Saint John The Gambler: Five Miles to Vaudeville

With their “gypsy swing” sound, Saint John The Gambler are happily in thrall to a bygone era. Their second album Five Miles To Vaudeville takes in the dance genres of the ‘20s and ‘30s, the stuff guys and gals from New York to Paris would frolic about to before fear of being drafted into the pit of WWII changed the temperature.
Saint John The Gambler are a tight band who know their idiom intimately. On occasion, the interplay between singer and trumpet player (their ace card) is very fine indeed. ‘Ballad Of Monday & Tuesday’ would be a cool gem in any setting. By the time you get to the ‘hey ho!’ theatrics of ‘Fire Station Blues’, however, you should be spent. For me at least, it’s hard to take this much whimsy and jaunty tunes in one sitting. If they sound like a collective slightly out of time on record, there’s plenty of evidence to suggest Saint John The Gambler are a blast live.

Key Track: 'Ballad of Monday & Tuesday'