Well, hmmm… Denver and the Mile High Orchestra did what I hoped they wouldn’t. They took the judges’ comments last week too much to heart and came out with a very different style than the big band swing that was carrying them.
Instead they played a horn-driven funk arrangement of Ruby Baby by Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller. Funk is a style that’s certainly in their repertoire, but have been some of the weakest songs on their albums, in my opinion. Sheila E’s comment, “play that funky music, white boy”, was a heavy nail – we’ll see if they survive the fan voting.