HARRY JAMES AND HIS ORCHESTRA – 1939 | The Chronogical Classics – 936 (1997) FLAC (tracks+.cue), lossless

The second Harry James CD put out by the Classics label, this set traces the trumpeter's recording career during a six-month period when his big band was struggling financially. It is surprising that James did not catch on immediately, considering how popular he had been with Benny Goodman and since his band at the time was pretty good. Other than the leader, there were no major soloists in the orchestra (altoist Dave Matthews was perhaps best-known), but the arrangements for the instrumentals (including "Indiana," "I Found a New Baby," a surprisingly cooking "Willow Weep for Me" and "Feet Draggin' Blues") were excellent. A little over half of the 23 selections on this reissue have vocals (eight are Frank Sinatra's first appearances on record, including the minor hit "All or Nothing at All"), but the high points are an interesting, unreleased version of "Flash" and "Sleepy Time Gal," which showcases James with just the rhythm section. Recommended for swing fans bored with the usual Harry James greatest-hits sets. Scott Yanow  
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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 – 1941-1942 | 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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