Customer Reviews

Live At Carnegie Hall

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I have this set, and I was never satisfied with the muffled sound and separated tracks. I knew about the two left-out songs, the shortened solos, the spliced-in applause. I always hoped that somehow the original recording could be issued, complete and unedited. Then, I heard the rumors of such a set in the works. And now it's available, also from Columbia. So, unless you want it as a collector's item, forget this set. I'm sure Columbia will quickly take it out of print, if they haven't already, as their new set is 1000% superior. See my comments under 'Live 1938 at Carnegie Hall-Com '.

I agree that this was one of the greatest musical events of the big band era. Its highlight was Sing, Sing, Sing, specifically the various solos at its end. Well, guess what? The most famous solo of them all, Gene Krupa's drum solo, isn't there. Presumably someone edited it out so the concert would fit on two CDs. It is like selecting the Hallelujah Chorus as the thing to edit from Handel's Messiah! If I had known they had mutilated the concert, I wouldn't have bought the set. Unlike the professional reviewer, I found the second CD staticy, something that could have been easily fixed with today's technology. You'd think Columbia could be trusted to reproduce properly one of their most famous recordings. No such luck! Buyer beware!

From my original, 1950 blue cover two -record 33 RPM scotch taped album.says it all when describing SING SING SING. "At this concert, with the end of a hectic evening in sight and no lingering concern about the program, the band seems to be playing at last for its own pleasure only with rather remarkable results. There are solos by James, and by Goodman and Krupa together (climaxed by a top A on the clainet and a barely audible high C.) When it seems that nothing is left but closing formalities, Jess Stacy drops into a new groove to play one of the most original solos of his life... just a dim, hardly credible memory until this recording brought it to reality again. The raucous conclusion ended the printed program." .... WORDS and SWING FROM 50 YEARS AGO and still makes me move to that beat every time I play it.

this the only way to find out an answer to my question. I wanted to know about the song Benny Goodman wrote, but do not know if he actually recorded the song, or artist of the song: Sweet Georgia Town have beeen searching local town music stores but so far we have had no success. thank you Please reply back to me, at lizziemitchell@netscape.net or cmitche2@eusd.tehama.k12.ca.us

I'm waiting for a rumored digital remastering of this recording, due out sometime this year, but I have the CD set and, in fact, still have the original 3-LP RCA Victor set that was issued in 1950. Some material which would be interesting to hear now was left out of this CD pressing, and if you listen carefully, the playback is slightly the wrong speed. No matter. This really illustrates the difference between what swing bands sounded like in the studio compared to what they sounded like live, and only HINTS at what they were like in a venue like the Paramount Theatre. Remember, this was 1938, this was Carnegie Hall, and there was decorum to be followed -- no dancing in the aisles, please. But on tracks like "Life Goes To A Party," you start to hear that the big bands were HOT. Until very recently the music seemed destined only as nostalgia for the Kaopectate generation, and the revival of swing dance has caused many people to listen to this with a fresh ear. And they find this recording, and it's January, 1938 all over again. Jess Stacy never got enough credit for his amazing solo on "Sing, Sing, Sing." Someone else asked how many concert recordings survive 60 years... well, how many *individual solos* are still talked about 60 years later? The Goodman band never sounded quite like this ever again. This was the peak.

I cannot begin to express how incredulous this find is after years of looking for it. My father (only 54 years young)has the original 1950 vinyl recording that he used to play on an old Victrola (the most incredible way to listen to it I've songs from the album yet)in our living room when I was a kid as far back as I can remember. In my opinion I have never heard a finer live album from any genre. With only one microphone they captured the raw, near-improv energy and heartfelt musicmanship of Krupa (that guy never lets up),Hampton slapping away on his keys and BG's reed on Sing3 (the studio version doesn't even begin to compare). For a show that almost didn't happen and stories of not really knowing how the evening would go, I can only say I am all too grateful they at least brought a microphone...I can't imagine what the world would have missed if they hadn't...

This was recorded in an age when Armstrong and Miller were household words. But they weren't astronauts - they were gods. Of the music halls. This album came on the radio on my way home, and I bent every traffic law between me and my phone to call the radio station to ask who was playing. I wasn't surprised to be told it was one of those gods, one of my idols. But Benny Goodman is as far from a false idol as you can get. More reality and beauty from music is hard to find in today's age of synthesized mechanized music. This was recorded almost 30 years before I was born. Has it stood the test of time? It has not only stood, it has swung, swung, swung.

This CD captures the essence of that great concert held almost 60 years ago. The music still holds up today. How many concert recordings of today will still be on sale in 2058? This one, however, probably will.

This album probably represents one of the best collections of the Goodman Band with some of the all-time best performers of the era, including Gene Crupa on drums. This album is a must for those who appreciate the best music from the best of the Big Band groups from the 30's and 40's.

What can you say? The best selling jazz record of all time. BG at his best. Recorded with a single mike, but so alive with creative energy and sheer power that the listner is swept away. Every member of the group is an all-time all star. And BG has to be rated as one of the musical genuii of the modern era. He was at his peak. Belongs in every jazz-lovers collection. Wow, Joe Stephenson