Swing Guitar Masterpieces 1938-1957

Oscar Aleman | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (February 17, 1998)
• Original Release Date: February 17, 1998
• Number of Discs: 2
• Label: Acoustic Disc
• ASIN: B00000391R
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (16 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #94,636 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)
  • #75 in Music > Jazz > European Jazz

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com's Best of 1998

Lingering in the shadows of prebebop guitar legends such as Django Reinhardt, Oscar Alemán has been rendered to barely a blip in jazz history. First reason is his non-American, non-European status, as precious few jazzers from outside these regions ever garnered acclaim. Second reason is his sound, which upon first hearing smacks very strongly of Django. These two generous CDs point out, however, that Alemán was in fact very much a genius unto himself. He did the swing circuit, as an ensemble member mostly, but few of these tunes were ever his in any real sense. The set is in every way a wonderful piece of work, from the great "Improvisaciones Sobre Boogie Woogie" to Alemán's colorful commentary on "Darktown Strutter's Ball." --Andrew Bartlett

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

24 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars "Just a little swing", May 4, 2001

By 

Pharoah S. Wail (Inner Space) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Swing Guitar Masterpieces 1938-1957 (Audio CD)

First off, I just want to say that there is way too much talk of Oscar being Djangoesque. To hear some of this stuff you'd think Oscar is just a two-bit Django clone. The truth is that they are quite different from each other. Is one better than the other? Maybe, but I'd be hard-pressed to pick the better one. Sometimes when I'm listening to one of them I end up telling myself that he (Guy #1) is without a doubt the better of the two. Then the next time I listen to Guy #2 I find myself saying I was nuts to think Guy #1 was better. It all comes down to your mood.

Oscar's music (and I don't mean just his playing, I mean his band{s} and repertoire) is more diverse. It covers a wider range of styles and moods than did Django. I rarely agree with or care about liner-notes, but these liner-notes are 100% accurate when they say that Oscar's arrangements are the more interesting of the two men. When Django and Oscar's repertoire overlaps, I almost always find myself preferring Oscar's version of the song.

Another reason I also like this Oscar set is because obviously, at least a fair amount of the time, he was recorded by better engineers than was Django. Take for instance those two 1939 takes of the QHCF (Django) doing Hungaria. Django is on fire but you have to strain to hear him because his guitar is buried in the mix. You can hear his notes but you really don't get a taste of his tone. The year cannot be blamed for these problems in recording quality, nor can the sonic wizards at the JSP label who have released the best sounding QHCF remasters to date. For instance, Lonnie Johnson's earliest Okeh stuff was recorded in the late 1920s and early 1930s and his guitar sounds totally rich and full... way bigger than pre-war Django usually sounds, and it isn't Django's fault, it's the original engineers or equipment. Here though Oscar is usually recorded very well so you get a nice big taste of his tone on these recordings. Yet another plus.

I know that history will (and has) indeed remember Django as the better guitarist of the two, and I myself would probably agree with that 55% of the time, but in the big picture I think Oscar was probably the more interesting all-around musician. It's just really tough to overlook his considerable talents as an orchestrator, arranger, player, singer, and composer. Although if "vocal jazz" isn't your thing, don't worry. It's not mine either. There is indeed some singing and scatting on this set, but not very much. Plus, I actually think Oscar, aside from Armstrong, may be the only other scatter that I actually like.

17 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars For Western Swingers Not about Django, December 19, 2002

By 

Tony Thomas (SUNNY ISLES BEACH, FL USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Swing Guitar Masterpieces 1938-1957 (Audio CD)

If you like Western Swing, especially the three and four fiddle section music of the Spade Cooley Orchestra, then you are going to love the second volume of this wonderful collection. When he returned to Argentina, Aleman recorded a lot of music with three and four fiddle sections that sound a whole lot like Spade Cooley, except unlike Cooley, who forced his musicians to maintain a staid conservative "businessman's bounce" (Cooley's term not mine) Aleman and his groups really swing out. The music is great and it is clearly a direction beyond where Rheinhart went. We know that Stephen Graphelli followed Western Swing fiddlers especially Farr who ended up playing for Cooley's first band and later for Tex William's first band (composed of almost everyone in Cooley's orchestra except cooley when cooley fired them all.) There is almost no doubt listening here that there was some interchange between Aleman and his fiddlers and the Cooley sound.
Of course the first CD is excellent too. Despite the guitar shown on the Album, Aleman performed most of his prewar music on a national steel guitar.
Finally, this CD set should be in every home.

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fantastic Two Disc Set, February 17, 2000

By 

political idiot (california) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Swing Guitar Masterpieces 1938-1957 (Audio CD)

While Django was receiving well deserved accolades for his mastery of the guitar, a little known contemporary from Argentina, Oscar Aleman, was tearing it up in the Western Hemisphere. This is a wonderful two disc set spanning Oscar's premier years from 1938 - 1957. It is loaded with virtuoso treatments of both standards and originals. Oscar's incredibly fluid style is quite impressive --if not stunning. Some say he was under appreciated because his style is so Djangoesque. Hmmm, somehow I don't see that as a problem. There are too many selections to name as highlights, though I could live with a little less of the strings and clarinet (staples of the era) on some of the early numbers. None the less, this is awesome Jazz guitar with a latin flavor. An amazing player.