ROY FOX and his BAND
Whispering
ASV Living Era CD AJA
5352
This CD contains no less than 25 tracks, including many of the songs that
Roy Fox's Band did so much to popularise, Whispering, Out of Nowhere, Lullaby
of the Leaves, I Cover the Waterfront, I Saw Stars, Let's face the Music
and Dance and many more.
This was the top 20 of the period 1933 to 1938!
Roy Fox was an American citizen, born in Denver, Colorado, who originally
came to fame as "The Whispering Trumpet Player", Fox was tall smart and
immaculate in his dress. He was sharp enough to realise that the best way
to have a good band is to hire all the best guys to do your 'gigs'! When
he was offered a residency in London, he hired all the top men of the time,
to join. Nat Gonella was a good example, a good jazz soloist, but also an
excellent reader and section man, Harry Gold on Tenor Sax was similar, many
of the musicians went on to have their own Bands. In 1938 fox was suffering
health problems and went to recuperate in Australia, before returning to
the USA. After the war he returned to the UK and I heard him with a Big band
in the
Early 1950's, it was a good Band, but by this time the name of Roy Fox meant
little to the public and Bands like those of Ted Heath and Geraldo were
dominating the UK scene.
As with everything in his series the sound quality that has been achieved
by remastering the original 78rpm records is remarkable and the sleeve note
by Peter Dempsey extremely informative. Older collectors will find this album
enjoyable and for younger people, it is an interesting collector's piece.
Don Mather
Don Mather is a Saxophone Player and Bandleader based in
Coventry
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