Steve, can you answer a Swing band question?

[Angel]

Steve,

A strange request I know, but could you name me your 10 favorite Big Bands from the 1930's and 1940's? I know you like all kinds of music. Thank you!

Angel

[Steve Hoffman]

Cannot imagine why you would want to know, but possibly you are working on a Swing music compilation....

Well, here goes, five of each, in the order I like 'em.

Black bands:


Fletcher Henderson
Duke Ellington
Chick Webb
Count Basie
Andy Kirk


White bands:

Benny Goodman
Tommy Dorsey
Glenn Miller
Artie Shaw
Bunny Berigan

10 of the best Big Bands of all time, IMO.


:cool:

[Angel]

Fast work. Thanks!

Uhhh, could you list your favorite song by each band? :D

[Steve Hoffman]

Black bands:


Fletcher Henderson/"Blue Lou", 1934 (Vocalion-Sony)

Duke Ellington/"I Let A Song Go Out Of My Heart", 1938 (Brunswick-Sony)

Chick Webb/"Sing Me A Swing Song" featuring Ella Fitzgerald, 1937 (Decca-Universal)

Count Basie/"One O' Clock Jump", 1936 (Decca-Universal)

Andy Kirk And His Clouds Of Joy/"Walkin' And Swingin' featuring Mary Lou Williams, 1936 (Decca-Universal)


White bands:

Benny Goodman/"Let's Dance", 1939 (Columbia-Sony) or "Bugle Call Rag", 1937 (Victor-BMG)

Tommy Dorsey/"I'm Getting Sentimental Over You", 1935 (Victor-BMG)

Glenn Miller/"In The Mood" or "Moonlight Serenade", 1939 (Victor-BMG)

Artie Shaw/"Begin The Beguine", 1938 (Victor-BMG)

Bunny Berigan/"I Can't Get Started (With You)" 12" version only! 1937 (Victor-BMG)

Here's an alternate title:

Harry James featuring Frank Sinatra/"All Or Nothing At All", 1939 (Columbia-Sony)


Now that I've programmed your entire CD for you, don't forget to send me a copy.


:rolleyes:

[Angel]

Thanks, Steve. I just wanted to pick up some Swing CD's, but was overwhelmed by the amount out there. Hard to tell the good ones from the bad ones...

[Matt]

Is there a recording of One O' Clock Jump from 1936, or are you referring to the famous Decca recording from 1937?

[Angel]

Steve meant the 1937 Decca recording.

[Gary]

Ohhhh be careful out there, Angel! I picked up Dorsey and his Clambake Seven / The Music Goes Round and Round. On Angel, a great vinyl company.

This was on a CD.

It actually said it was remastered and no-noised on the back of the CD. I was so excited in finding this, I just saw the Angel label and nothing else. :mad: :rolleyes: :mad: What a dummy....

So it's STILL hard to pick out the good ones from the bad ones. :rolleyes:

[Matt]

This busts out of the genre a bit, but may I also recommend Dizzy Gillespie's band from the mid to late 40's? Check out "Things to Come" or the latin-influenced tracks with Chano Pozo like "Manteca."

[RDK]

And don't forget Lionel Hampton's big band from the late 30's-early 40's. Abso-posi-lutely smokin'!

Also, remember that these aren't tape recordings, so some sort of noise reduction is probably necessary (and possibly even welcomed). I wouldn't dismiss a cd just because it was no-noised; though as with just about everything, moderation is the key. Gary, so it was no-noised - you didn't say how this Dorsey disc actually SOUNDS? (though your post implies that it wasn't any good).

Ray

[Michael]

Hi Angel,
Have you ever checked out the wonderful Modernaires and The Pied Pipers? The Modernaires sang with Glen Miller and Frank Sinatra on a few of his early Columbia sides. The Pied Pipers sang with Tommy Dorsey and Sinatra both so enjoyable with stunning vocals!

[Matt]

I'm not an expert on 78 rpm transfers, but from what I can gather, there are ways to do a transfer with very little noise without resorting to NoNoise or CEDAR processing (that is, besides declicking).

For one thing, if you find a really good 78 rpm and use an excellent set-up, it will play with surprisingly little noise and with amazing sound. You can also press new 78 rpm's, but from what I hear, it's often done in pretty sloppy fashion (very few manufacturers out there who will take care in making them), and really tough if the metal parts are corroding. If done right and well, you can get a good sounding 78, but it rarely is.


If you check out John R T Davies's work, he does marvelous transfers. I remember people saying how his work was full of surface noise that was left in, but I think such claims are exagerrated. Listen to his work, than listen to the Ken Burns Jazz series handled by Verve, especially the Coleman Hawkins disc. Very poor transfers on those, with the surface noise amplified.

Declicking isn't bad if done well, but when people just process every bit of a recording and wipe it clean, it can mess with the sound. I always thought the Sony Armstrong set sounded a bit more hard and clinical than the Davies set, and the Basie GRP set sounds a bit bright and airy compared to the warmth of the Davies set (which also were pitch corrected).

[RDK]

I don't disagree with you at all, Matt, just meant to say that noise removal on 78 transfers isn't necessarily bad. If done well (and i lump declicking in), it can improve an old recording, but if done badly... well, we are all here at Mr. Steve "no-no-noise" Hoffman's site after all... ;)

Yes, John RT Davies' work is superb. (And remarkably cheap on JSP.) One might call him the "Hoffman" of 78s. Now I could be wrong, but i think even he uses some noise reduction at times -- but judiciously.

Ray

[Mike V]

Originally posted by Steve Hoffman

Black bands:


Fletcher Henderson
Duke Ellington
Chick Webb
Count Basie
Andy Kirk


White bands:

Benny Goodman
Tommy Dorsey
Glenn Miller
Artie Shaw
Bunny Berigan

10 of the best Big Bands of all time, IMO.


:cool:

Hi Steve,

Any room in your "white" list for Kenton?? I'm not terribly familiar with his stuff, but my father-in-law can't talk enough about the Kenton sound, and how much of an innovator he was.

I'm planning to become a big fan of Artie Shaw soon, because I know so little about his music but happened to pop in a tape of the Gramercy Five (I think it was called) and it blew me away. I have to find a nice copy of those sides!!

What's your opinion, while we're here, on the recent "stereo" issue of Ellington at Newport '56? I could listen to it a million times, for sure. I think it's so very cool that both tapes were found to make the reissue possible (like Sony's producers wanted to do it), but how do you feel about the pairing of the 2 separate mono tracks/tapes as a new stereo "mix", so to speak?

[Matt]

I'm pretty sure you're right, RDK. I'm sure Davies does some sort of declicking at the very least.

By the way, I agree with those sentiments about Artie Shaw. I'm especially a big fan of those small group recordings he did at the end of his career. I think Music Masters used to issue those, but those have gone out of print. I'm certain they put them on his recent box set, which was hand-picked by Shaw himself.