Search - Buddy Morrow :: Buddy Morrow on RCA

His Big Band Came At The Tail-End Of That Era

08/13/2007

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Trombonist Buddy Morrow - born Muni Zudekoff in New Haven, Connecticut in 1919 - honed his chops in some of the best big bands of the 1930s/1940s, among them Paul Whiteman, Artie Shaw, Tommy Dorsey, Bob Crosby, and Jimmy Dorsey, before forming his own band in 1951.



After securing a contract with RCA Victor they combined to release some of the best big band music of ANY era, and much of it is presented here, including the four hit singles with that label from 1951 to 1953.



His version of Rose, Rose I Love You, with the band doing the vocals, was outpaced on the charts by Frankie Laine in the summer of 1951, but it still made it to a respectable # 8. That was followed by what I regard as his best, although in terms of chart success, it ranked fifth among his five hits. That was Night Train [also called All Night Long] which Jimmy Forrest took to # 1 R&B in late summer 1952, while Buddy's reached # 27 on the pop charts. A decade later James Brown would have a hit with the same tune.



In December 1952 Greyhound went to # 19, followed a month later by his final RCA Victor hit, I Don't Know [# 16], with Frankie Lester doing the vocals on both. Then, late in 1954, he would return to the charts one last time with one of three hit versions of Mr. Sandman [# 20]. This was on the Mercury label, however, and so is not included here. Primarily an instrumental, with but a 30-second quartet vocal, it lost out to The Chordettes [# 1] and Four Aces [# 4].



Later Buddy would form part of the band featured on The Tonight Show starring Johnny Carson, and would continue fronting bands well into the 1990s.



One of the best such compilations to come from Collector's Choice Music and one which, if you like the big band sound, you will find yourself playing over and over again."