Somewhere on Bryan Ferry’s vast country estate, in a small tin shed/science lab, exists a small machine, which he occasionally consults to provide him with advice concerning his next musical move. This machine, which I assume is called ‘Whatnowbryantron’, works in a similar way to a slot machine; it provides a genre or an artist for him to cover, and that forms his next body of work. 1999’s As Time Goes By saw Ferry covering the likes of Cole Porter and Kurt Weill, while Dylanesque was his tribute to Bob Dylan, but this time, the machine has started to deteriorate, and has produced some very strange results: swinging hot jazz covers of Ferry’s old band Roxy Music. Really.
However, far from being the potential disaster that this could so easily be, The Jazz Age is actually a rewarding listen and a good album even if you are unfamiliar with Roxy Music’s work. The reworking of ‘Virginia Plain’ evokes images of the wild prohibition-era hedonism of Jay Gatsby’s parties, while ‘Love is the Drug’ broods like a sombre Billie Holiday ballad, and ‘Do the Strand’ makes you wish you could dance the hully-gully , even if you don’t know what it is.

While the reworkings may not remain exclusively true to the originals, this, if anything, expands the album’s appeal; rather than a novelty for Bryan Ferry die-hard fans, The Jazz Age is an exciting and accessible introduction to the various sounds of ‘20s and ‘30s jazz, in a package which be digested and loved by all. Now, do the Charleston on a girder, old-timey like.

Label: BMG

8/10
words: George Wright