Search - Ralph Carmichael :: Big Band Swing Classics 1

FANTASTIC CD!

R Sanchez | San Antonio, TX | 12/31/1999

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This is a fantastic cd. If you have ever wondered how Glenn Miller, Duke Ellington, Artie Shaw, Benny Goodman and other big band artists would have sounded with today's digital recording technology, then you need this cd in your collection. Ralph Carmichael has done an excellent job in staying true to how the original artists would have performed all the selections. For instance, in Glenn Miller's IN THE MOOD, Carmichael uses Miller's original chart to duplicate the style and sound that Miller made famous. The same can be said of the other selections. Whether your hearing Duke Ellington's TAKE THE "A" TRAIN or Artie Shaw's BEGIN THE BEGUINE, you will believe that you are hearing the original big bands.Carmichael's big band has a very good sound. In all the arrangements, the band is extremely tight and powerful, with neither brass or saxes drowning each other out. Both trumpet section and sax section do an excellent job of complimenting each other, with the trombone section adding in the fill to make for a rich and powerful sound that takes you back to the big band era, especially if you listen to this cd on a good stereo and the volume set to play loud. All solos are well done, expecially in STRING OF PEARLS, where the entire trumpet section duplicates the solo as originally played by Bobby Hacket, of the Glen Miller Band. It'll make you want to dance.I can't wait for Ralph Carmichael to come out with volume 2, as this is the best recording of Big Band music I've ever heard. In this cd, Carmichael has given us an idea of how some of the famous big band atists would sound if they were around today. This is an excellent buy."