HARRY JAMES AND HIS ORCHESTRA – 1939-1940 | The Chronogical Classics – 970 (1997) FLAC (image+.cue), lossless

 This third installment in the Classics Harry James chronology opens with nine solid sides recorded in Los Angeles during November of 1939. Seven of these are fine examples of big-band swing created expressly for dancing purposes. The lively and dramatic "Concerto for Trumpet" is a masterpiece in miniature. "Flash" and "Avalon" were based on arrangements written by the great Andy Gibson. One player deserving of wider recognition is pianist Jack Gardner, an able technician who rocks like a fiend during "Back Beat Boogie." Although the public certainly enjoyed these records, the men who ran Columbia, having expected quicker sales and larger profits, chose to eliminate Harry James from their roster shortly after the session of November 30th. As an ex-Benny Goodman trumpet star who hadn't yet hit the big time as a bandleader, James was up against several highly competitive, shrewd, and successful operators, most notably Tommy "Cutthroat" Dorsey, who lured Sinatra away even as Columbia lowered the boom. It would take a little over a year for the A&R executives to realize their mistake and rehire Harry James. In the meantime, he signed on with ex-Victor producer Eli Oberstein's Varsity label, a modest enterprise for which he would spend about six months recording a reasonable assortment of jazz, dance, and pop tunes. The first Varsity date took place on February 12, 1940. James had retained most of the players in his well-oiled big band; one worthy development was the appearance of tenor saxophonist Vido Musso, a lusty-toned soloist who shone during this band's utterly marvelous rendition of "Alice Blue Gown" and tasty cover of Erskine Hawkins' famous hit "Tuxedo Junction." Note also the presence of James himself behind the drum kit on "Headin' for Hallelujah." Having auditioned as a composer and arranger, Dick Haymes instead found himself filling the "vocal gap" left by the departure of Frank Sinatra. His mellifluous handling of "How High the Moon" was the perfect counterweight to trumpeter Jack Palmer's smoothly hip, almost Trummy Young-like vocal on the Harry James rendition of Cab Calloway's "Boog It." The leader plays a lot of trumpet on "The Sheik of Araby," sounding at first like Bunny Berigan, then working himself up to a crescendo worthy of Roy Eldridge. arwulf arwulf  
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HARRY JAMES AND HIS ORCHESTRA – 1940-1941 | The Chronogical Classics – 1014 (1998) FLAC (tracks+.cue), lossless

Harry James cut 29 titles for the Varsity label during his one-year "banishment" from Columbia. The fourth installment in the Classics Harry James chronology documents 16 of these, recorded in May, July, and August of 1940. Here are good pickings for those who enjoy the crooning of Dick Haymes, as it was during this period that the vocalist really established himself. "The Nearness of You" is most certainly one of the best records that Haymes ever sang on, although much of the credit needs to go to the arranger, the band, and its leader. James' virtuosic adaptation of Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov's The Flight of the Bumblebee is stunning; the Don Redman-styled ensemble vocal on "Four or Five Times" is good clean fun; "Swanee River" picks up where Erskine Hawkins left off with it; and Jimmy Mundy's arrangement of Count Basie's "Super Chief" enabled James and company to swing like the dickens. "Exactly Like You" is among the best of the Varsity instrumentals; here James achieves the perfect balance between honest jazz and popular dance music. On January 8, 1941, Harry James and his orchestra resumed recording for Columbia, the label with which this trumpeter would work for the following 15 years. In addition to periodic ballads (and a weirdly miscast "Ol' Man River") sung by Haymes, Marge Gibson's arrangements and much of the material used by this band seem to have been designed to encourage dancing in public even by those who had little or no dancing ability. This is how and why at long last Harry James began to succeed as leader of a popular American dance band. arwulf arwulf  
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HARRY JAMES AND HIS ORCHESTRA – 1941 | The Chronogical Classics – 1052 (1999) FLAC (tracks+.cue), lossless

This is the fifth installment in the Classics Harry James chronology. It presents all the studio recordings he made with his orchestra between late January and early May of 1941, beginning with a powerful instrumental jeremiad entitled "Eli Eli." Given the rise of violent anti-Semitism in Europe throughout the 1930s and its subsequent escalation into the Second World War, James was demonstrating admirable solidarity by composing and recording this very Jewish-sounding lament for a major record label. Its title is derived from "Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani?," a cry of despair from the 22nd Psalm, which Jesus of Nazareth is said to have uttered while being crucified by Italians. The logical segue from this moody piece into The Flight of the Bumblebee, "The Carnival of Venice," "Trumpet Rhapsody," and Chopin Waltz in C sharp minor is a rewarding treat for listeners who enjoy a bit of European classical infusion with their big-band swing. These recordings document an important turning point in the Harry James story; thanks to an idea put forth by producer Morty Palitz, his orchestra was now augmented by a skilled and not-too-sugary string quartet, with results comparable to those achieved by the viol-enhanced ensembles of Freddy Martin and Artie Shaw. The public went for this stuff in a big way, and James was soon enjoying unprecedented commercial success. Crooner Dick Haymes turns in half a dozen sweet vocals, including a cover of Una Mae Carlisle's magnum opus "Walking by the River," but most of these Columbia and V-Disc recordings are tastefully swung instrumentals. arwulf arwulf  
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HARRY JAMES AND HIS ORCHESTRA – 1941-1942 | The Chronogical Classics – 1132 (2000) FLAC (tracks+.cue), lossless

On the seventh Classics CD reissuing all of Harry James' early recordings, the trumpeter and his orchestra are heard just before and two months after Pearl Harbor. James' ensemble was rapidly rising to the top of its field. During this period of time, Helen Forrest became James' female vocalist and on her second session with the band she recorded a big hit in "I Don't Want to Walk Without You." Forrest is also in excellent form on "But Not for Me," "I Remember You," and "Skylark." Dick Haymes also has a few spots; best is "You've Changed" and "You Don't Know What Love Is." But most enjoyable are such James instrumentals as "My Melancholy Baby," "B-19," "Strictly Instrumental," and "The Clipper." Since the Columbia label has never reissued all of James' recordings (just sticking to endlessly repackaging the same hits), this Classics series is quite valuable for swing collectors and Harry James fans. Scott Yanow
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HARRY JAMES AND HIS ORCHESTRA – 1942 | The Chronogical Classics – 1178 (2001) FLAC (tracks), lossless

This eighth installment in the Classics Harry James chronology assembles all of his Columbia studio recordings made between February 24 and July 22, 1942, beginning with four superb instrumentals. "By the Sleepy Lagoon," a pretty tone poem later parodied by Spike Jones as "Sloppy Lagoon," is followed with the boogie-woogie-based "Trumpet Blues and Cantabile," a slow sweet "Easter Parade," and an eminently danceable version of "Crazy Rhythm." One change that occurred in 1941 was the departure of tenor saxophonist Vido Musso and the arrival of young Gene "Corky" Corcoran. Much more noticeably, James was continuing to modify the sound of his band with instrumentation most often associated with European classical music. By now the string quartet (first added in January 1941) had expanded into a quintet with the addition of a third violin; Willard Culley began blowing French horn with the Harry James Orchestra on the session of June 5th, and by July 15th the string section had swollen to six fiddles and a cello. There are quite a number of delectable vocals by Helen Forrest (as well as a handful of less substantial ones by Jimmy Saunders) but the most useful and enduring tracks are the instrumentals, during which the interplay of rhythm, reeds, brass, and strings works uncommonly well. arwulf arwulf  
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