Customer Reviews

I've Heard That Song Before: Hits of Harry James [ORIGINAL RECORDINGS REMASTERED]

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4 star:		(2)
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2 star:		(1)
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When I first saw the price on this 2-CD set of music from big band swing leader and trumpet maestro Harry James, I was skeptical. I expected a cheaply produced, awful sounding and unmastered collection of bad airchecks and other live recordings. What a wonderful surprise to receive what is probably the definitive collection ever of Harry James! The CDs not only sound good, but it contains all of James's classic hit recordings in their original versions as they were released as singles, as well as many overlooked gems any swing fan or big band fanatic would love to have.

Here we have James in all his different modes: as a virtuoso trumpeter ("Trumpet Rhapsody"), as a leader of a smooth, sweet band with superb vocalists (Helen Forrest singing "I Had the Craziest Dream"; the swooning instrumental "You Made Me Love You"), and as the leader of a hard swingin' band for lindy-hopping dancers ("I've Heard that Song Before," "Two O'Clock Jump," "Strictly Instrumental," and plenty more). His other big hits, "Ciribiribin," "Trumpet Blues and Cantabile," and "Music Makers" are here as well. The time period covered is immense, from James's first recording as a leader in 1939, to his post-war recordings in 1947. And it's all great - everybody will find something to love here.

Along with the classics, here are some of the big surprises waiting for you: a 1939 small-group recording of "One O'Clock Jump" that was James's first session as the leader of a band. (He had just recorded "One O'Clock Jump" with Benny Goodman before departing the Goodman orchestra, so he must have felt comfortable with "One O'Clock Jump" as a place to start.) There's a six-minute long, 1947 recording of an old Goodman stand-by, "Stompin' at the Savoy," that turns the whole piece upside down and makes something entirely new out of it. Helen Forrest belts out a wartime morale raiser, "He's 1-A in the Army but A-1 in My Heart" I had never heard before - and any chance to hear more of the divine Ms. Forrest's voice is welcome! There's also some wonderful vocals from Kitty Kallen on this disc as well. And some swingy surprises I've never heard before: "Dodgers' Fan Dance" (written for the Brooklyn Dodgers, Harry James's favorite team), "Cross Country Jump," a two-part version of the swing anthem "Moten Swing," "Flatbush Flanagan," and a sweet, beautiful rendition of a song that's usually a jumping blues number, Fats Waller's "Ain't Misbehavin.'" There's even a track where James plays trumpet with just a rhythm section backing him, a great opportunity to hear his trumpet chops in their pure glory. (And man, could this guy play!)

All this for $14.99! I couldn't believe the quality and the quantity I got when I finally received these discs, opened them up, and slapped them in my CD player. (And let me tell you, they're not leaving my CD changer for a while!)

This is a bargain: jazz fans, lovers of 40s music and wartime nostalgia, swing dancers, big band nuts, grab this now before someone comes to their senses and starts charging more!

Harry James was, along with many other more well known artists of the WWII era, (Ie. Glenn Miller,Tommy Dorsey) a pionner of swing in it's rawest form. The basic foundations of his blues inspired compositions have been the baseboard of jump jivin' dancehall swing that we here all over the radio today and emulated by modern artists such as the Stray Cats and a myriad of Rockabilly groups heretofore and everything in between.
James took this genre to the nth degree, and went all over the map with it, but never becoming blase or redundant. He had an inimitable knack for composing low-slung blusey trumpet laden instrumentals right alongside jazz infused swinging jump jive and on into Doris Day backed vocal ballads, as can be heard on the wonderful soundtrack to the movie Young Man with a Horn which featured James' Orchestra and the man's wildly talented trumpet virtuoso.
James' music inpired more than this wonderful musician was ever given credit for, and any lover of the swing era would be amiss to not listen to, and discover what this awesome musician gave to us.

No doubt about it! Harry James was a superb trumpet player. This CD presents the listener with most of his best works. The quality of the recording is quite good. And the orchestration leaves little to be desired. I would strongly recommend anyone interested in Swing and Boogie Woogie music purchase this CD.

Harry James was, along with many other more well known artists of the WWII era, (Ie. Glenn Miller,Tommy Dorsey) a pionner of swing in it's rawest form. The basic foundations of his blues inspired compositions have been the baseboard of jump jivin' dancehall swing that we here all over the radio today and emulated by modern artists such as the Stray Cats and a myriad of Rockabilly groups heretofore and everything in between.
James took this genre to the nth degree, and went all over the map with it, but never becoming blase or rdundant. He had an inemitable knack for composing low-slung blusey trumpet laden instrumentals right alongside jazz infused swinging jump jive and on into Doris Day backed vocal ballads, as can be heard on the wonderful soundtrack to the movie Young Man with a Horn which featured James' Orchestra and the man's wildly talented trumpet virtuoso.
James' music inpired more than this wonderful musician was ever given credit for, and any lover of the swing era would be amiss to not listen to, and discover what this awesome musician gave to us.

