Trumpet Blues: Best of

Harry James | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (August 24, 1999)
• Original Release Date: August 24, 1999
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Blue Note Records
• ASIN: B00000JYQY
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (14 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #23,452 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)
  • #14 in Music > Indie Music > Jazz > Swing Jazz

Editorial Reviews

Harry re-recorded many of his '30s hits in hi-fi during the '50s, but he also recorded lots of new material. This collection of 1955-1958 recordings-with such guests as Helen Forrest, Willie Smith, Corky Corcoran and Buddy Rich-features both, including Trumpet Blues; Ciribiribin; Blues on a Count; Barn 12; It's Been a Long, Long Time; You Made Me Love You; Cherry; Sleepy Lagoon , and eight more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

24 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Harry James' hits with much improved 1950s recording quality, October 27, 2000

By 

Jon Warshawsky "Sinatra Guru" (San Diego, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Trumpet Blues: Best of (Audio CD)

Yes, these are remakes of some of Harry James' great songs from the 1930s, but it is great to hear James recorded on first-rate Capitol Records equipment in the mid-1950s. Big Band music is wonderful, and this is much more rewarding to listen to than the scratchy old masters from 20 years earlier.

More importantly -- this album MOVES. Of course James' trumpet is the star, but Helen Forrest's vocals work perfectly on the several tracks where she appears. Too often, remakes are pale shadows of the original, but in this case Trumpet Blues stands strongly as (1) a great, mostly uptempo album with classic James tunes and (2) an acceptably high fidelity recording.

If you have never bought a Harry James album, this would be a good place to start -- a solid introduction to his music, without the distraction of the uneven early recordings. Be assured it is really James playing, not someone else trying to pay tribute!

Recommended.

16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars THE ORIGINAL AND STILL THE BEST !, March 13, 2004

By 

Dick Bobnick "toughreviewer" (Burnsville, Minnesota United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Trumpet Blues: Best of (Audio CD)

This compilation came out in 1999, the same year the top selling James biography, TRUMPET BLUES, THE LIFE OF HARRY JAMES, by Peter J. Levinson was published. It is a compilation of some of Harry's top selling singles which just happened to include some fabulous vocals by Helen Forrest, one of the many top vocalists who recorded with the legendary trumpeter.

Harry James was, without question, the undisputed king of the trumpet and the most commercially successful big band leader of the '40's, '50's, '60's, "70's and early "80's. As a trumpeter, he was without peer. Long an admirer of, but unlike, Louis Armstrong and Mugsy Spanier, James had an unmatchable mastery of his instrument, having studied long and diligently with his trumpet playing dad, Everette. Tutored in all the repertoire of the world's great trumpet players, James was a virtuoso at the age of 14. At 16 he was on the road with territory bands playing the lead book. At 20 he was hired as the lead and jazz chair with the Benny Goodman band. At 23 he was leading his own big band. In his brilliant jazz soloing, James incorporated the basic early blues style of Armstrong, Spanier and Bix Beiderbecke with a dazzling technique. He went on to win the "Jazz Trumpet" and "Band" category in the DOWNBEAT and the METRONOME magazine artist's polls for a number of years. He was the idol of such later diverse talents as Maynard Ferguson, Doc Severinsen, Miles Davis, Arturo Sandoval and Clifford Brown. He was the star of his band with all his arrangements built around his incomparable trumpet style. Starting out as principally a hot jazz band he could not get bookings at top hotels and supper clubs that favored quieter "sweet" bands. He then developed the philosophy to always keep his music "danceable". James selected a favorite Judy Garland ballad, "You Made Me Love You", and it became a mega hit in 1941. From there on the James star rose to unprecedented heights in record sales and films becoming a bigger and longer lasting big band attraction than his other top peers: Glenn Miller, Tommy and Jimmy Dorsey, Woody Herman and Artie Shaw. In the mid fifties James went back to a more Basie styled jazz band, hiring many of the Basie arrangers, to build a blues oriented big band that played concerts, television specials, colleges, jazz festivals and many world tours.

This album gives the uninitiated listener a cross section of James' versatility as a leader, stylist and writer-arranger. His own composition, "Trumpet Blues" is extrordinary in it's power, musicality and variations,a true classic. "James Session", another James original, hearkens back to Benny Goodman's "Sing, Sing, Sing". A real barnburner! All of these are 1955 recreations of the note for note originals first cut in the '40's. Several others, "Blues On A Count" and "Barn 12" are from the late '50's. "Ciribirbin" is the ballad version of his famous theme song. Many of his later recordings featured the jazz version of the theme. All in all, this is a great "teaser" album for the neophyte James fan. The sound is great!

For the James devotee or "new fan" I would recommend Harry James & His Orchestra, STRICTLY INSTRUMENTAL (Memoir 534), Harry James THE SILVER COLLECTION (Verve 823229-2), Harry James JAZZ MASTERS 55 (Verve) and Harry James ONE NIGHT STAND (Collectors Choice). These four albums will give the listener some of the best of Harry's great trumpet and big band recordings.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars here's a suggestion, August 10, 2000

By 

G. Wallace (Hilliard, OH USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Trumpet Blues: Best of (Audio CD)

a nicely mastered rehash of the re-recordings James did for Capitol in 1955 of his 40's hits. Capitol was kind enough to sneak in a couple tracks from his 1957 comeback band featuring Buddy Rich. Mosaic records has the rest of that band's recordings in a seven-disk set but a single disk from Capitol would be much appreciated. If it's good music why not put it out?