1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Sharp, Snazzy, and Magnificent!, July 25, 2004
This review is from: Legendary Big Bands (Audio CD)
This album provides us with an exquisite array of Swing-Era tunes by one of the irrepressible Dorsey Brothers. Whereas, Younger Brother, Tommy, preffered a faster beat, and is perhaps best-known for giving Frank Sinatra his big break, Jimmy, and fellow Irish-Americans, Bob Eberly, and Helen O' Connell, provided audiences with a more romantic and intense Latin American style on many of their hits.
I was happy to received this album because it replaces many of the copies of Jimmy Dorsey tunes I lost when a cassette of mine broke several years ago. As a Generation Xer, who has become something of a Swing aficionado, my memories involving this music do not date back to the era of its origin, but mostly to my discovery of it in the early '80s when my expressed admiration of this music made the the target of hostility among peer group members who didn't even know the first thing about it. They'll probably never know what they missed.
Bob Eberly passed away around the time I discovered "Amapola". In the years that followed I became a big fan of the classics, "Tangerine", and "Green Eyes" in which he is joined by Helen O'Connell. Arranger Tutti Camarata gave the band its signature style in which Eberly would give the lyrics of the song the serious romantic treatment, bandleader Jimmy would play the alto sax in an intermission, and Helen O'Connell (whom I remember as a hostess of The Miss Universe Pageants in the '70s) would conclude with a lighter, perkier reprise. It was a winning formula, as Jimmy Dorsey had a slew ful of hits between 1939 and 1943. Jimmy himself was a master saxophonist and I admire him more as a sax player than as a clarinetist. His theme song, "Contrasts" is just one of the coolest jazz instrumentals of all time!
Kitty Kallen, who teamed with Bob on "Besame Mucho", replaced Helen O'Connell. Her style was warmer and her register, a bit lower than that of her predecessor.
Before her departure, Helen did solos on the more comical numbers, "Arthur Murray Taught me Dancing in A Hurry", and "Six Lessons From Madame La Zonga". Bob Eberly, whose tones were richer and sharper than those of his younger brother, Ray ( who sang for Glenn Miller), excelled with ballads such as "The Breeze and I", a version of "All Or Nothing At All" that is perhaps better than Sinatra's more popular one, and an incredibly beautiful, powerful, and terribly underrated version of "My Prayer" that I have often preferred to that of the Ink Spots or the Platters'. His tones are pious, and almost operatic.
This album has introduced me to the hidden gem, "Tropical Magic". I find it intriguing that the Dorsey Brothers introduced Elvis Presley in the early days of television, because as I listen to Bob Eberly's vocal on "Tropical Magic", I am reminded of the romantic ballads that Elvis sang in many of his films. Perhaps Elvis learned a little of what he knew from listening to Jimmy Dorsey.
I shall close this review with that intriguing thought and a thumbs up for this album.
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