Harry James - The Chronological Classics: 5 Albums (1937-1944)

Accomplished trumpeter and bandleader of the 1930s and '40s, renowned for his exciting, attacking solos.

Harry James was one of the most outstanding instrumentalists of the swing era, employing a bravura playing style that made his trumpet work instantly identifiable. He was also one of the most popular bandleaders of the first half of the 1940s, and he continued to lead his band until just before his death, 40 years later. James was the child of circus performers. His father, Everette Robert James, was the bandleader and trumpet player in the orchestra for the Mighty Haag Circus, and his mother, Maybelle Stewart Clark James, was an aerialist. Growing up in the circus, James became a performer himself as early as the age of four, when he began working as a contortionist. He soon turned to music, however, first playing the snare drum in the band from about the age of six and taking trumpet lessons from his father.


Tracks:


Harry James - 1937-1939 {CC, 903}

Trumpeter Harry James was very consistent in his musical tastes throughout his career. This CD, which has the first 22 selections that James recorded as a leader, starts off with eight numbers in which the trumpeter (still a Benny Goodman sideman at the time) uses many of Count Basie's top sidemen (including trombonist-arranger Eddie Durham, tenor saxophonist Herschel Evans and singer Helen Humes) for swinging performances highlighted by "Life Goes to a Party" and "One O'Clock Jump"; James' bands (particularly from the 1950s on) would often sound like a duplicate of Basie's. In addition, this CD has four tunes from 1938 in which James mostly uses Goodman players (plus baritonist Harry Carney), and he is also heard on the first six numbers by his big band (including "Two O'Clock Jump" and his earliest recording of his theme "Ciribiribin"). However, the hottest performances are four numbers in which James is backed by a boogie-woogie trio featuring either Pete Johnson or Albert Ammons on piano. This enjoyable CD is full of many examples of James' hot swing trumpet and is easily recommended to swing fans.

01. Jubilee (2:51)
02. When We're Alone (2:40)
03. (I Can Dream) Can't I? (3:02)
04. Life Goes to a Party (2:57)
05. Texas Chatter (2:56)
06. Song of the Wanderer (3:06)
07. It's the Dreamer in Me (2:58)
08. One O'Clock Jump (3:00)
09. Out of Nowhere (2:54)
10. Wrap Your Troubles in Dreams (3:02)
11. Lullaby in Rhythm (2:44)
12. Little White Lies (2:21)
13. Boo Woo (3:02)
14. Woo Woo (3:16)
15. Home James (2:38)
16. Jesse (2:46)
17. Ciribiribin (2:33)
18. Sweet Georgia Brown (2:37)
19. Blame It on My Last Affair (3:02)
20. Love's a Necessary Thing (2:54)
21. 'Tain't What You Do (2:49)
22. Two O'Clock Jump (3:16)


Harry James - 1939-1940 {CC, 970}

This third installment in the Classics Harry James chronology opens with nine solid sides recorded in Los Angeles during November of 1939. Seven of these are fine examples of big-band swing created expressly for dancing purposes. The lively and dramatic "Concerto for Trumpet" is a masterpiece in miniature. "Flash" and "Avalon" were based on arrangements written by the great Andy Gibson. One player deserving of wider recognition is pianist Jack Gardner, an able technician who rocks like a fiend during "Back Beat Boogie." Although the public certainly enjoyed these records, the men who ran Columbia, having expected quicker sales and larger profits, chose to eliminate Harry James from their roster shortly after the session of November 30th. As an ex-Benny Goodman trumpet star who hadn't yet hit the big time as a bandleader, James was up against several highly competitive, shrewd, and successful operators, most notably Tommy "Cutthroat" Dorsey, who lured Sinatra away even as Columbia lowered the boom. It would take a little over a year for the A&R executives to realize their mistake and rehire Harry James. In the meantime, he signed on with ex-Victor producer Eli Oberstein's Varsity label, a modest enterprise for which he would spend about six months recording a reasonable assortment of jazz, dance, and pop tunes. The first Varsity date took place on February 12, 1940. James had retained most of the players in his well-oiled big band; one worthy development was the appearance of tenor saxophonist Vido Musso, a lusty-toned soloist who shone during this band's utterly marvelous rendition of "Alice Blue Gown" and tasty cover of Erskine Hawkins' famous hit "Tuxedo Junction." Note also the presence of James himself behind the drum kit on "Headin' for Hallelujah." Having auditioned as a composer and arranger, Dick Haymes instead found himself filling the "vocal gap" left by the departure of Frank Sinatra. His mellifluous handling of "How High the Moon" was the perfect counterweight to trumpeter Jack Palmer's smoothly hip, almost Trummy Young-like vocal on the Harry James rendition of Cab Calloway's "Boog It." The leader plays a lot of trumpet on "The Sheik of Araby," sounding at first like Bunny Berigan, then working himself up to a crescendo worthy of Roy Eldridge.

