Harry James - The Chronological Classics: 1940-1941 (1998)

14 Dec, 02:16
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Artist: Harry James
Title: The Chronological Classics: 1940-1941
Year Of Release: 1998
Label: Classics [1014]
Genre: Jazz, Swing
Quality: FLAC (tracks + .cue,log,scans)
Total Time: 72:09
Total Size: 150 MB(+3%)
WebSite: Album Preview

Tracklist

01. Flight of the Bumble Bee (2:25)
02. Mister Meadowlark (2:54)
03. The Nearness of You (2:37)
04. Four or Five Times (2:51)
05. Superchief (2:55)
06. It's the Last Time (2:57)
07. One Look at You (2:31)
08. Orchids for Remembrance (2:45)
09. Maybe (3:03)
10. Tempo Deluxe (3:17)
11. The Moon Won't Talk (3:16)
12. I Wouldn't Take a Million (2:53)
13. My Greatest Mistake (2:57)
14. Swanee River (2:46)
15. Exactly Like You (3:03)
16. A Million Dreams Ago (2:59)
17. I Never Purposely Hurt You (3:27)
18. Montevideo (3:19)
19. Flatbush Flanagan (3:23)
20. Music Makers (3:19)
21. La Paloma (3:23)
22. Ol' Man River (2:57)
23. A Little Bit of Heaven (Shure, They Call It Ireland) (3:12)
24. Answer Man (3:00)

Harry James cut 29 titles for the Varsity label during his one-year "banishment" from Columbia. The fourth installment in the Classics Harry James chronology documents 16 of these, recorded in May, July, and August of 1940. Here are good pickings for those who enjoy the crooning of Dick Haymes, as it was during this period that the vocalist really established himself. "The Nearness of You" is most certainly one of the best records that Haymes ever sang on, although much of the credit needs to go to the arranger, the band, and its leader. James' virtuosic adaptation of Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov's The Flight of the Bumblebee is stunning; the Don Redman-styled ensemble vocal on "Four or Five Times" is good clean fun; "Swanee River" picks up where Erskine Hawkins left off with it; and Jimmy Mundy's arrangement of Count Basie's "Super Chief" enabled James and company to swing like the dickens. "Exactly Like You" is among the best of the Varsity instrumentals; here James achieves the perfect balance between honest jazz and popular dance music. On January 8, 1941, Harry James and his orchestra resumed recording for Columbia, the label with which this trumpeter would work for the following 15 years. In addition to periodic ballads (and a weirdly miscast "Ol' Man River") sung by Haymes, Marge Gibson's arrangements and much of the material used by this band seem to have been designed to encourage dancing in public even by those who had little or no dancing ability. This is how and why at long last Harry James began to succeed as leader of a popular American dance band.

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