*** BIG RUDE JAKE

(Roadrunner)

With 20/20 hindsight, it turns out that Joe Jackson's 1981 retro tribute to Louis Jordan, Jumpin' Jive, was way ahead of its time. To remain vital, pop has to revisit its roots occasionally, and the exuberance of jive -- the link between big-band swing and the early rock of Fats Domino and Chuck Berry -- turned out to be a welcome antidote to the rage and melancholy of so much '90s rock.

Although Big Rude Jake and his band are clearly part of the resulting swing revival, they take the music seriously and add their own juice to the style. The sophisticated lyrics, intricate arrangements, and uptown attitude paint Jake and the boys as quintessential hep cats, the kind of dudes who have always added the polish to New York's Big Apple. Jake's voice is an elastic instrument able to croon, talk, snarl, and seduce as the material merits, bringing a mutant mix of Damon Runyon, Johnny Rotten, and Mose Allison to his witty, erudite tunes. The band are just as flexible, jumping from smooth blues to smoky beatnik jazz to the punk/swing of the hilarious "Let's Kill All the Rock Stars." Like Jordan before him, Jake tweaks the conventions of the music, twisting it into his own entertaining style.

-- J. Poet