A good collection of Harry James. Audio is mono--as it should be--with gentle processing. Double cd includes fairly thorough liner notes in a 12 page booklet. I found the organization of songs somewhat annoying. I would have preferred to have music in order of release date--but that's just me. This collection is far superior to--and boasts better audio quality than--the other Harry James compilation I own ("Best Of Harry James..." on Curb label), which contains only 12 cuts! Jasmine label is okay, though I usually prefer ASV/Living Era collections. Why does it seem like the best compilations of American music are issued by European labels?!

James was always a favorite of mine -- he had the sweetest lip of any trumpeter I ever heard. I particularly liked his Trumpet Rhapsody, Trumpet Blues, and Merchant of Venice arrangements. His Sleepy Lagoon is a classic and the response to it at the time of its release reflected that.

This collection has all of them, and a good many more, all beautifully re-mastered onto CD's. The distracting scratch-scratch that one could reasonably expect from the old 78's from which they were made is not audible and yet none of the depth of the big band orchestral work has been lost.

If you're as old as I am, or if you just like the big band genre, you need these cd's.

I'm not a big band aficionado by any means so I won't attempt any erudite discussion of the performances on these CDs. Suffice to say, I love the music from this era because it conveys a sense of life long gone from our society.

I wanted to add to my relatively small collection of big band music a good overview of Harry James, and decided, after some reading, on this representative two-CD set of the band's recordings from the 1940s on Jasmine Records from the UK.

Good choice!

As a long-time record collector of predominantly opera/classical music, I do know something about recording quality, and especially transfers first to LP and now to CD. What a splendid job Jasmine have done here. The source 78s must be platinum, if there were such a thing. No surface noise, nothing but James's crystal trumpet, and his outstanding personnel, along with impressive vocalists Helen Forrest, Dick Haymes and Kitty Kallen. (Alas, nobody sings anymore.)

Special accolades must go to Geoff Milne at Tall Order who, according the literate, informative and educational liner notes, did the mastering and CD transfers, and whose judicious use of the CEDAR noise reduction system demonstrates that the oft-maligned process can be enormously successful in the right hands. (The "black" before Kitty Kallen's entrance on "I'm Beginning to See the Light"--Gee, no pun intended!--is a bit disconcerting for a moment, but so it is with noise reduction and on these recordings it's just about 100% successful.)

Jim Cutler, president of the Harry James Appreciation Society, and Messrs. Paul Pelletier and Brian Belton have done superlative work to preserve these great artists and make them available to anyone who wants to listen and get a feeling for a world we've been throwing away for decades.

Indeed there's nothing in this collection not to like, but I'll single out a few selections I'm particularly fond of: the elegance and sophistication of "Ain't Misbehavin;" Helen Forrest's wistful "But Not For Me," and her signature "I Had the Craziest Dream," which includes James's wonderfully languid, soaring introduction. As a Sinatra fan I find "All or Nothing at All" with a pre-Dorsey Frank is simply wonderful. In fact, as a lifelong Yankees fan, I'll even accept the "Dodgers Fan Dance" because James's playing is so breathtaking! Indeed, every selection conveys impeccable taste, brilliant execution and flawless musicianship. This last is particularly impressive because as the accompanying notes make clear, band personnel changed so often. How many really exemplary musicians there were then!

At the time the bands were performing and making recordings, we were either mired in the Depression, entering or already in a world war. Yet every time I hear any of the musical standard-bearers of the time, I'm always struck first by the ebullience and joyous sense of life they embody--and then by their immense musical talents. There's something within all the music I've ever heard from this time--just as there is in the films of the period--that really captures a stark difference in attitude, feeling and being between then and now. Yes, it was a different time, but hardly "innocent" (the stock dismissive reply that has little meaning) given the life-and-death seriousness which engulfed the world then. The music here, in itself and in its performance, captures a wonderful essence of the kind of people we were. I think a better one.

I bought this for my mom, she really enjoyed the old tunes. The seller delivered as promised.

Nobody every played trumpet like Harry James.
Incredible musician estradinaire with fantastic volalists.
One of a kind.

better to purchase the Harry James Trumpet Blues CD. It has the better versions of his songs with Helen Forest, including the better version of "I've heard that song before". Go figure!