VIDEO OF THE DAY: “DO THE STRAND” BY THE BRYAN FERRY ORCHESTRA

The most elegant man in the history of rock has now made his most elegant album yet in a career of elegant albums. In 1999, Bryan Ferry, who cofounded seminal British art rockers Roxy Music, released As Time Goes By, a collection of 1930s standards featuring Ferry on vocals, backed by an old-fashioned big band. Now sixty-seven, Ferry is releasing his latest record, The Jazz Age (BMG/Chrysalis), in the U.S. this week, thirteen songs selected from throughout his career, performed by the Bryan Ferry Orchestra. “After forty years of making records, both in and out of Roxy Music,” Ferry explains on his website, “I thought now might be an interesting moment to revisit some of these songs, and approach them as instrumentals in the style of that magical period — bringing a new and different life to these songs — a life without words.” For The Jazz Age, Ferry has chosen such Roxy favorites as “Do the Strand,” “Virginia Plain,” “Love Is the Drug,” and “Avalon” along with such solo hits as “Slave to Love,” “This Is Tomorrow,” and “The Only Face,” played in the style of the Roaring Twenties by longtime Ferry musical director Colin Good on piano, Robert Fowler on clarinet, Malcolm Earle-Smith on trombone, John Sutton on drums, Martin Wheatley on guitar, banjo, and ukulele, Alan Barnes on baritone sax and clarinet, Enrico Tomasso on trumpet, and Richard White on bass saxophone. The songs take on a new life indeed, bursting with fresh energy, together forming a soundtrack to a period film that doesn’t actually exist, except in the listener’s imagination. Some are more recognizable in relation to their original incarnations than others, but each one is a delight, playing off elements of their rock versions with genius and even a touch of mystery. “Slave to Love” is particularly effective, liable to cause you to start whirling around, humming along and dancing. Ferry will be touring the UK in the fall of 2013 with his rock band as well as the Jazz Age orchestra; there are no US dates announced, but you can meet the ever-elegant gentleman on Tuesday, February 12, when he’ll be at the Union Square Barnes & Noble at 7:00, signing copies of the new album. (He will not be performing.) The event space opens up at 5:00, and you must purchase the CD at B&N in order to join the line. In the meantime, you can check out the record, the best album of the year so far, for free on his website here.