01. Flash (3:03)
02. Cross Country Jump (2:45)
03. Ciribiribin (2:26)
04. Every Day of My Life (2:57)
05. Avalon (3:08)
06. Concerto for Trumpet (2:53)
07. Night Special (2:36)
08. I'm in the Market for You (2:37)
09. Back Beat Boogie (2:49)
10. Headin' for Hallelujah (3:16)
11. Tuxedo Junction (3:02)
12. Alice Blue Gown (2:51)
13. Palms of Paradise (3:08)
14. You've Got Me Out on a Limb (2:45)
15. Hodge Podge (3:00)
16. Come and Get It (3:07)
17. How High the Moon (3:00)
18. Carnival of Venice (2:47)
19. Boog-It (3:23)
20. The Sheik of Araby (3:02)
21. Fools Rush In (3:09)
22. Secrets in the Moonlight (2:49)


Harry James - 1942 {CC, 1178}

This eighth installment in the Classics Harry James chronology assembles all of his Columbia studio recordings made between February 24 and July 22, 1942, beginning with four superb instrumentals. "By the Sleepy Lagoon," a pretty tone poem later parodied by Spike Jones as "Sloppy Lagoon," is followed with the boogie-woogie-based "Trumpet Blues and Cantabile," a slow sweet "Easter Parade," and an eminently danceable version of "Crazy Rhythm." One change that occurred in 1941 was the departure of tenor saxophonist Vido Musso and the arrival of young Gene "Corky" Corcoran. Much more noticeably, James was continuing to modify the sound of his band with instrumentation most often associated with European classical music. By now the string quartet (first added in January 1941) had expanded into a quintet with the addition of a third violin; Willard Culley began blowing French horn with the Harry James Orchestra on the session of June 5th, and by July 15th the string section had swollen to six fiddles and a cello. There are quite a number of delectable vocals by Helen Forrest (as well as a handful of less substantial ones by Jimmy Saunders) but the most useful and enduring tracks are the instrumentals, during which the interplay of rhythm, reeds, brass, and strings works uncommonly well.

01. By the Sleepy Lagoon (3:02)
02. Trumpet Blues and Cantabile (3:03)
03. Easter Parade (3:28)
04. Crazy Rhythm (3:46)
05. One Dozen Roses (3:06)
06. When You're a Long, Long Way from Home (3:16)
07. You're Too Good for Good-For-Nothing Me (3:10)
08. Estrellita (2:53)
09. You're in Love with Someone Else (3:13)
10. James Session (3:00)
11. He's My Guy (3:24)
12. I Cried for You (3:11)
13. Let Me Up (3:03)
14. That Soldier of Mine (3:03)
15. Moonlight Becomes You (3:24)
16. I Heard You Cried Last Night (3:03)
17. Manhattan Serenade (2:55)
18. My Beloved Is Rugged (3:19)
19. Cherry (3:15)
20. Prince Charming (2:41)
21. Jump Town (3:22)
22. A Poem Set to Music (3:11)
23. I Had the Craziest Dream (3:30)
24. Daybreak (3:09)



Harry James - 1941 {CC, 1052}

01. Eli-Eli [3:00]
02. The Flight of the Bumble Bee [1:58]
03. The Carnival of Venice [2:33]
04. Trumpet Rhapsody - Part 1 [3:08]
05. Trumpet Rhapsody - Part 2 [2:59]
06. Chopin Waltz in C Sharp Minor [3:37]
07. Trumpet Rhapsody - Part 1 [3:01]
08. Walkin' by the River [3:02]
09. Braggin' [3:02]
10. Duke's Mixture [3:23]




Harry James - 1942-1944 {CC, 1227}

This is an unusual Harry James reissue in that, after the first four selections (which are from July 31, 1942), the remainder of the disc consists of James' V-discs of 1942-1944. The Musicians Union's recording strike stopped all recording for at least 16 months and, in the case of James' label Columbia, nearly two-and-a-half years. The trumpeter's last studio date of 1942 resulted in the final of three Helen Forrest hits, "I've Heard That Song Before." His wartime band is heard on V-disc versions of such songs as "Two O'Clock Jump"; "Back Beat Boogie"; "Blue Lou"; "Charmaine" (which has particularly inventive writing for the string section); "I'll Walk Alone" (Kitty Kallen's first vocal with the band); and "I'm Beginning to See the Light," the latter cut a month before the commercially released hit version. This formerly rare material is taken from a period when Harry James led the most popular swing band in the world, and it will be of strong interest to swing fans.

01. Mister Five-By-Five (2:57)
02. I've Heard That Song Before (3:03)
03. Memphis Blues (3:05)
04. Velvet Moon (3:34)
05. Feet Draggin' Blues (3:06)
06. Two O'Clock Jump (3:59)
07. Jeffrie's Blues (2:30)
08. Back Beat Boogie (1:43)
09. Oh, What a Beautiful Morning (3:20)
10. The Sad Sack (3:23)
11. Blue Lou (2:43)
12. Charmaine (1:53)
13. Sierra (3:43)
14. Mexico City (4:18)
15. Better Give Me Lots of Lovin', Honey (3:22)
16. Too Marvellous for Words (3:14)
17. On the Alamo (2:16)
18. I'll Walk Alone (2:49)
19. Love Department (2:55)
20. There Goes That Song Again (2:28)
21. Steel Guitar Rag (2:52)
22. I'm Beginning to See the Light (3:14)