Customer Reviews

Queen of Big Band Swing

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

If you buy no other "singer collection" from the Big Band era, buy this CD. Few singers could really swing AND handle the slower numbers AND star in true pop tunes. For the true swing tunes, check out "Goody, Goody", "Feelin' High and Happy", and "The Glory of Love". For the slower numbers, "I've Got a Crush on You" and "But Not For Me" wrap around you. No matter how much you may crave a faster song, you cannot press skip when these tunes are on the changer. For a pop tune, "Don't Cry Baby" is years ahead of it's time. It foreshadows Ward's re-union with Goodman in 1953 ("I'll Never Say Never Again Again, "You're a Heaveanly Thing", and the spectacular "What a Little Moonlight Can Do").

The first 3 tracks are rarely found on Goodman collections. The non-Goodman selections provide an incentive to find her other songs with Krupa, James, Crosby and Wilson.

This CD demonstrates the maturation of arguably the finest Big Band singer: from an 18 year old on "Blue Moon" to a few years short of her prime on "Don't Cry Baby". This disc is a must for fans of Big Band vocal stylings.

Benny Goodman was the King of Swing, and his female vocalist Helen Ward is rightfully Queen of Swing. Ward had one of the hardest swinging vocal styles, as heard on "Goody, Goody," her vocals were stong, sultry, and swingin'. Here she is heard on some Goodman dates as well as some great Jukebox oreinted dates with a small jazz combo led by Teddy Wilson, sounding similar to Billie Holiday's nominal recordings with Wilson. All of these sides weather ballads, swingers, or torch songs, Ward handles with elegance and hard driving swing. Helen Ward also was a great jazz vocalist and it is very obvious when given a chance and even when not goiven the chance to "improvise" she usually does, her phrasing, syncopation, and diction are all of a 1st class jazz canarie.

This is a fine collection of songs from one of the most underrated vocalists of the swing era. Ward had a distinctive, jazzy style; and she expressed the old standybys in ways that nobody else could. Highly recommended; but Ward's biggest fans would be better off with the complete Helen Ward on Columbia 2-CD set, which has a lot of the harder to find material.

I first heard Helen Ward while listening to a best of Benny Goodman CD, and was intrigued with her voice. This CD gives a good overview of her work, and it is definitely worth purchasing. For anyone interested in music with vocals from this era, it's a must.

The other reviewers have said it all about Helen Ward, one of the top vocalists of the swing band era, and one whom I rank right behind Mildred Bailey. I actually prefer this album to the "Complete Columbia Recordings" because it doesn't have her later work (1950's)which just doesn't have the charm of the 30's and early 40's material, also it is half the price. ASV seems to do a good job at cleaning up their source material, but remember that these are 70 year old recordings. I absolutely love "Night Wind" and "Throwing Stones at the Sun", they capture the spirit of that era.

This CD is the ultimate in Big Band Singer's. I'm no fan of most vocalists with big bands and small groups, but Helen Ward is marvellous. She lives up to the title, she is the Queen and the best vocalist by far. With Goodman she is superlative, with Teddy Wilson she is even better. I can't give this CD enough praise. Just buy it!

I would have given this item 5 stars, but I feel that the poor recording process used in making this CD really takes away from fully enjoying it.

When I first put in the CD, I noticed that the recording level was too low, meaning that the music was very quiet. After turning up the volume, then came the excessive background noise. A stereo with a multiband equalizer would have helped to filter out some of the noise in this case, but not everyone has such an item.

I understand that these are old recordings and recorded in mono, but I have heard much better from this era. Actually, I have several of these songs on 10 inch 78 r.p.m. records and find these much easier to listen to. Just call me a vintage audio snob if you want.

As far as the music is concerned, it is great and I would recommend the CD just for that. Helen Ward has a doll of a voice and does great adding to the big band sounds of that time.

Gentlemen: I have been buying Big Band CD's from your outfit for couple of years now and I find them of top quality. I like your set-up for ordering items, and the fast delivery. I also like the fact that I can listen to a
few bars of the tracks the CD has. This enables me to Identify it as an original cut and not knock-off.
Albert R. Jones