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