Big Band Music and me

 Something I had an interest in from around the age of ten to fourteen was "Big band" music following Alan Dell's BBC Radio 2 show on Monday nights and owning a number of records like the late 60's Glen Miller compilations in their "to the moon and back" echo laden fake stereo and having seen them perform live at the Victoria Hall here in Stoke on Trent, the Syd Laurence Orchestra who revived the form rather well.

From Big Band, from the late ninteen forties we had the advent of Be-Bop which took us via Miles Davies and others to Modern Jazz and A Kind Of Blue.

Released just this week in Canada on cd is this super compilation of Big Band masterpieces taken from the original metal work as back the magetic tape wasn't around to make master recordings.

These are recordings by such legends as Artie Shaw, Benny Goodman,Woody Herman, Tommy Dorsey and Harry James apart from Glen Miller at their prime.

What distinguishes this set is not just ensuring the original hit recording is used rather than a remake but through the skilful use modern computerized audio technology to extract a whole sound spectrum from the monophonic disc recordings and mix them into stereo so it is almost as if we're hearing them perform in the studio with the sound spread between the left and right.

This is closer in many respects to jazz and popular recordings of the mid to late nineteen fifties than those fake stereo lps RCA and CBS/Columbia inflicted upon us in the sixties and seventies which never were that convincing.

This is a fantastic new collection and I'd love to see some individual artist compilations by these performers.

Full tracklist:

1 Opus No. 1 - Tommy Dorsey [Stereo Debut]

2 In the Mood - Glenn Miller [2020 Stereo Debut]

3 Begin the Beguine - Artie Shaw [Stereo Debut]

4 Frenesi - Artie Shaw [Stereo Debut]

5 Chattanooga Choo Choo - Glenn Miller with Tex Beneke [Stereo Debut]

6 Sing Sing Sing - Benny Goodman [Stereo Debut]

7 Let's Dance - Benny Goodman [Stereo Debut]

8 String of Pearls - Glenn Miller [Stereo Debut]

9 Star Dust - Artie Shaw [Stereo Debut]

10 Moonlight Serenade - Glenn Miller [Stereo Debut]

11 Sentimental Journey - Les Brown with Doris Day [Stereo Debut]

12 Why Don't You Do Right - Benny Goodman with Peggy Lee [Stereo Debut]

13 A-Tisket, A-Tasket - Chick Webb with Ella Fitzgerald [Stereo Debut]

14 Woodchopper's Ball - Woody Herman [Stereo Debut]

15 Boogie Woogie - Tommy Dorsey [Stereo Debut]

16 You Made Me Love You - Harry James [Stereo Debut]

17 I Can't Get Started - Bunny Berigan [Stereo Debut]

18 Take the "A" Train - Duke Ellington [Stereo Debut]

19 One O'Clock Jump - Count Basie [Stereo Debut]

20 April in Paris - Count Basie [Stereo Debut]

21 So Rare - Jimmy Dorsey [2020 Stereo Debut]

22 Heartaches (Decca Version) - Ted Weems [Stereo Debut

23 I Wanna Be Loved By You - Marilyn Monroe (From "Some Like It Hot") [Stereo Debut]