GENE KRUPA AND HIS ORCHESTRA – 1941 | The Chronogical Classics – 960 (1997) FLAC (tracks+.cue), lossless

Gene Krupa's band was in a state of transition when these sides were cut in 1941. Vocalist Irene Day was leaving, the marvelous Anita O'Day and Roy Eldridge were coming aboard, and the band was finally coming up to their leader's fiery level of playing. You can hear the change on tracks like "Alreet," and Anita's and Roy's spirited exchange on "Let Me Off Uptown." Everything on here works just fine, grade-A swing propelled by Krupa's always explosive drumming and the spirited playing of his band. Transfers of the of the old Okeh 78s are a bit fusty but generally fine, and the enclosed information in the booklet make this a good buy worth tracking down. Cub Koda
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GENE KRUPA AND HIS ORCHESTRA – 1941, Vol. 2 | The Chronogical Classics – 1006 (1998) FLAC (tracks+.cue), lossless

This volume in the Classics Gene Krupa chronology presents everything recorded by the Gene Krupa Orchestra between June 5 and October 3, 1941. These sessions took place in New York, Chicago, and Hollywood. The music came out on the OKeh label and was well received by a record-buying public with an apparently insatiable appetite for pop vocals. In addition to smooth crooning from Howard Dulany and Johnny Desmond there were snappy, jazzy vocals from Anita O'Day. Dulany's best moments occur during the humorous "Love Me as I Am," a humble opus peppered with references to snoring and tabletop doodling. But the real gold in this part of the Krupa saga came from trumpeter Roy "Little Jazz" Eldridge, whose magnificent presentation of Hoagy Carmichael's "Rockin' Chair" -- arranged by Benny Carter -- ranks with the best recordings Eldridge ever made under any circumstances. The enclosed discography leads one to expect a vocal on this track, but here Eldridge funneled his soul into the trumpet exclusively. In 1941 a black man performing with a white big band (and a white female singer!) often ran into racial discrimination. This probably explains why Roy Eldridge and Anita O'Day only sang together on a tiny handful of studio recordings. Here Eldridge adds a humorous extra dimension to O'Day's coolly understated vocal on "The Walls Keep Talking" by screaming loudly and skillfully imitating a barn owl before exclaiming "Lemme get out of here!" arwulf arwulf  
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GENE KRUPA AND HIS ORCHESTRA – 1941-1942 | The Chronogical Classics – 1096 (1999) FLAC (tracks), lossless

Gene Krupa's big band made a sizable number of records for OKeh and Columbia during the 1940s, with gaping holes in the chronology caused by a World War and two AFM recording bans. The Classics reissue label presents all of this material in chronological order, with this volume covering a time line from October 1941 to February 1942. The main attractions throughout are perky, sensual vocalist Anita O'Day and trumpet archetype Roy "Little Jazz" Eldridge, who is particularly exciting on the instrumental "Ball of Fire." This disc just happens to contain some of O'Day's tastiest performances; "Skylark" and "Side by Side" are richly rewarding, as is a previously unreleased take of Jimmy Mundy's "Bolero at the Savoy." She also demonstrates a penchant for scat singing on the disarmingly cool "That's What You Think." Safer and more conventional pop vocals were emitted by Giovanni Alfredo di Simone, a wholesome young fellow from Detroit known in the music business as Johnny Desmond. Given the militaristically inclined material chosen by many of the big bands during the months preceding the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, it is clear that the U.S. was preparing for war. During Gene Krupa's recording session of June 5, 1941, Howard DuLany had sung "'Til Reveille," a sentimental offering directed at armed forces personnel who were separated from their loved ones (see Classics 1006, Gene Krupa 1941, Vol. 2). On November 25, 1941, Johnny Desmond chortled away during "Keep 'Em Flying," a zealous paean to the war effort that predates said war by nearly two weeks. By January and February of 1942, Desmond was in full harness with "The Marines' Hymn" and "The Caissons Go Rolling Along." By August of that year Desmond would find himself playing cymbals in the United States Air Force Band. His next involvement with a jazz-inflected big band would be as a member of the Glenn Miller Orchestra. Meanwhile, Anita O'Day paid dutiful tribute to "Fightin' Doug MacArthur" and even saluted Afro-American soldiery with "Harlem on Parade," a cousin to Irving Berlin's "That's What the Well-Dressed Man in Harlem Will Wear." These tracks prove that she could handle any subject matter without copping out or losing her cool. Here, then, is a variegated slice of history, packed with equal parts jazz and U.S. pop culture. The CD booklet contains a vintage photograph of Anita O'Day, looking dolled up and more than slightly dangerous. arwulf arwulf  
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