it Might as Swing

Rosemary Clooney - The Songbook Collection (2000) {6CD Set, Concord CCD6-4933-2 rec 1979-1989}
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© 1979-89, 2000 Concord Records | CCD6-4933-2
Jazz / Vocal Jazz / Swing / Standards / Traditional Pop / Cool Jazz

Individually, Rosemary Clooney’s albums giving tribute to the great American song-writers of approximately the middle of the twentieth century seemed interesting, and even illuminating, as she subtly evoked the intentions of those writers by her straightforward delivery of their tunes. Little did the listeners of the six CD’s in Rosemary Clooney: The Songbook Collection realize at the time of their release in 1979 and throughout the 1980’s that a larger perspective enveloped the incremental growth of Clooney’s discography focused on a single theme.

Terry Gibbs Dream Band - Flying Home, Volume 3 (1959) {Contemporary CCD-7654-2 rel 1988}
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© 1959, 1988 Contemporary Records / Fantasy | CCD-7654-2
Jazz / West Coast Jazz / Big Band / Vibes

The third CD in this five-volume series draws its material from the same live sessions that resulted in the first two Terry Gibbs Dream Band releases, but contains all previously unheard performances. Ranging from well-known standards ("Avalon," "I'm Getting Sentimental Over You" and "Flying Home") to more recent tunes ("Airegin" and Gibbs' "It Might As Well Be Swing") and originals by arrangers Bill Holman, Bob Brookmeyer and Al Cohn, the music stays consistently colorful and swinging. Gibbs had some of the top L.A.-based players in his big band, which lasted from 1959-62, and among the key soloists on this set are trumpeter Conte Candoli, Bill Holman, Bill Perkins and Med Flory on tenor, and altoists Joe Maini and Charles Kennedy.

Django Reinhardt - Django In Rome 1949-1950 (2003) {4CD Box Set JSP Records JSP919}
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© 1949-50, 2003 JSP Records | JSP919
Jazz / Swing / Guitar Jazz / Gypsy

The postwar recording sessions included in this budget-priced boxed set are the last ones Django Reinhardt made with violinist Stephane Grappelli. The remaining original members of his acclaimed Quintette du Hot Club de France had departed already, and on the first three of these four discs the guitarist and violinist are accompanied by a trio of Italian musicians: pianist Gianni Safred, bassist Carlo Pecori, and drummer Aurelio de Carolis. (The recordings on the fourth disc, which date from 1950, are credited to the Quintette du Hot Club de France, but by that point Grappelli had been replaced by alto saxophonist and clarinetist Andre Ekyan and the remaining three musicians comprised a standard piano trio – an instrumental configuration far removed from that of the original quintet.)

Sam Rivers - Fuchsia Swing Song (1964) {2003 BN Connoisseur CD Series}
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© 2003 Blue Note / Capitol | 7243 5 90413 2 2 | 24-bit remaster
Jazz / Post Bop / Avant-Garde Jazz / Saxophone

Recorded in 1964 immediately after leaving the Miles Davis Quintet, Sam Rivers' Fuchsia Swing Song is one of the more auspicious debuts the label released in the mid-'60s. Rivers was a seasoned session player (his excellent work on Larry Young's Into Somethin' is a case in point) and a former member of Herb Pomeroy's Big Band before he went out with Davis. By the time of his debut, Rivers had been deep under the influence of Coltrane and Coleman, but wasn't willing to give up the blues just yet. Hence the sound on Fuchsia Swing Song is one of an artist who is at once very self-assured, and in transition.

Ella Fitzgerald - Ella: The Legendary Decca Recordings 1938-1955 (1996) {4CD Set, GRP 46482}
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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."

Sonny Stitt - The Complete Roost Sonny Stitt Studio Sessions (1952-65) {9CD Box Set Mosaic MD9-208 rel 2001}
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© 1952-65, 2001 Mosaic Records / Capitol / EMI | MD9-208 | 24-bit remaster
Jazz / Bop / Saxophone

Under the watchful eye of famed producer Michael Cuscuna, this nine-CD set serves as a compilation of Stitt's 1950s and 1960s Roost LPs. This release also features a 28-page booklet consisting of comprehensively annotated liners. Moreover, the record label does its best to convey the artistic element via a series of black-and-white photos of Stitt and his sidemen amid anecdotes by many of the late saxophonist's affiliates. Interestingly enough, seven of the original LPs did not list personnel. In some instances, guesses were made, although most of these tracks are well-documented, thanks to the producer's diligence and painstaking research. Artists such as drummer Roy Haynes, bassist/composer Charles Mingus, and pianist Harold Maber represent but a few of Stitt's accompanists.