Stompin at the Savoy

Chick Webb | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (February 26, 2002)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Asv Living Era
• ASIN: B00005UWTT
• Also Available in: Audio CD
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #136,715 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)
  • #60 in Music > Jazz > Swing Jazz > Vintage Dance Bands

Track Listings

1. Stompin' At The Savoy

2. Let's Get Together

3. If Dreams Come True

4. On The Sunny Side Of The Street

5. Blue Minor

6. Don't Be That Way

7. What A Shuffle

8. Blue Lou

9. Down Home

10. Go Harlem

11. Sing Me A Swing Song And Let Me Dance

12. Clap Hands, Here Comes Charley!

13. Strictly Jive

14. Rock it For

15. Harlem Congo

16. I Want Be Happy

17. Midnite In A (Midnite In Harlem)

18. A-Tisket, A-Tasket

19. Azure

20. Spinnin' The Webb

See all 25 tracks on this disc

Editorial Reviews

Drummer Chick Webb led one of the most dynamic and exciting Big Bands of the Pre-war era. His abilities for talent spotting led to the discovery and nurturing of two of the 20th century's most influential artists- Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Jordan- both of whom feature in this collection of some of his best known recordings. A perfect introduction to one of the all time jazz greats. --This text refers to an alternate Audio CD edition.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The right music but variable sound, July 23, 2003

By 

bukhtan (Chicago, Illinois, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Stompin at the Savoy (Audio CD)

This product, by a prolific re-issue label operating in the UK, offers the best selection of the great drummer and bandleader's studio recordings available on a single CD. Webb's band was one of the most acclaimed dance orchestras to arise in Harlem and had a fine array of soloists such as Taft Jordan (trumpet and vocal), Edgar Sampson (reeds)and, late in the decade, Ella Fitzgerald. Webb himself, however, was second to none and may have been the best pre-Jo Jones drummer in jazz. As the decade and recording practice progressed (this CD runs up to Webb's untimely death in 1939)his abilities became more and more audible to posterity.
I might specially recommend Chick Webb to those whose acquaintance with big band jazz is so far limited to Duke Ellington, as there was a good working relationship between the two bandleaders. Duke assisted Webb in his early career, and many of Webb's soloists (Jordan, tenor sax player Elmer Williams, and alto player Russell Procope among them) would later play for Duke. Moreover, Webb's arrangers such as Edgar Sampson vied with Duke for coloratura orchestration.
This CD covers Webb's peak period in the early and mid thirties (e.g. "Stomping at the Savoy" and "Blue Minor", both Edgar Sampson arrangements) as well as some of the Ella Fitzgerald hits later in the decade, such as "A tisket a tasket". It includes, speaking of Ellington, Duke's own arrangement of his "Azure", which he himself never recorded, to my knowledge.
My only reservation would be some odd distortion which occurs in some, not all, of the tracks. This is a rather "watery" sound (heard also on the Decca re-issues of the same pieces) which may be easily explicable to those better versed in recording and transfer technology than I, but I have to say that I found it distracting, and I am not a hi-fi fanatic. Otherwise what the musicians were doing is audible enough.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars I love this music, February 10, 2005

By 

luvinthejazz "luvinthejazz" (Long Beach, CA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Stompin at the Savoy (Audio CD)

Chick Webb swings hard. This stuff will get your feet moving. The more I listen to it, the more difficult it is to turn it off. Now I understand why Gene Krupa said, after the Benny Goodman band played against Chick at the Savoy in 1938, "Those cats cut us to ribbons."

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars webb is no midget when it comes to music, February 7, 2006

By 

yosemite sam - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Stompin at the Savoy (Audio CD)

this small man, is easily one of the greatest drummers we have ever seen, and this CD is nearly as great as he is. did they know then just how fortunate they were to hear and dance to this genius? if there were a time machine i would make my first trip to the savoy and dance to chick webb. it is not stereo, and i do not know if new tech magic could have helped in that area, but other than that..this is one of my favorite cd's....if you like this cd, then also check out louis jordand (best of).