You And me (1938)

Oscar Alemán is one of the great unknown talents in jazz history. A brilliant guitarist who sounded very close to Django Reinhardt at times, Alemán was overshadowed in Europe by Reinhardt in the 1930s and spent much of the rest of his career in his native Argentina, remaining well known only in that country. This 1998 double CD from Dave Grisman's Acoustic Disc label has highlights from Alemán's career, including the eight selections he recorded during his three European sessions of 1938-1939, plus music from 1941-1947 and 1951-1954. Although the settings varied (including a sextet with violinist Svend Asmussen, a nonet, and two unaccompanied guitar solos), Alemán's basic swing style stayed the same, retaining its enthusiasm and creativity and remaining unaffected by bop. Sticking throughout to acoustic guitar and taking an occasional good-time vocal, Alemán is heard in peak form. He deserves to be much better known. A definitive two-fer from a major talent.

A native of Xenia, Ohio, 17-year-old Una Mae Carlisle was performing in Cincinnati when Fats Waller heard her in 1932 and decided to give the young lady a boost into show business. It's not surprising then that she emulated Waller in style and repertoire. Her first recording date as a leader occurred in London on May 20th 1938. Una Mae takes "Don't Try Your Jive on Me" at a faster clip than the famous version by Fats Waller and His Continental Rhythm. Her piano is solid, the band swings and she has a pleasantly smooth voice. These qualities blossom during "I Would Do Anything for You" and especially throughout George Gershwin's "Love Walked In." Leonard Feather, composer of "My Fightin' Gal" and several other abject blues numbers based on unsavory topics, collaborated with Carlisle on "Hangover Blues"…

Ella Fitzgerald - Ella: The Legendary Decca Recordings 1938-1955 (1996) {4CD Set, GRP 46482}
XLD rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 758 Gb | MP3 @320 -> 523 Mb
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© 1938-55, 1996 GRP Records / Decca / MCA | GRP 46482
Jazz / Vocal Jazz / Bop / Standards / Swing

The four-CD retrospective The Legendary Decca Recordings represented both an attempt to present the essence of Ella Fitzgerald's two-decade tenure at Decca Records and to defend that period against the conventional wisdom that not until she moved to Verve Records in the mid-'50s was her talent given full rein. Divided into four sections, the collection began with "The Very Best of Ella," not exactly a greatest-hits set, though it started with her first big hit, "A-Tisket, A-Tasket," and included such chart successes as "Undecided," "Cow-Cow Boogie," and "Stone Cold Dead in the Market."

Classic Hits 1938-52 is a five-disc, 123-track collection of Big Joe Turner's earliest recording sessions before finding stardom with his mid-'50s R&B sides. While this JSP set isn't extravagant, it's a luxury to have Turner's sides for National, Aladdin, Freedom, MGM, and Imperial remastered and together in one collection. The final disc also includes the Boss of the Blues' first recordings for Ahmet and Nesuhi Ertegun of Atlantic Records: "Chains of Love," "Sweet Sixteen," "Poor Lover's Blues," and "Still in Love (With You)." Turner tackles blues, swing, and fiery up-tempo jump blues, assisted by Pete Johnson, Wynonie Harris, Pee Wee Crayton, Budd Johnson, Dave Bartholomew, Fats Domino, Joe Houstin, Albert Ammons, Don Byas, Art Tatum, and Hot Lips Page. While this is a collector's dream, the casual listener would do better with Big, Bad & Blue: The Big Joe Turner Anthology on Rhino.

Glenn Miller - The Complete Glenn Miller & His Orchestra 1938-1942 (1991) {RCA Bluebird Digital Download rel 2014}
FLAC (tracks) - 16bit/44.1kHz - Digital Download (deezer.com) -> 4.38 Gb | MP3 @320 -> 2.01 Gb | Cover | 5% repair rar
© 1991, 2014 RCA Bluebird
Jazz / Big Band / Sweet Bands / Swing

This 13-CD set completely reissues the contents of the nine double-LP series of the same name, all 277 studio recordings (including 20 alternate takes placed on the 13th disc) that were made by Glenn Miller's extremely popular orchestra. In addition to all of the hits and the occasional jazz performances, the misses (and the many Ray Eberle vocals) are also on this set, so general collectors just wanting a taste of Miller's music would be better off getting a less expensive greatest-hits set. However, true Glenn Miller fans should consider this remarkable reissue to be essential; it's all here.

This two-CD set contains 43 of the best recordings that Ella Fitzgerald recorded during her apprentice period with Chick Webb's Orchestra. Although only 16 years old at the time of her recording debut, she already had a strong and likable voice. She would not learn to really scat sing until the mid-'40s but, on the strength of "A-Tisket, A-Tasket," by 1938 Fitzgerald was one of the most popular of all the big-band singers. This set, which only contains a few examples of the Webb Orchestra's instrumental powers, is highlighted by "I'll Chase the Blues Away," "Sing Me a Swing Song," "You'll Have to Swing It," "Organ Grinder's Swing," "If Dreams Come True" and "You Can't Be Mine."