The S'Wonderful Ray Conniff: The Big Band Years, 1939-1947 [ORIGINAL RECORDINGS REMASTERED] [Import]

Ray Conniff | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (March 20, 2002)
• Original Release Date: 1939
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Import
• Label: Jasmine Music
• ASIN: B00005RY8J
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #346,179 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

1. Little Gate's Special

2. Prelude In C Major

3. To A Broadway Rose

4. Who's Excited?

5. Easy

6. Moten Swing, Part 1

7. Moten Swing, Part 2

8. The Beaumont Ride

9. Featuring The Boys

10. The Lion And The Mouse

11. Savage

12. Hold The Phone

13. These Foolish Things

14. Needlenose

15. Jumpin' On The Merry-Go-Round

16. Lucky Number

17. Just Kiddin' Around

18. September Song

19. East Coast Blues

20. Friar Rock

See all 23 tracks on this disc

Editorial Reviews

The collection opens with a swinging riff tune composed and arranged for Bunny Berigan and his Orchestra. "Little Gate s Special". While this item is a typical swing era jump number, the first of the Artie Shaw recordings which follows illustrates a much more mature approach to swing music. "Prelude In C Major". Our next selection, Ray s original composition "To A Broadway Rose", by a similar size Shaw orchestra now well established with the listening and dancing public. "Who's Excited?"; an Artie Shaw song and Ray Conniff arrangement, the number is played with zest and a very strong ensemble sound. The romping "Easy" gets our James-Conniff first segment off to a flying start."Moten Swing"is taken at a slower, mid-tempo that is very effective. "The Beaumont Ride" evokes memories of a young Harry James. In the selection on this disc we hear first "Featuring The Boys", Ray Conniff produced a most attractive arrangement for his original opus, "The Lion And The Mouse" By contrast, "Savage" is a sultry piece. "These Foolish Things". Ollie Wilson s fine toned trombone opens the piece which develops a gorgeous, warm mellow sound in which Artie s clarinet is magical. "Needlenose", "Jumpin On The Merry-Go-Round" is a lively rhythm tune with solos by Shaw, Dodo Marmarosa, Barney Kessel. Conniff produced another excellent original with "Lucky Number". Rounding out the Shaw-Conniff collaboration is "Just Kiddin Around". The Kurt Weill standard "September Song" has attracted many performers through the years and in an instrumental vein, but none surpassed Ray s brilliant conception for the James band-book. The pace and mood of the arrangement is perfect and the superb melody is enhanced by the scoring and by the playing of the orchestra. Harry James liked to play the blues and his version of "East Coast Blues" arranged by Conniff this February 1947 cut is big band blues par excellence. James penned "Friar Rock" and with Ray s assistance he wrote "Redigal Jump". "The Last Mile", a very attractive Conniff melody is the penultimate item in this collection and wraps up the James-Conniff sides neatly. Competing with "September Song" for the best Conniff arrangement is "S Wonderful".. Ray Conniff excelled himself with his inspired treatment of "S Wonderful.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Brilliant big band arrangements by Ray Conniff!, May 2, 2003

By 

Lee Hartsfeld (Central Ohio, United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The S'Wonderful Ray Conniff: The Big Band Years, 1939-1947 [ORIGINAL RECORDINGS REMASTERED] (Audio CD)

If you love big band swing, and you want to hear the very best examples of it, buy this CD. Featured are wonderful Conniff charts for Bunny Berigan, Harry James, Glen Gray, and Artie Shaw. Especially interesting tracks: The proto-r&b "Little Gate's Special" (a 1939 Conniff composition) in twelve-bar blues form, no less, and featuring Basie-style riffs. "Prelude in C Major"--a take, in part, on Rachmaninoff's C-sharp Minor Prelude (listen for the opening three-note motive thereof). And, most of all, the Harry James/Conniff composition "Easy," the best 32-bar, AABA jam-tune this reviewer has ever had the pleasure to sonically behold. And note, please, that the simplicity of this piece (to say nothing of its flawless, streamlined swing) is simple in effect only. In fact, a rather complex scheme reveals itself upon careful listening: a riff theme for piano and, afterwards, orchestra; a compelling and memorably melodic theme atop the same minimalist ii-I/bridge structure; a slight elaboration of the chord pattern for soloing purposes; and, finally, a return to the melodic (second) theme. What sounds like simple repetition isn't quite repetition. And it isn't quite simple. In a word, it's Conniff.

Almost on the level of "Easy" is the Kenton-esque Conniff original, "Hold The Phone" (1944), superbly played by Glen Gray and the Casa Loma Orchestra (with jazz great Red Nichols in the trumpet section). This is how Stan Kenton might have sounded had he instructed his trumpet section not to scream and his arrangers to hold the bombast.

Pop brilliance on this level is hard to come by. Get this CD.

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Unbelievable, March 21, 2005

By 

Buster49 (Utica, NY) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The S'Wonderful Ray Conniff: The Big Band Years, 1939-1947 [ORIGINAL RECORDINGS REMASTERED] (Audio CD)

When I hear Ray Conniff vocal music, all I can think of is vocal muzak. For me, it is terrible stuff. That's why I was stunned to hear this superb big band cd containing music arranged by Ray Conniff back in the 1940s. I thought anything with his name attached to it would be as uninspired as his vocal music from the 50s, 60s, etc. This cd however is one of the best big band compact discs I have ever heard. As a bonus, the songs, on this cd, are not the same old titles (good as they may be) that turn up, in different order, in various compact discs. If you like original 1940s big band music, this is a must for your collection.