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 LET'S DANCE
THEMES OF THE BIG BANDS
1934 to 1947
Naxos Jazz 8.120536
Crotchet  

 

1. Benny Goodman - Let's Dance
2. Woody Herman - Blue Flame
3. Harry James - Ciribiribin
4. Xavier Cugat - My Shawl
5. Count Basie - One O'clock Jump
6. Bunny Berigan - I Can't Get Started
7. Bob Chester - Sunburst
8. Clyde McCoy - Sugar Blues
9. Glen Gray - Smoke Rings
10. Duke Ellington Take the A Train
11. Eddy Duchin - My Twilight Dream
12. Skinnay Ennis - Got a Date with an Angel
13. Russ Morgan - Does Your Heart Beat for Me
14. Lionel Hampton - Flying Home
15. Jimmy Dorsey - Contrasts
16. Shep Fields - Rippling Rhythm
17. Benny Goodman - Good-bye
18. Jimmy Lunceford - Jazznocracy

I have to own up to the fact that I have never heard of some of the bands on this record and possibly, some of them had a very limited record output. What the record proves however, is that there is no accounting for taste when it comes to Big Band signature tunes. There is everything here from adapted classics, to bright bouncy numbers, strange mournful tunes, right down to the just plain dull. I suppose the fascination of such a collection is to see just what a range of theme bandleaders of the day could pick. It seems certain though that if you like some of them you will probably dislike many others and this is a good case for a remote control on the hi-fi!

Don Mather
Don Mather is a saxophone player and Bandleader in Coventry