Real Kansas City 20's 30's & 40's

Various Artists (Artist) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (May 28, 1996)
• Original Release Date: May 28, 1996
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Sony
• ASIN: B000002ACU
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #172,858 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Editorial Reviews

CD, featuring Various Artists - Jazz - Swing/Big Band.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent cross-section of KC 20s-30s Jazz, February 26, 2000

By 

T. Hoffman (Palo Alto, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Real Kansas City 20's 30's & 40's (Audio CD)

Combining cuts from all the key KC players and many obscure groups, this CD is an excellent intro to the KC 20s-30s sound, and the sound quality is great. This is the original music that is celebrated by the awesome soundtrack to Robert Altman's film, "Kansas City" -- however, this disc stomps and swings more consistently from song-to-song than the soundtrack. Count Basie tears up the piano on a track or two from the mid-30's.

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fabulous overview of 1930's territory music scene, November 13, 2001

By 

Michael Laprarie (Oklahoma City, OK USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Real Kansas City 20's 30's & 40's (Audio CD)

This CD is by far the best compilation of music from the black territory bands of the southwestern United States during the Depression years.

These bands toured on the back roads of Oklahoma, Texas, Kansas, and Arkansas and played mostly one-night stops at local taverns and dance halls in colored neighborhoods during the 1930's and early 1940's.

Many of Kansas City's bands went on to fame and fortune, and Count Basie was probably the most famous of these. Other bandleaders like Ernie Fields found local fame on the Kansas City - Oklahoma City - Dallas circuit, but never made it big nationally.

While this CD was conceived by CBS/Sony Entertainment as a companion to Robert Altman's movie "Kansas City", it can be thoroughly enjoyed by anyone who is looking for a good collection of swing tunes, or who wants to know more about the roots of the Swing Era in the southwestern United States.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars So Much to Admire, July 31, 2007

By 

J. C Clark "eanna" (Overland Park, KS United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Real Kansas City 20's 30's & 40's (Audio CD)

My first few spins of this CD were somewhat disappointing. It just did not deliver what I was expecting. Looking back, I cannot imagine precisely what that expectation was, since it now gets more play than most every other CD in my collection. It's not perfect. Some of the connections to Kansas City are a bit tenuous, the booklet is annoyingly written and very annoyingly laid out, and a couple of cuts are not indicative of either the sound or feel, in my opinion. Overall though, this is a splendid collection of some hot music from a hot time. Starting from the first cut, where we enjoy the great Bennie Moten and his Kansas City Orchestra, we are treated to some spectacular musicianship, in this case cornet playing that will knock your socks off. I think Moten an astonishing genius who would be near the top of everyone's lists if he had lived a bit longer. Listen to that piano on "Prince of Wails." Man, the guy was both tasteful and fiery.

And you get not necessarily the most famous cuts from some Kansas City legends, which is nice, but all good ones. Jay McShann and his young sax player Charlie Parker, Mary Lou Williams, Count Basie and Julia Lee are all icons from this era, and all icons who called KC home. Buck O'Neil has reminisced wonderfully about how the music played all night, spilling out from every club into the streets around 12th and Vine. How lucky he was to have lived here and heard this music as it was created! This one gets more enjoyable with every listen.