The Columbia House Bands, Vol. 1

Freddie Rich | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (June 21, 1995)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Old Masters
• ASIN: B000005DZ8
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #223,214 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

1. Why Can't You

2. Nobody But You

3. Wishing and Waiting for Love

4. Revolutionary Rhythm

5. Dixie Jamboree [#1]

6. He's So Unusual [#1]

7. Dixie Jamboree [#2]

8. He's So Unusual [#2]

9. You're Lucky to Me

10. Body and Soul

11. I Got Rhythm #1

12. I'll Be Blue Just Thinking of You

13. I Got Rhythm #2

14. Ukulele Moon

15. My Love for You

16. A Peach of a Pair

17. Someone Sang a Sweeter Song to Mary

18. Cheerful Little Earful

19. Baby's Birthday Party

20. Wedding of the Birds

See all 22 tracks on this disc

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fantastic CD!, December 23, 2007

By 

"Gimpy" Peach Johnson - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Columbia House Bands, Vol. 1 (Audio CD)

Fred Rich led a dance band from the 1920s into the 1940s, and like Sam Lanin, Ben Selvin, and a few others, recorded prolifically under a string of pseudonyms for virtually every record label. At times, Rich's band included Joe Venuti, Eddie Lang, the Dorseys, and other notable jazz musicians; however, the band usually played in a style that was only mildly "hot." Although Rich recorded countless sides for such budget labels as Perfect, Harmony, and the Plaza group of labels (Regal, Banner, etc.), the selections here were all recorded for Columbia, or its full-priced subsidiaries: OKeh and Parlophone. These recordings were made c. 1929-1931 and there are some real gems here. The arrangements are clever, the tunes are catchy, and there are some great vocals. I had many of these titles on a previous TOM LP (with some added reverb), but the tracks on this disc have been freshly remastered from the (rare) original 78s without any of the added effects. These are excellent, "honest" transfers with nothing added--the rich "Viva-Tonal" sound of the original records has been lovingly preserved. The liner notes by Rob Bamberger (host of "Hot Jazz Saturday Night" on WAMU in Washington, DC) are very good as well. Despite the rather boring cover, this is delightful CD of snappy 1920s dance band fare that I would highly recommend. I play this CD often and count it among my favorites.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excelent Music and Sound Restoration, January 6, 2009

By 

Gregory P. May Jr. "Gregory" (San Diego, CA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Columbia House Bands, Vol. 1 (Audio CD)

It's a perfect CD. It's got great old music, that has been perfectly restored! It doesn't get any better than that when you love vintage pop music!

4.0 out of 5 stars cheerful earful, December 1, 2009

By 

JJA Kiefte "Joost Kiefte" (Tegelen, Nederland) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Columbia House Bands, Vol. 1 (Audio CD)

A very nice collection of music that was recorded in the months around the 1929 Stock Market crash, featuring Bunny Berigan, Mannie Klein, Tommy and Jimmy Dorsey, Joe Venuti and Eddie Lang and that pleasing singer Smith Ballew. Most tunes are up-tempo and some are downright great such as the second version of "I Got Rhythm" with its remarkable intro by Lang and Venuti, "I'm Tickled Pink" and "Cheerful Little Earful" and quite a few others. As always with TOM cd's, remastering is very fine, the liner notes are very informative; for the band personel I had to resort to an old World Records lp however (with notes by Brian Rust). You won't be able to stop tapping your feet with this cd in your machine.