Customer Reviews

Centennial Album

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This cd appeared in 1994 to commemorate Isham Jones's centenary. The 22 recordings are drawn from two transription sessions from april 1935 and november 1937 and, in my opinion, give a more balanced view of this band's later years that the HEP issue ("Blue Room") which spotlights the jazzier side of the band (although the results are musically equally rewarding). This collection sports a fair number of pleasantly bouncy foxtrots (mainly instrumental, three with a vocal by Eddie Stone; Woody Herman is only to be heard as a clarinet soloist), which the band plays with great warmth, making excellent use of the deep brass (including brass bass) and baritone saxophone (such as "My Dance", "Restless", "You Took Advantage of Me" and "Once Upon a Time" but also quite a few hotter sides such as "Sugar", "Crazy Rhythm", "Doin' the New Low Down", "Oh Peter" and "Royal Garden Blues", "Sugar Foot Stomp" etc. The arrangements are very well done, never reverting to cheap effects as many other "sweet" bands used to do. Many tunes exceed the usual 78 playing time since the transcription discs allowed more space, the total time coming at just over 75 minutes. The sound quality is very good and the booklet with very informative liner notes by Paul Lindemeijer (who also wrote the notes for the HEP release) comes with full discographical information.
Although essentially a dance band (and not a jazz or swing band) and slightly old-fashioned for the times, judged by its own merrits this disc offers a very enjoyable listening experience.

This CD was a revelation to me when I discovered it, not long ago. Isham Jones was a very popular dance band leader in his day, and a wonderful song composer. But he is pretty much forgotten today, unfortunately. This CD should help introduce his music to the curious, and perhaps act as a memento to the lucky ones who either heard him live, or through his records or on radio at the time. For this CD, the producers have drawn primarily from a set of 1935 radio transcriptions, in vivid, rich sound that his commercial recordings from the '20s and '30s cannot quite match. The several selections from 1937, after a reorganization of his band, are excellent, though perhaps not as striking. Isham didn't leave us much from the late '30s and beyond, so this is a fascinating document.