his influences. He's all-Vegas, baby. We're talking 1950s glitzy Frank-Sammy-Dino Vegas. The booze, the broads, the all-night burners. Who cares if the bandleader and his backup group-most notably girl-among-wolves chanteuse Cynthia Lewis-are from San Francisco? No matter where the group gets together for a gig, the New Morty Show heads for Sin City anyway. This is the kind of big and brassy cocktail music-all arranged by Sandy Megas of Los Angeles jazz ensemble Hip Pocket-where setting the proper drinking mood is just as important as making them get up and dance.

On their second full-length album, Straight Ahead, produced by Jeffrey Wood, the band pays homage to the pioneers of West Coast jazz (a subtle cover of Bill Holman's "Pork Pie" features the band at its tightest). Things really get hot when Lewis steps front and center, and leads the boys by the balls on Alfred Fisher's dreamy "Destination Moon." And then there's the reason why the band is named the New Morty Show: Okin doesn't rule the roost simply because he knows every line in Ocean's Eleven. When the vibe gets too mellow and the T&T's start working the crowd into somnambulant fogs, the big man with the even bigger trumpet lets loose on Zequinha de Abreu's "Tico Tico" and Redd Evans' "No Moon at All." Now that, my friends, is a little hey-hey. ~Sean Daly

Straight Ahead

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