Search - Various Artists :: Fabulous Big Band Collection

Overall a very good primer to the big band sound of the 40s.

10/11/1998

(4 out of 5 stars)

"The Fabulous Big Band Collection (like its companion CD The Fabulous Swing Collection) lives up to its billing and its spiffy cover art, providing in just over an hour a great primer to the big band sound of the '40s. The one jarring note, and my one criticism, is that the Woody Herman selection "Four Brothers," was recorded some 30 years after every other song on the CD, during a sort of big band revival, and the sound quality is dramatically different from every other track. The piece does swing, but surely they could have found a recording of this piece, or any of a number of great recordings by Herman's Herds from the '40s, and the result would have been a much more homogeneous sound for the disc. With that said, I would still highly recommend it. It's a great intro, and even if you already have an extensive big band collection, you'll find cuts not so commonly found on compilations, such as "Tippin' In" by Erskine Hawkins, "Jivin' the Vibes" by Lionel Hampton, or Duke Ellington's unusual treatment of "It Don't Mean a Thing (If It Ain't Got that Swing)" make this disc well worth a listen."

Where's the big band?!

Elizabeth | Rochester, NY USA | 08/30/2003

(4 out of 5 stars)

"The reviwes that I read on the site were so good, but when I got the CD there were only 4 fast moving songs! I was very disapointed! This music is the best of all times! It's supost to be fun and moving fast enough to tap your foot to. I'm actuly wondering if the swing CD would be better than this one."