Fabulous Swing Collection

Fabulous Collection (Series) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (February 10, 1998)
• Original Release Date: February 10, 1998
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: RCA
• ASIN: B000003GBX
• Also Available in: Audio Cassette  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (19 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #79,761 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)
  • #30 in Music > Jazz > Swing Jazz > Vintage Dance Bands
  • #32 in Music > Jazz > Jive Jazz

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

34 of 34 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great CD, the classics can't be beat., October 14, 1998

By 

Ken Johnson ([e-mail]) (Hope International University, Fullerton, Ca) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Fabulous Swing Collection (Audio CD)

This CD is one of the best in Swing that I have heard. I like it because it is the origenal recordings of the musicians. Yes the CD might not have the same perfect quality of the modern, remastered CDs, but that classic feel is unbeatable. This is the music that my grandparents listened to on Saturday night with an antique radio. This is the music that I want to listen to as well with that same feel.

26 of 26 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Swing Revival Met "Fabulous"-ly On RCA Big Band Set, January 13, 2001

By 

Anthony G Pizza "trivialtony" (FL) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Fabulous Swing Collection (Audio CD)

RCA's "Fabulous Swing Collection" was released to exploit a national big band revival craze, led by groups like Cherry Poppin' Daddies and Brian Setzer's Orchestra and in full swing (pardon the pun) in 1998. That revival has cooled but this generous (19 songs, 65 minutes) set remains among the era's better one-disc compilations (all songs from RCA family labels) for now third-generation fans.

It may not have been all the classics revivalists danced to; two swingin' Louises (Prima and Jordan) recorded their jump, jive and wailin' big band tunes for Capitol and Decca Records, respectively. But many of the era's signature tunes are represented, sounding surprisingly warm in analog sound: Glenn Miller's anthemic "In The Mood," "String of Pearls," and "American Patrol," Benny Goodman's hard, wild swinging "Sing, Sing, Sing" (heard recently and famously in a cookie commercial but better in Goodman's 1938 Carnegie Hall concert), Cab Calloway's 1933 "Minnie The Moocher," which he performed nearly a half-century later in the first "Blues Brothers" film and here does in full-throated youthful yodel.

You also get seminal sides from Charlie Barnet ("Cherokee"), Tommy Dorsey ("Marie," "Opus One"), and Duke Ellington ("Take The 'A' Train," "Cotton Tail"). While these songs swing sweeter than 1998's martini-and-cigar crowd might have liked, "Fabulous" may well be among the few big band CDs a new fan would need. Longtime fans have these classics on the artists' original LPs (or more studious sets like Columbia's "16 Most Requested Big Band Themes") and can probably swing past it.

18 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Best I've Heard, July 11, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: Fabulous Swing Collection (Audio CD)

I purchased several swing collections previously and they all had poor quality audio - they had not been cleaned up from the original recordings. This CD is MUCH cleaner and makes for an enjoyable experience.