BENNY GOODMAN AND HIS ORCHESTRA - 1934-1935 {CC, 744} (1994) FLAC (tracks+.cue), lossless

With the exception of the final two titles, all of the music on this CD is from 1934, a period when Benny Goodman first formed his big band and appeared regularly on the Let's Dance radio series. Still virtually unknown to the general public, Goodman at 25 was ready for stardom, but the world was not quite yet ready for swing. The first four selections are from a fascinating combo date with the great tenor Coleman Hawkins and Mildred Bailey (who has vocals on three songs, including "Ol' Pappy" and "Emaline"). Another small-group session that features trombonist/singer Jack Teagarden and pianist Teddy Wilson precedes the Goodman Music Hall Orchestra's recordings for Columbia. The band is heard gradually developing their musical identity despite the lack of any major soloists other than the leader and (starting in November 1934) trumpeter Pee Wee Erwin. Helen Ward takes three vocals, and with "The Dixieland Band" in January 1935, the Goodman sound was almost together. by Scott Yanow

Tracklist:

1 Georgia Jubilee 2:43
Benny Goodman / Arthur Schutt
2 Junk Man 2:57
Frank Loesser / George W. Meyer
3 Ol' Pappy 3:08

Jerry Levinson / Al J. Neiburg / Marty Symes

4 Emaline 3:22

Mitchell Parish / Frank Perkins

5 I Ain't Lazy -- I'm Just Dreaming 3:08
David Franklin
6 As Long as I Live 3:04
Harold Arlen / Ted Koehler
7 Moonglow 3:32
Eddie DeLange / Will Hudson / Irving Mills
8 Breakfast Ball 2:47

Harold Arlen / Ted Koehler

9 Take My Word 2:48

Benny Carter / Irving Mills / Harry Pease

10 It Happens to the Best of Friends 2:42

Rube Bloom / Mitchell Parish

11 Nit Wit Serenade 2:43
Will Hudson
12 Bugle Call Rag 2:55
Billy Meyers / Jack Pettis / Elmer Schoebel
13 Learning 2:58
Jerry Levinson / Al J. Neiburg / Marty Symes
14 Stars Fell on Alabama 3:12
Mitchell Parish / Frank Perkins
15 Solitude 3:17
Eddie DeLange / Duke Ellington / Irving Mills
16 I'm Getting Sentimental over You 3:06
George Bassman / Ned Washington
17 I'm a Hundred Percent for You 2:59
Irving Mills / Ben Oakland / Mitchell Parish
18 Cokey 2:54
19 Like a Bolt from the Blue 3:06
Irving Mills / Ben Oakland / Mitchell Parish
20 Music Hall Rag 3:05
Benny Goodman
21 Dixieland Band 3:05
Bernie Hanighen / Johnny Mercer
22 Blue Moon 3:11
Lorenz Hart / Richard Rodgers

BENNY GOODMAN AND HIS ORCHESTRA - 1935-1936 {CC, 789} (1994) FLAC (tracks+.cue), lossless

After a historic up-and-down, cross-country trip to Los Angeles, Benny Goodman & His Orchestra became a sensation, launching the swing era. This set has the first selections by the Benny Goodman Trio (featuring the clarinetist with pianist Teddy Wilson and drummer Gene Krupa) and the initial big band recordings after Benny Goodman was crowned the king of swing, including his closing theme song, "Goodbye," "When Buddha Smiles," "Stompin' at the Savoy," and "Goody Goody" (Helen Ward's biggest hit). The next few years found Benny Goodman at the top of the music world. by Scott Yanow

Tracklist:

1 After You've Gone 2:45
Henry Creamer / Turner Layton
2 Body and Soul 3:27
Frank Eyton / Johnny Green / Edward Heyman / Robert Sour
3 Who? 3:11
Otto Harbach / Oscar Hammerstein II / Jerome Kern
4 Someday, Sweetheart 23:46
Benjamin Franklin Spikes / John Spikes
5 Santa Claus Came in the Spring 3:07
Johnny Mercer
6 Goodbye 3:23
Gordon Jenkins
7 Madhouse 2:48
Jimmy Mundy
8 Sandman 2:34
Arthur Freed / Sol Lake
9 Yankee Doodle Never Went to Town 2:27
Arthur Freed / Bernie Hanighen
10 No Other One 2:37
Vee Lawnhurst / Tot Seymour
11 Eeny Meeny Meiny Mo 1:57
Matty Malneck / Johnny Mercer
12 Basin Street Blues 2:54
Spencer Williams
13 If I Could Be with You (One Hour Tonight) 2:12
James P. Johnson
14 When Buddha Smiles 3:08
Nacio Herb Brown / Arthur Freed / King Zany
15 It's Been So Long 3:24
Harold Adamson / Walter Donaldson
16 Stompin' at the Savoy 3:12
Benny Goodman / Andy Razaf / Edgar Sampson / Chick Webb
17 Goody Goody 2:29
Matty Malneck / Johnny Mercer
18 Breakin' in a Pair of Shoes 2:30
David Franklin / Sam H. Stept / Ned Washington
19 Get Happy 3:06
Harold Arlen / Ted Koehler
20 Christopher Columbus 3:33
Chu Berry / Andy Razaf
21 I Know That You Know 2:02
Anne Caldwell / Vincent Youmans
22 Stardust 2:51
Hoagy Carmichael / Mitchell Parish
23 You Can't Pull the Wool Over My Eyes 2:31
Milton Ager / Murray Mencher / Charles Newman

