The Navy Swings

Herb Ellis and The Charlie Byrd Trio (Artist) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (July 21, 2009)
• Original Release Date: 2009
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Sounds Of Yesteryear
• ASIN: B0029LJA8Q
• Average Customer Review: 1.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #462,468 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

1. Introduction

2. One Note Samba

3. Lady Be Good

4. Carolina in the Morning

5. Chung King

6. Introduction

7. St. Louis Blues

8. Someone to Light Up My Life

9. Danço No. 5

10. Take Care of Yourself

11. Introduction

12. Things Ain't What They Used to Be

13. Willow Weep for Me

14. Só Danço Samba [Jazz Samba]

15. Sweet Georgia Brown

16. Introduction

17. Limehouse Blues

18. When Your Lover Has Gone

19. It Don't Mean a Thing If It Ain't Got That Swing

20. Bluesette

Editorial Reviews

Many fine guitarists have emerged onto the American jazz scene but amongst the finest are Herb Ellis and Charlie Byrd. This group has been called their trio but I think the term quartet would better apply as also featured are virtuoso bassist Keeter Betts and drummer par excellence Buddy Deppenschmidt and with tracks like One Note Samba, Jazz Samba and Danco No. 5 leans towards a cool latin feel. These recordings are from four live Navy Swings shows in 1957.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1.0 out of 5 stars Swinging Music, But ....., December 28, 2011

By 

D.R.L. (Austin, Texas, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Navy Swings (Audio CD)

~ As expected, the music on this CD is very good. The two guitarists, who played and recorded together countless times over the decades, are in excellent shape and their ability to interact and complement each other is evident. The supporting bass and drums are ideal for the soloists. If the CD contained just the music I would give the CD a rating of 4 or 5 stars. But .....
~ There is a series of "Navy Swings" CDs (including CDs by Dave Brubeck, Shelley Manne, Andre Previn, George Shearing, and Billy Taylor - reissued under the name of Wes Montgomery). The CDs originated as a series of 15-minute radio broadcasts from the late 1950's and early 1960's designed to recruit people to join the navy. Consequently, between every song the radio announcer injects a little sales pitch telling listeners the benefits of joining the navy. There is also dialog between the announcer and the two guitarists - obviously reading from a script. While hearing these announcements and "conversations" may have some historical interest when heard the first time, they do not warrant repeated hearing (unless, perhaps you served in the navy during this period). Unfortunately, the announcements and dialog are recorded at a volume significantly louder than the music, which makes listening to the CD irritating. You cannot put this CD on your sound system, sit back, relax, and listen to the music. The spoken injections are just too frequent and too jarring.
~ For the jazz fan, this CD would have been greatly improved if the announcements and dialog had been individually banded so that one could program their CD player to omit those tracks and listen only to the music.