Those who ever listened closely to Pat Travers‘ music can’t be hard pressed to acknowledge the Canadian guitarist’s love for jazz. It might not have been so obvious on hard-edged, if radio-friendly, numbers such as “Boom Boom (Out Go The Lights)” that the veteran’s associated with, but the genre often reared its head in his solos. Yet “Swing!” will be the ultimate revealing of Travers’ jazz roots, because on this album, scheduled for a July 26th release, Pat covers perennials that aren’t easy to imagine done in his style. One can go for the approximation of Duke Elligton’s “Take The ‘A’ Train” or of “In The Mood” from Glenn Miller’s oeuvre, while Louis Jordan’s “Is You Is Or Is You Ain’t My Baby” and Woody Herman’s “Apple Honey” would be difficult to see delivered as rock pieces – although the latter was based on a well-rocked Gershwin’s number. In any case, the record’s worth the wait.
