Music Master [Box set, Import]

Benny Carter (Artist) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (May 3, 2004)
• Number of Discs: 4
• Format: Box set, Import
• Note on Boxed Sets: During shipping, discs in boxed sets occasionally become dislodged without damage. Please examine and play these discs. If you are not completely satisfied, we'll refund or replace your purchase.
• Label: Proper Box UK
• ASIN: B0001ZXOL6
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #175,015 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

1. Goodbye Blues

2. Cloudy Skies

3. Got Another Sweetie Now

4. Bugle Call Rag

5. Dee Blues

6. Swing It

7. Synthetic Love

8. Six Bells Stampede

9. Love, You're Not The One For Me

10. Sweet Sue, Just You

11. Blue Interlude

12. I Never Knew

13. Once Upon A Time

14. Krazy Kapers

15. Devil's Holiday

16. Lonesome Nights

17. Symphony In Riffs

18. Blue Lou

19. Shoot The Works

20. Dream Lullaby

See all 88 tracks on this disc

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Composer, Arranger, and Multi-Instrumentalist, August 4, 2007

By 

Barry McCanna (Normandy, France) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Music Master (Audio CD)

Benny Carter was born in 1907 and died in 2003, after an active career in jazz that spanned eight decades. That has provided a wealth of material to draw on for this 4-CD set, which spans his earlier years, from 1930 to 1952. As a reference guide to his career progression, from the Chocolate Dandies, Spike Hughes Negro Orchestra, the London and Continental sessions, thence back to pre and postwar America, it is hard to see how this compilation could be bettered.

Throughout, Benny Carter's sophisticated and elegant approach is on display, which marked him out early on as one of the supreme stylists, particularly on the alto saxophone, although his talents encompassed also trumpet, clarinet, trombone, tenor sax, and piano. The set is rounded out in Proper Box fashion with a 52-page illustrated booklet by the indefatigable Joop Visser.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars proper did it again, February 23, 2010

By 

Rejean Tremblay (quebec canada) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Music Master (Audio CD)

People at Proper make fabulous box sets. This one is a very good one. Sound is good, performances are top notch...at that price, it's a bargain.

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Outstanding collection of early Jazz by Benny Carter, December 30, 2008

By 

Roger Berlind (NY, USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Music Master (Audio CD)

I purchased this Proper box set because I had enjoyed other Proper box sets featuring Chick Webb, Jack Teagarden, and Coleman Hawkins. As those of you who have bought any Proper box sets, they are great bargains, usually having 4 CDs with a terrific 50 page booklet and also have great sound after the original (usually early) sources are digitally processed. I think the Benny Carter set might be my favorite set so far, although I really love the Coleman Hawkins set too.

I did not really know much about Benny Carter beyond his name and was very impressed to learn that he was an excellent soloist on so many instruments and also an excellent arranger and composer. This collection is outstanding from beginning to end including swinging and stomping hot numbers and very beautiful, slow-tempo ballads.

This collection is particularly enjoyable because it contains relatively few tracks with vocals, letting you really enjoy Benny and the other great instrumentalists. It's not that I don't like jazz singers; but the ones featured on other jazz collections dedicated to instrumentalists or big band leaders are not usually as good as the best Jazz singers like Ella Fitzgerald and the songs they sing are not necessarily that great. When I buy a collection from a great saxophonist or trombonist, I'd rather hear them, not the singers who they played with.