Customer Reviews

Benny Goodman Story

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This is an amazing recording from 1955 that features Benny with an all-star studio orchestra featuring Harry James, Lionel Hampton, and Ruby Braff. These re-recordings of some of Benny's most famous songs are stunning replicas of vintage 1930s style swing a la Fletcher Henderson as they were meant to be heard, in clear, brilliant Hi-Fi sound. Some of these arrangements even come close to surpassing the original recordings, such as "Down South Camp Meetin'" (with the driving bass line provided by George Duvivier propelling the whole thing). Also, Benny himself sounds fresh and inspired in this session, playing with more fire and energy than in any other of his fifties recordings. Just one drawback, Bobby Donaldson and Don Lamond fail to capture the Krupa magic with their drumming as evident by "Sing, Sing, Sing" (Donaldson) and "Don't Be That Way" (Lamond). Wouldn't it have been great if Gene Krupa would have been present at this session with Goodman and James as he was in the film version? Nonetheless, this is a must-have BG CD, one that documents his real contribution to jazz.

Benny re-recorded his material in 1955 for a movie The Benny Goodman Story, with a few guests like Harry James, Lionel Hampton,...This is one of the coolest swing cd's I ever heard. Here you'll hear why Benny is the king of swing. All of his hits and more. A real must for every swing fan!

A swinging session with studio musicians recorded in the 1950s. Excellent Hi-Fi mono sound quality. Highly recommended.

This is a must have cd. Goodman's essential tracks are listed here and, it's great, with a perfect sound.

Not to put to fine a point of it - previous reviewers have mostly claimed that these sessions at times even surpass the original sessions, but that is a bit of an exaggeration. This is a really good example of swing nevertheless, recomended to fans of the Goodman's style defined in the 30's.
Incidently, the cd shares the title with a film made about Goodman, but this is not a soundtrack - the title is the same in order to make the record company cash in on the success of the film.

I have both recordings featuring music from the film, THE BENNY GOODMAN STORY, the Decca soundtrack and the Capitol Records album recorded in December of
1955. Benny's many solos and Harry James' SING SING SING, SHINE and his recreation of the Ziggy Elman solo on AND THE ANGELS SING especially had more fire and feeling. In fact Harry's SING SING SING solo was better than his original 1938 Carnegie Concert solo. The Capitol recordings had far more original Goodman personnel plus the added feature of a very young Doc Severinsen in the trumpet section. Several more tracks that were not featured in the film were added to the Capitol CD version to extend the playing time. Unfortuntely Gene Krupa is not on this album but Teddy Wilson and Lionel Hampton are and sound terrific. If you compare both albums I think you will agree with my observations.

By the mid-1950's Capitol jumped out ahead of all the other record labels by coming out with a series of new "High Fidelity" Lps. Goodman wasn't happy with the Universal soundtrack album from The Benny Goodman Story that was released by Decca Records, so he re-recorded the songs featured in the film. CD also has some unissued recordings, along with the 45rpm issue of Goody-Goody, where BG "tries" to sing(!) Nice follow-up to the B.G. In HI-FI album.

In fabulous crystal clear 'Hi-Fi' from 1955, it's Benny Goodman and an all-star band recreating their famous tunes from the 1930's. I had heard of this CD reissue, so I finally bought it & downloaded it. What inspired me to buy this was a second viewing of the Steve Allen/Donna Reed film 'The Benny Goodman Story', which also featured many of the players on this set of recordings: Gene Krupa, George Duvivier, Lionel Hampton, Harry James and many more jazz big band/swing legends!

The Goodman bands were always 'in the pocket' with the swinging jazz arrangements, and this recording shows off their many talents. By 1955, It had been a while since Benny and company had played together, and the all-stars are still GREAT!This CD is also highly recommended as an introduction to Benny Goodman's playing, the band's style and the superb swinging arrangements. It is also a nice primer for the new swing/jazz music fan just learning about Goodman and the swing era jazz.