BILLY HOLIDAY - 1933-1937 {CC, 582} (1991) FLAC (tracks+.cue), lossless

Two things stand out in these early recordings. One, of course, is Lady Day's already fully mature style. The other is the superb quality of the musicians who backed her. A Benny Goodman combo; Bunny Berigan and Artie Shaw with Joe Bushkin and Cozy Cole; Jonah Jones with Ben Webster and Teddy Wilson; Buster Bailey; a bunch of Basie-ites including the superb Lester Young. Even without her this would be a gem. by John Storm Roberts
Tracklist:
1 Your Mother's Son-In-Law 2:43
Mann Holiner / Alberta Nichols
2 Riffin' the Scotch 2:33
Fred Buck / Benny Goodman / Dick McDonough / Johnny Mercer
3 Did I Remember? 2:50
Harold Adamson / Walter Donaldson
4 No Regrets 2:35
Roy Ingraham / Harry Tobias
5 Summertime 2:54
George Gershwin / Ira Gershwin / DuBose Heyward
6 Billie's Blues 2:38
Billie Holiday
7 A Fine Romance 2:50
Dorothy Fields / Jerome Kern
8 I Can't Pretend 3:03
Harry Tobias
9 One, Two, Button Your Shoe 2:48
Johnny Burke / Arthur Johnston
10 Let's Call a Heart a Heart 3:01
Johnny Burke / Arthur Johnston
11 One Never Knows, Does One? 3:02
Mack Gordon / Harry Revel
12 I've Got My Love to Keep Me Warm 2:54
Irving Berlin
13 If My Heart Could Only Talk 3:02
Teddy Powell / Walter Samuels / Leonard Whitcup
14 Please Keep Me in Your Dreams 2:18
Vee Lawnhurst / Tot Seymour
15 Where Is the Sun? 2:46
Lee David / David Lee / John Redmond
16 Let's Call the Whole Thing Off 3:36
George Gershwin / Ira Gershwin
17 They Can't Take That Away from Me 3:02
George Gershwin / Ira Gershwin
18 Don't Know If I'm Comin' or Goin' 2:45
Lee Wainer
19 Me, Myself and I 2:35
Irving Gordon / Alvin Kaufman / Allan Roberts
20 A Sailboat in the Moonlight 2:49
John Jacob Loeb / Carmen Lombardo
21 Born to Love 2:38
J.K. Jerome / Jack Scholl
22 Without Your Love 2:52
John Lange / Fred Stryker
23 Getting Some Fun Out of Life 3:01
Joe Burke / Edgar Leslie
24 Who Wants Love? 2:33
Gus Kahn / Franz Waxman
 

