To anyone who may be wondering why Rob McConnell would devote an entire album to music that is almost eight decades old, all I can say is, “listen.” Not only don’t they write ‘em like that anymore, they almost never play ‘em this way either. Irving Berlin, Rodgers and Hart, the Gershwins, Cole Porter, Victor Herbert, Sigmund Romberg, Jimmy McHugh and other legendary Tin Pan Alley tunesmiths have seldom sounded fresher or more fashionable than in this dazzling tour de force by McConnell’s spectacular Tentet, thanks on the one hand to Rob’s bright and imaginative arrangements (and one by Rick Wilkins) and on the other to the ensemble’s scintillating performance.