CD1
1. The Hucklebuck
2. Until
3. I Dream of You
4. Opus No.1
5. Cheek to Cheek
6. They Didn’t Believe Me
7. The Girl Friend
8. Taking a Chance on Love
9. The Honeydripper
10. I Get a Kick Out of You
11. Opus No.2
12. On the Sunny Side of the Street
13. I’ll Be Seeing You
14. There Are Such Things
15. It Started Over Again
16. In the Blue of the Evening
17. It’s Always You
18. Manhattan Serenade
19. Take Me
20. How About You?
21. Just As Though You Were Here
22. Stardust
23. Do I Worry?
24. Everything Happens to Me
25. Dolores
CD2
1. Oh! Look at Me Now
2. Yes Indeed
3. Our Love Affair
4. We Three
5. I Could Make You Care
6. I’ll Never Smile Again
7. You’re Lonely and I’m Lonely
8. Imagination
9. Our Love
10. All the Things You Are
11. Indian Summer
12. Music Maestro Please
13. Stop Beatin’ Around the Mulberry Bush
14. Boogie Woogie
15. Posin’
16. The Big Apple
17. Satan Takes a Holiday
18. Song of India
19. Who?
20. The Dipsy Doodle
21. In the Still of the Night
22. Marie
23. Alone
24. On Treasure Island
25. The Music Goes Round & Round
Tommy Dorsey’s band was mostly
in competition with that of Glenn Miller.
Many thought that Dorsey had the better band
for dancing. Both were of course very successful,
so much so that they were the "Pop" bands
of their time. It is a tribute to both bands
that their arrangements are still played today,
so many years later. Do not let anybody tell
you that their arrangements are easy to play.
They are easy to play badly, but difficult
to play well. Tommy Dorsey was very competitive
and went to endless lengths to get the very
best musicians and singers to work with his
band.
For a time he worked with
brother Jimmy in the band, but they were not
compatible, both having very different temperaments.
They both started out as trumpet players,
but Tommy migrated to the trombone and Jimmy
to the saxophone and clarinet. By all accounts
Tommy was not an easy man to work for; one
of his sidemen said that he was only pleasant
when drunk!
These two CDs give excellent
examples of the band's work and both have
guest appearances from Bing Crosby and Frank
Sinatra to further enhance the proceedings.
The arrangers who Tommy employed, which included
Glenn Miller, produced many classics for the
band. Opus No.1, On the Sunny Side of the
Street and Song of India are just
three of many great arrangements.
The Clambake Seven were a
band within a band, very popular with the
audiences for their bright Dixieland style.
When you consider that Tommy
accidentally choked to death in 1956 at the
age of 51, most of this music does not sound
dated, which shows the quality of the arrangements
and the calibre of the musicians who played
them. It is just a pity that the personnel
of the band is not given, because there are
some fine solos, many from the leader. There
is of course quite a lot of 'schmaltz', but
trying to be popular with the general public
made this necessary.
If you don’t have anything
by the Tommy Dorsey Band in your collection,
I recommend this double CD as an excellent
example of their work. If you are already
a fan, this is for you.
Don Mather
CD Reviews
Delta
33327
