Jimmy Dorsey Transcriptions 1935 CD

The Dorsey Brothers just had the famous pull-no-punches fight over the direction their jointly led band should take, and the union was over until they reunited many years later. Jimmy Dorsey immediately hightailed it up to the Electrical Research Products studio in NYC and cut 31 sides...under the name James Dalton! Many of the tracks have been reissued piecemeal over the years on such labels as Rumbleseat, Muzak, Queen Disk, and such. Now the Danish label Nostalgia Arts, part of Storyville Records, has issued 20 of the best of these sides. Most of the material consists of typical early-'30s dance band arrangements (even those tunes destined to become standards) -- staple fare at most ballrooms and on the radio then. Typical from the period is "It Never Dawned on Me" with a heartfelt Kay Weber trying her best to turn a turnip into a tulip, but without success. But there are peeks at the future when Jimmy Dorsey's band would become one of the top-drawer musical outfits. Key Weber's voice gets a much more felicitous setting on "Cheek to Cheek." There's a fine arrangement of "I Wished on the Moon" with Bob Eberle doing the vocal honors. His voice sounds so much more formal and stilted here than it would just a few years later when he teamed with that blonde bubbly bombshell of a singer who lifted the Dorsey aggregation to heights it had never seen before. (That, of course, was Helen O'Connell.) There are some good clarinet solos by Dorsey and listeners hear snippets of the fluid, polished alto playing that earned him the respect and admiration of many top jazz artists of the day and since. But, this album captures the initial efforts of the band, and will attract those interested in the history and development of big band music in general and Jimmy Dorsey & His Orchestra in particular. ~ Dave Nathan

Toots Camarata,Trumpet/Kay We- Ber,Bob Eberle,Vocal/Others

Recorded at Electrical Research Products Studios, Bronx, New York on September 23, 1935. Includes liner notes by Bob Stockdale.

Jimmy Dorsey & His Orchestra: Jimmy Dorsey (alto saxophone, clarinet); Arthur "Skeets" Herfurt (vocals, tenor saxophone); Don Matteson (vocals, trombone); Roscoe "Roc" Hillman (vocals, guitar); Kay Weber, Bob Eberle (vocals); Joseph "Fud" Livingston (alto & tenor saxophones); Jack Stacy (alto saxophone); George Thow, Salvatore "Toots" Camarata (trumpet); Bobby Byrne, Joe Yuki (trombone); Bobby Van Eps (piano); James "Slim" Taft (acoustic bass); Ray McKinley (drums).

Personnel: Jimmy Dorsey (clarinet, alto saxophone); Roscoe Hillman (vocals, guitar); Don Matteson (vocals, trombone); Dorsey Trio, Kay Weber (vocals); Roc Hillman (guitar); Fud Livingston, Joseph Livingston (alto saxophone, tenor saxophone); Jack Stacey (alto saxophone); Arthur Herfurt, Skeets Herfurt (tenor saxophone); Jim Taft (baritone saxophone); George Thow, Toots Camarata (trumpet); Joe Yukl, Bobby Byrne (trombone); Bobby Van Eps (piano); Ray McKinley (drums).

Recording information: 1939.

Arranger: Larry Clinton.