Customer Reviews

Berry Story

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

 

 

Sad that Leon "Chu" Berry's death at 33 in an auto wreck (on his way to a date with the Cab Calloway band in Canada) put him in a position to be eclipsed by Lester Young, Coleman Hawkins, Johnny Hodges, et al. Although these men are undisputed Giants, Chu unquestionably had what it took take his place alongside them. Even with the fragmentary recorded career, I'd say he belongs there. If you want to hear the ripe beauty of Chu's tone and his elegant, laidback phrasing, try this collection. Because it isn't a volume of a sequential discographical release series, they are free to hop around more to show you Chu in different periods and settings. I give this one a definite thumbs up for value and diversity of selection.

Few people today have heard about Chu Berry. He died 60 years ago, when his style and way of playing were increasing every day. During Coleman Hawkins was in Europa, and Lester just begining, he was the tenor number one. He unfortunately disappeared before birth of a new kind of music, called be-bop. One can wonder how would have Chu play music if he was alive until the 60' or the 70'

ONE OF THE BEST SAXMEN TO EVER PLAY WITH LOTS HIS BEST WORK. REALLY GREAT WHEN HE JAMS WITH "LITTLE JAZ" ROY ELDRIDGE. ALSO TUNES WITH WINGY MALONE, GENE KRUPPA,AND LIONEL HAMPTON. GOOD PRE-WAR SWING. JUST MAKES YOU WISH THAT HE HAD NOT DIED IN 41.

I'm reviewing this rather similar collection even though I actually own an Italian compilation of Chu Berry entitled 'On Parade' which Amazon doesn't carry. It's easily one of my favourite CDs since, in his short career, Berry passed through so many great bands of the day, including those of Cab Calloway, Lionel Hampton, Wingy Manone and Putney Dandridge, as well as cutting sides under his own name with Roy Eldridge. A Chu Berry compilation, therefore, gives you a fantastic walking tour through the best of swing, circa 1935-41, some of the most joyous music ever recorded, led by a man who may have been the greatest tenor sax player of all time, if he had lived so long. Certainly, in his day, Berry could outswing Coleman Hawkins on uptempo numbers and was a match to Ben Webster on ballads. He sounds enormously modern, even in the most ricky-ticky of 1930s jazz settings. That the critical consensus now numbers Hawkins, Young and Webster as the "Big Three" of early tenor players, ignoring Berry altogether, is nigh criminal. Of the three, only Young could touch him.