38 of 39 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Great sound quality, superb music, September 29, 2003
So many "greatest hits" compilations miss the mark either in quality or song selection. But this disc lives up to its billing as the "Best" of the Dorsey orchestra. It kicks off with one of the stellar and swingiest tunes of the Big Band era, "Opus Number One" (though this version is inferior to the more famous "single" version). It's hard to listen to this song and not appreciate the brilliant arrangement and musicianship displayed here. Along with Goodman's "Sing, Sing Sing" and Glenn Miller's "In the Mood" this has got to be in the top three of any Big Band all-time greatest list.
It's a pity that Dorsey has been somewhat forgotten today and shoved aside in preference of Benny, Glenn and Artie. Was he as good as those giants? No, but this disc shows that his band could swing, had a phenomenal young vocalist named Sinatra and that Tommy's trombone playing wasn't half bad. This is a must have album for anyone serious about the Big Band era.
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30 of 31 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
I just can't get enough of this CD!, January 20, 2002
This CD is one of the finest collections of Tommy Dorsey music I have ever heard! It mixes great swing with some of the most romantic ballads ever written. All of the cuts are original recordings and the sound quality is fantastic. As my review title states, this CD never leaves my player. I just never tire of hearing this stuff, and, being a 40's fanatic at 36, it takes me back to a time that I wished I could have known....even though there was a World War going on!
Great music!!!!!!!!!!!!
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12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Tommy Dorsey -Best All Around Dance Band!, May 8, 2005
The Dorsey band could do everything. The hottest Swing and the smoothest ballads and the liveliest pops and novelties. His band was every inch as good as The Miller, Goodman and Shaw bands and at times, even better!
Dorsey had several bands and his pre 1940 band is very different than his band of 1940 - 1946. The '40s band had a more dynamic sound to it, especially in the Swing instrumentals! Plus...all those great vocalists - Frank Sinatra, Jo Stafford, Connie Haines and the Pied Pipers vocal group, not to mention Dick Haymes, Stuart Foster and the great Clark Sisters aka The Sentimentalists.
The recordings on the CD above are a mixture of 'both' of TD's band of the era.
All the sides on the CD are choice and the only reason I have rated the CD 4 stars out of 5 is because my 'personal best' are not all on there!
And with all due respect to the reviewer below, the version of "Opus One" on this CD *is* the original 1944 recording when TD was featuring a big string section in his band. "Inferior"? No such way.
*For more by me on the Dorsey band, click on the link below-
http://www.jazzitude.com/bldorseya.htm
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