Thunderbirds? Spiderman? Ye gods – the Teletubbies theme? Yup, Jason Rebello plays your tots’ top hits and comes up with a complete winner! Don’t be fooled, despite the unpropitious material – ‘Thomas The Tank Engine’ anyone? – Rebello goes at these songs with a verve, vim and sheer sense of joy that makes Jazz Rainbow a little diamond of fun amid the pretentious twaddle that can masquerade as jazzzzzz.

Rebello simply wanted to record an album that kids would love and adults could enjoy. And like a Steven Spielberg or Philip Pullman he’s achieved the impossible and done just that. But don’t take my word for it: having played this to the toughest audience of all, 7- and 3-year-olds troughing through their cereal, the reaction was a resounding thumbs up, well, clatter of kiddy spoons, more truthfully. Like any dad worth his salt, Rebello knows that children have the most sensitive bullshit antennae in the business – they know when they’re being talked (and played) down to. So Rebello goes for a straight ahead exposition of theme which wins immediate attention but then lets rip with bona fide improvs: for example, the fantasy based around the ‘Hedwig’ (Harry Potter) theme will bewitch the most wizened of jazz heads.

Great fun, but good jazz too, as Rebello, ably assisted by a band that knows that having fun is a serious business, goes for a variety of voicings ‘Twinkle Twinkle Little Star’ à la Jarrett and ‘Scooby Doo’ given a Billy Taylor bounce. It all puts the play back into playing jazz. Long may the Rainbow Project that brings jazz and improv to families with children thrive.
Andy Robson

This review is from Jazzwise Issue #116 to read the full review section and receive a Free CD Subscribe Here...