BILLY HOLIDAY - 1939-1940 {CC, 601} (1991) FLAC (tracks+.cue), lossless

This volume of the Classics Chronological series places Billie Holiday's music in historical context to an unusual degree, as her recordings for the Columbia and Commodore labels have until now been reissued separately because of copyright and catalog ownership. The songs parceled together here were recorded at a crossroads in Holiday's career. The setting for the first -- in what would constitute great changes in her life and music -- was Barney Josephson's Café Society Downtown. Located at 2 Sheridan Square, this was Manhattan's first fully integrated nightclub. Its clientele included a number of politically progressive intellectuals and social activists. When she first appeared at the club on December 30, 1938, Billie Holiday was known as a spunky vocalist who presented lively renditions of pop and jazz standards in what was considered an unusual yet accessible style. It was in the year 1939 that Lady Day gradually began to create a subtler if at times more provocative persona. Part of this equation was profoundly political, and the singer's activism is most stunningly present in "Strange Fruit," a powerfully disturbing setting of a poem by Lewis Allen describing in careful detail the appearance of a lynching victim. The specter of a black body hanging from a poplar tree was and still is a powerful image that can and should haunt the listener long after the song has ended. The fact that Holiday chose to incorporate this piece into her live performances puts her in a much different category from her preexisting cabaret image of a cheerful young jazz vocalist. It is a fact that after she began presenting "Strange Fruit" to the public -- and singing at benefits for politically progressive causes -- Billie Holiday became an object of FBI surveillance. John Hammond, generally regarded as the man who discovered Holiday and helped develop her career, is known to have disliked "Strange Fruit" and was behind Columbia's refusal to record this controversial song. Fortunately for posterity, Billie, backed by an ensemble drawn from the house band at Café Society, was able to wax four of her all-time best records -- including "Strange Fruit" -- on April 20, 1939, for Milt Gabler's innovative Commodore label. On the other hand, even when heard without the benefit of these historical insights, the music included in this part of the chronology is simply some of the best jazz of its day, rendered by some of the greatest players on the scene. An overview of the trumpeters, for example, includes Frankie Newton, Hot Lips Page, Charlie Shavers, Buck Clayton, Roy Eldridge, and Harry "Sweets" Edison. Billie's first collaborations with a tenor sax player were with Kenneth Hollon during the early '30s. Hollon was on hand at Café Society and can be heard on the first three sessions presented here. Tab Smith sounds particularly fine on soprano sax during "Long Gone Blues." The band backing Billie on December 13, 1939, was essentially Count Basie's Orchestra with Joe Sullivan sitting in at the piano. And the most precious element of all is the presence of Lester Young. The combined personalities of Pres and Lady Day transformed every song into a collective ritual filled with magic and poetic grace. by arwulf arwulf  
Tracklist:
1 Why Did I Always Depend on You? 2:35
Paul Greenwood / Teddy McRae / R. Smith
2 Long Gone Blues 3:09
Billie Holiday feat: Billie Holiday & Her Orchestra
3 Strange Fruit 3:09
Lewis Allan
4 Yesterdays 3:21
Otto Harbach / Jerome Kern
5 Fine and Mellow 3:13
Billie Holiday feat: Billie Holiday & Her Orchestra
6 I Gotta Right to Sing the Blues 2:50
Harold Arlen / Ted Koehler
7 Some Other Spring 3:04
Arthur Herzog, Jr. / Irene Kitchings
8 Our Love Is Different 3:17
Billie Holiday / S. White
9 Them There Eyes 2:53
Maceo Pinkard / Doris Tauber / William Tracey
10 Swing, Brother, Swing 2:59
Lewis Raymond / Walter Bishop, Sr. / Clarence Williams
11 Night and Day 3:01
Cole Porter
12 The Man I Love 3:08
George Gershwin / Ira Gershwin
13 You're Just a No Account 3:01
Sammy Cahn / Saul Chaplin
14 You're a Lucky Guy 2:48
Sammy Cahn / Saul Chaplin
15 Ghost of Yesterday 2:41
Arthur Herzog, Jr. / Irene Kitchings / Wesley Wilson
16 Body and Soul 3:02
Frank Eyton / Johnny Green / Edward Heyman / Robert Sour
17 What Is This Going to Get Us? 2:43
Arthur Herzog, Jr. / Irene Kitchings
18 Falling in Love Again 2:53
Frederick Hollander / Sammy Lerner
19 I'm Pulling Through 3:13
Arthur Herzog, Jr. / Irene Kitchings / Irene Wilson
20 Tell Me More 3:11
Billie Holiday feat: Billie Holiday & Her Orchestra
21 Laughing at Life 2:57
Charles F. Kenny / Nick A. Kenny / Bob Todd / Cornell Todd
22 Time on My Hands 3:04
Harold Adamson / Mack Gordon / Vincent Youmans
 

BILLY HOLIDAY - 1940-1942 {CC, 680} (1993) FLAC (tracks+.cue), lossless

Tracklist:
1. I'm All For You (3:13)
2. I Hear Music (2:43)
3. It's The Same Old Story (3:13)
4. Practice Makes Perfect (2:38)
5. St. Louis Blues (2:55)
6. Loveless Love (3:17)
7. Let's Do It (2:59)
8. Georgia On My Mind (3:21)
9. Romance In The Dark (2:17)
10. All Of Me (3:03)
11. I'm In A Low-Down Groove (3:10)
12. God Bless The Child (2:58)
13. Am I Blue? (2:51)
14. Solitude (3:16)
15. Jim (3:11)
16. I Cover The Waterfront (2:59)
17. Love Me Or Leave Me (3:22)
18. Gloomy Sunday (3:14)
19. Wherever You Are (3:02)
20. Mandy Is Two (3:01)
21. It's A Sin To Tell A Lie (3:05)
22. Until The Real Thing Comes Along (3:11)
23. Trav'lin' Light (3:14)