Great Deal!
Doug - Haydn Fan | California | 07/27/2007
(5 out of 5 stars)
"Here is a collection from the period around 1940 when Barnet's band is hitting full stride. Two CDs are included for the price of one, plus a full, 18 page booklet attached to the inside front cover of the oversized CD package. (If you don't like the idea of odd-sized CD packages try this one - there's a lot to be said for being able to read your CD notes without a magnifying glass!) The notes have a lengthy bio of the famous band leader, millionaire, and his orchestra's adventures.
Of the two discs the second one ends up in our CD player a lot. Barnet was a huge admirer of Duke Ellington and Count Basie and his best stuff reflects how much he learned from these contemporary jazz giants. This is an "A" swing band caught at its impressive summit!
For Fun: Barnet appears, alongside Benny Goodman, Louis Armstrong, Tommy Dorsey, Lionel Hampton, Gene Krupa, and other jazz immortals in the technicolor musical A Song is Born, Howard Hawks remake of his classic 1940 film, Ball of Fire.
Also for fun: George Pal uses several Barnet numbers including "Pow-Wow" with hilarious results in a color Puppetoon cartoon short titled "Jaspar in a Jam". A young boy is trapped inside a pawn shop (all too familair an establishment to musicians!) after closing and everything comes to life in a frentic jazz session. There's a singing harp lifted from Disney's short with the giant, (though the harpist is black her singing voice turns out to be the white singer Peggy Lee!) a huge totem pole blowing hot licks; and a wooden Cigar-store Indian throwing tomahawks. If not in any way p.c., it's still remarkable. The Puppetoon shorts are amazingly enough available for a song - sorry - just search Amazon under George Pal or The Puppetoon Movie.
The number,"Pow-Wow", was a thinly disguised version of the band's monster hit, "Cherokee", the new title an attempt to circumvent the union restrictions against broadcasting in place after the Fall of 1940. Or perhaps just another example of Barnet trying to avoid alimony payments - he often wrote songs under a pseudonym - Barnet having been married and divorced more times than Artie Shaw!
All in all a wonderful introduction to one of the great Swing bands at the height of its fame."
Track Listings (46) - Disc #1