Customer Reviews

Gershwin for Moderns-Rodgers for Moderns

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Ted Heath had one of the best bands in Britain, filled with musicians who could really swing. If in doubt just check out some of the Live at the Palladium albums he made, such as the Sunday concert done on April 12, 1953: this is excellent modern big-band jazz. The CD at hand, though, which combines 2 English Decca LPs from 1955 and 1956, although called "Modern," isn't very modern at all. In fact, both albums are very commercial. Jazz intent, if there ever was any, is sacrificed for smooth, easy listening renditions of well-known tunes by these composers. (There is also a third album called Kern for Moderns that is of the same ilk, but it's not out on CD to my knowledge.) Some of the renditions aren't too bad, and none are downright awful, but there just isn't a whole lot going on. Also there is hardly a track that plays longer than 3 minutes (total time for this CD is barely 60 minutes, though it contains two full LPs), another sign of its commercialism. With excellent players like Bobby Pratt, Wally Smith, and Roy Willox among others, this project should have been a whole lot better.

as classified by a previous reviewer. Whether it is considered modern or not is arguable, after all it was 1955. At that time only about 12 tracks could be squeezed onto an LP which caused severe limitations on the solo space....unless you cut the tracks to 4 or 5. As far as commercial?....so was a lot of Wes Montgomery's work yet as a guitarist he was considered exemplary by most.

That said, this is an excellent interpretation of selections from the Gershwin book in the style, for comparison purposes, of Les Brown with some hints of Kenton in the heavier brass, and a touch of Claude Thornhill in some of the ballads. The man had his own sound and excellent side men.This is a typical sound of the Heath band at that time.

I'm converting my old LPs (those in great shape) and this is one of them. If you like this one which combines two LPs then you will also enjoy "Kern for Moderns..." if you can find it. A compilation from 1953-56 was turned out as "Ted Heath in Hi-Fi" featuring "The Australian Suite" is a little more progressive and also is not in print to my knowledge.

The sound quality should be excellent on the cd because the London Record originals featured full frequency range recording (ffrr) at that period which was "top drawer" surpassed soon by stereo in 1957.

Bottom line....if you enjoy big band swing, you'll enjoy this.

Through my dad's old reel-to-reel recordings, I became a huge fan of Ted Heath's band, and this album featuring Richard Rogers' music in particular. This band was incredibly tite and fiercly swinging. It featured some of the very finest musicians in Great Britain. These recordings, though in mono, have been beautifully remastered for cd. The quality is awesome! Brits can be proud of the fact that Ted Heath outsold most american big bands in the 50's! I highly recommend this cd for anyone who loves big band music, and Ted Heath in particular.