ALBERT “The Iceman” Collins is responsible for the name of this SoCal-based old-style R & B unit; their appearance in the film Swingers launched a thousand imitators—few as tight, or as equipped with such superior horn charts. BBVD’s 2009 release How Big Can You Get? is a cover album of Cab Calloway. The prime minister of zoot has been an inspiration for blanche musicians from Joe Jackson to Phil Alvin. Vocalist Scotty Morris’ take on Calloway is a mixed bag; he’s a fine scatsman, but he shoots a tranquilizer dart into “Jumping Jive.” The title track has more kick: “How Big Can You Get?” is not a hokey double-entendre tune, despite what you’re thinking. Rather, it’s a New York Yiddish-style—in both melody and common sense—warning to high and mighty Big Shots everywhere. We also like the novelty tune “Reefer Man,” once performed by Cab and “His Harlem Maniacs” (on futuristic television, yet) in the 1933 movie International House. You could look it up on YouTube. Calloway’s deathless “Minnie the Moocher” is good news for any performer, and BBVD’s addition of John Barry electric guitar licks to their mix is real shrewd. They co-headline with bluesman Robert Cray.
Montalvo Arts Center, Saratoga
Saturday
$55–$95.
