Customer Reviews

Rhapsody in Blue

The first track on this album is the original recording with George Gershwin on piano. I was first introduced to this recording by my father. It took both sides of two 45 rpm records to get it all heard. Great to hear it now without having to flip the records over.

The rest of this CD is a lot of fun. It is hard to overstate the importance of Paul Whiteman to modern music. Fron 1920-1933, this CD covers the period when jazz moved from [brothels]... houses and riverboats to the early days of the big jazz band. And Paul Whiteman was probably THE driving force that made this transition possible. Musicians privileged to perform with his orchestra include Bix Beiderbecke, Bing Crosby, Tommy and Jimmy Dorsey, Charlie and Jack Teagarden, and Bunny Berigan. By the time any of these guys had their own bands, much of what is on this album was cliche. Trite, even. But when these recordings were made, the sound was new, the effects were pioneering, and keeping that many freeform jazz musicians on the same page of music, performing concert jazz together, was an accomplishment in itself. Yet, the music kept both feet in dixie. Slide flutes, banjo... it's definitely a time trip.