TOMMY DORSEY AND HIS ORCHESTRA – 1937, Vol. 2 | The Classics Chronological Series – 995 (1998) FLAC (tracks), lossless

This sixth installment in the Tommy Dorsey chronology opens with Paul Weston's snappy big-band orchestration of "Humoresque" by Antonin Dvorák, including a quote from Stephen Foster's "Old Folks at Home," better known as "Swanee River." For the flip side of this Victor recording, guitarist Carmen Mastren fashioned a lovely arrangement of the famous theme from Dvorák's Symphony No. 9 in E Minor and casually rechristened it "Rollin' Home." Crooner Jack Leonard is featured on the next three titles, and although "You're Precious to Me" is one of his least insipid performances on record, it pales considerably when compared with Wingy Manone's soulful version. Relief arrives in a smokin' jam on W.C. Handy's "Beale Street Blues." This marvelous traditional jam scintillates with Dave Tough's cymbal work and the incredible warmth of Bud Freeman's tenor sax solo. Six sides recorded on June 12, 1937, by the Clambake Seven sustain the friendly mood with a succession of catchy studies in small-group swing with vocals by Edythe Wright. The party culminated with "Posin'," a slaphappy stop-action novelty singalong punctuated with abbreviated instrumental breaks by several of the band's star players, including Dave Tough, who was famous for his reluctance to take drum solos. Three fine big-band instrumentals were recorded at the same session: "That Stolen Melody" by Fred Fisher, "Barcarolle" by Jacques Offenbach, and Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov's "Hymn to the Sun." About one month later, Edythe Wright and Dorsey's Clambake Seven returned to the Victor recording studios to wax four swinging renditions of romantic Tin Pan Alley marzipans. The session concluded with two more Wright vocals backed by the big band and "Are All My Favorite Big Bands Playing or Am I Dreaming?," a hilariously bizarre pastiche of sound effects and cornball novelty licks accompanying Bud Freeman as he recites wistful lyrics in a theatrical British accent. Interestingly, this sounds a lot like a premonition of "The Wrong Idea," that ruthless send-up of big-band gimmickry that Charlie Barnet would record more than two years later during the autumn of 1939. arwulf arwulf           Tracklist + Credits :

TOMMY DORSEY AND HIS ORCHESTRA – 1937-1938 | The Classics Chronological Series – 1078 (1999) FLAC (tracks), lossless

Tommy Dorsey presided over no less than 22 recording sessions during the year 1937. His records were popular among both jazz heads and pop music fans who expected to hear singers in front of the band. This eighth installment in the Dorsey chronology offers predominately vocal tracks garnished with three pleasant instrumentals, "Just a Simple Melody," "Little White Lies," and "Oh, Promise Me." The leader wisely bolstered his trombone's famous tonality with such capable players as Pee Wee Erwin, Bud Freeman, and Johnny Mince. Gifted percussionist Dave Tough, a troubled individual who was eventually slain by his addiction to alcohol, lasted a remarkably long time with Dorsey, finally bailing after the session of December 6th. Syrupy-voiced Jack Leonard made off with eight ballads in addition to Kern/Hammerstein's "Who?," which was given the same group vocal treatment as Dorsey's hit record, "Marie." Edythe Wright, capable of singing prettily, was at her best with humorous upbeat numbers like Yip Harburg and Harold Arlen's anti-romantic "Down with Love." The nadir of her career was reached with the incredibly racist Rodgers & Hart tune "There's a Boy in Harlem." This nasty little air paints an archaic Jim Crow portrait of a musically gifted but sloppily dressed Afro-American composer who never leaves the 'hood but whose influence pervades the music industry. With Lorenz Hart's lyrics containing a thinly veiled reference to "this person in the woodpile," the song belongs in Tin Pan Alley's sociological chamber of horrors. Its appearance in the Dorsey discography casts a sickly light upon his periodically flawed ethical sensibilities. arwulf arwulf     Tracklist : 

TOMMY DORSEY AND HIS ORCHESTRA – 1938-1939 | The Classics Chronological Series – 1197 (2001) FLAC (tracks), lossless

Tracklist + Credits :

TOMMY DORSEY AND HIS ORCHESTRA – 1939, Vol. 2 | The Classics Chronological Series – 1278 (2002) FLAC (tracks), lossless

Tracklist + Credits :