Search - Jimmy Dorsey :: Fabulous Jimmy Dorsey

"Varese Vintage brings you decades of Jimmy Dorsey"

J. Lovins | Missouri-USA | 10/30/2003

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Let's go back to the '40s and '50s with "The Fabulous Jimmy Dorsey", featuring fourteen original performances by one of the great swing bands during that era. All the tracks are crystal clear and the selections are phenomenal. With the unbelievable break-neck jitter-bug of "JAY-DEE'S BOOGIE WOOGIE", can remember dancing with my Aunt who was a champion of Big Band Music.An album of well chosen cues such as "CONTRASTS", "MARIA ELENA", "AMAPOLA" and "SOPHISTICATED SWING" give the listener a hint of what those times and the music was all about. The highlight and stand outs are "JUNE NIGHT" and "SO RARE", bring back so many childhood memories of growing up in that never to be forgotten decade ~ the collaboration between composer, arranger and bands was pure magic. Total Time: 37:24 on 14 Tracks ~ Varese 64792 ~ (8/26/2003)"

LISTEN TO MY MAMA!

STEPHEN T. McCARTHY | a Mensa-donkey in Phoenix, Airheadzona. | 07/21/2005

(4 out of 5 stars)

"I'm a child of the '70s, and grew up listening to all of the popular Rock acts of the day. Once upon a time in a galaxy far, far away, I was a big fan of Styx and Thin Lizzy. Later, obsessed with Bruce Springsteen. I couldn't bring myself to listen to my Parents' music. (Where was the electric guitar?!) If someone had told me that Glenn Miller's, 'MOONLIGHT SERENADE' would eventually become my favorite piece of music, I would have certainly suspected them of being more liquidated (drunk) than I was!



But as a person gets older, a funny thing happens : the brain begins to function. Time made me a fan of REAL music. Now I know what the Old Man and Old Lady meant when they shouted (just to be heard), "Turn that RACKET down!" I can no longer listen to most of what I spent my money on as a teenager. (There are a few exceptions : The Beach Boys; Stevie Wonder; Van Morrison; etc.) When my Mom and I weren't talking baseball, politics, or God, we were talking music. And for years after I had come to my senses, my Mom insisted that I ought to hear Jimmy Dorsey's, 'SO RARE.' I finally got around to ordering THE FABULOUS JIMMY DORSEY which contains two takes of his last hit (#2 on the Billboard charts in 1957.) Unfortunately, she was quite ill by then, and didn't live long enough to listen to it with me. But dogged if she wasn't right. It IS "fabulous." And so is much of what appears on this album.



What you need to know is that the two versions of 'SO RARE' and 'SOPHISTICATED SWING', 'MAMBO EN SAX' and 'IT'S THE DREAMER IN ME' are the only tracks on this set that include Jimmy's playing. He passed away after these were cut. His band went back into the studio seven months later and recorded the remaining pieces without him, in order to complete the album. This makes THE FABULOUS JIMMY DORSEY the final original Dorsey release (and he was only partially involved in it.) But if you dig good Swing, don't let that bother you. Just buy it!



To me, 'JAY-DEE'S BOOGIE WOOGIE' sounds like brother Tommy's 'Boogie Woogie' revamped and energized. I don't care for 'MARIA ELENA' nor 'AMAPOLA' which feature that old-fashioned crooning style of singing that has never appealed to me. But I'm on board with the rest of this set. 'MAMBO EN SAX' has a groovin' Latin twist to it. (Latin food, music, and women - I like 'em all!) 'SPEAK LOW' is all melted marshmallow, spiked with Old Spice after shave lotion. MMMmmmm...nice. 'JUNE NIGHT' is a dance floor romp with warm group harmonizing and a pleasantly nasty saxophone edge. 'JUST SWINGIN'' could just as easily have been titled, 'Just Cookin'', 'cause baby, it is! 'SOPHISTICATED SWING' shows what made those old cats such "fabulous" musicians. The "stuff" that the present generation listens to is so musically feeble by comparison. I'll tell you this much : If Jimmy Dorsey's orchestra took to a stage tonight and played a full set, neither THE NAKED EMPERORS or BOOGER BILLY AND THE DECAPITATEDS (I just made those names up, but pick any currently popular, fraudulent band) would have the courage to follow them. Give 'em credit for more smarts than musicianship!



If you like top quality Swing, you're gonna be glad you acquired, THE FABULOUS JIMMY DORSEY. Let's just hope that today's kids will eventually wise up like I did; that they will graduate from the RAP CRAP and BIMBO POP by discovering true music.



* Ma, "NO ONE EVER LOST MORE than I lost when I lost you." I shoulda listened sooner. And though this is the last music you'll ever turn me onto (in this lifetime, anyway), it sure is a keeper. Thanks!

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