Warren Vaché
My Shining Hour
Nagel-Heyer
2003

Vaché's clarinet playing, younger brother Allan joins him on My Shining Hour , recorded live in Hamburg. This digitally mastered re-release also featuring pianist Brian Lemon, guitarist Dave Cliff, bassist Dave Green and drummer Allan Ganley, includes ten tracks from that brilliantly energetic evening. When all five are playing, the sound resembles a carnival tramping through pink-tinged clouds.

While the title track displays Warren Vaché's eager enthusiasm to stay ahead of the moment, “I Fall In Love Too Easily” shows his sensitivity for each note, and the effects each combination has on the whole, whether playing a short phrase and letting the last note dwindle, or softly repeating just a few notes again and again.

Allan Vaché adds New Orleans flair to “You'd Be So Nice to Come Home To,” tracing loop-di-loops in the air with his clarinet. Cliff solos on guitar with unconstrained vivacity while Green hammers out a bass line through the duration. Ellington's “Purple Gazelle” features a jaunty solo by Lemon on piano, while Ganley hashes out a shoulder-shaking rhythm spotted with gussying fills

On “There'll Never Be Another You,” Allan Vaché gets into the super high registers of his clarinet, and suddenly the happy carnival in the sky becomes a bit frightening. Kind of like the scary clown. Though judging by the hooting crowd, it seemed to please. Perhaps you had to be there.

My Shining Hour

Tracks: 1. My Shining Hour (7:21) 2. I Fall in Love Too Easily (6:37) 3. You'd Be So Nice to Come Home To (8:22) 4. Poor Butterfly (6:52) 5. Purple Gazelle (5:54) 6. Isfahan (7:28) 7. My Romance (6:49) 8. There'll Never Be Another You (8:00) 9. The End of a Love Affair (8:19) 10. Cherokee (10:41)
Personnel: Dave Cliff: Guitar; Allan Ganley: Drums; Dave Green: Bass; Brian Lemon: Piano; Allan Vaché: Clarinet; Warren Vaché: Cornet.