CD 1
1. Growlin'
2. But Definitely
3. Emperor Jones
4. Knockin' at the Famous Door
5. Scotch and Soda
6. The All-Night Record Man
7. Cherokee
8. The Count's Idea
9. The Wrong Idea
10. Clap Hands Here Comes Charlie
11. Southland Shuffle
12. So Far, So Good
13. Wanderin' Blues
14. Lament for May
15. Peaceful Valley
16. Pompton Turnpike
17. Southern Fried
18. Scrub Me Mama, with a Boogie Beat
19. Uptown Blues
20. Fantasia
21. Good for Nothin' Joe
22. Charleston Alley
23. Afraid to Say Hello
24. Little John Ordinary
25. Para Vigo Me Voy
CD 2
1. Swing Low Sweet Chariot
2. Ponce de Leon
3. I Like to Riff
4. Shady Lady
5. Smiles
6. That Old Black Magic
7. Plowin [sic]
8. Things Ain't What They Used to Be
9. Thoughtless
10. Victory Walk
11. Washington Whirligig
12. Wichita Windstorm
13. The Moose
14. The Great Lie
15. Skyliner
16. West End Blues
17. You Always Hurt the One You Love
18. Desert Sands
19. Xango
20. E-Bob-O-Lee-Bob
21. Lonesome as the Night Is Long
22. Zanesville Zohio
23. Dark Bayou
24. East Side West Side
25. Caravan
Personnel: Includes Charlie Shavers, Peanuts Holland, Billy May, Doc Severinson, Clark Terry – Trumpet
Cliff Leeman – Drums
(I have not tried to list all the personnel because I am not sure that what is given in the booklet is correct, there being several errors in the vocalists
listed).
Vocalists named in the booklet are not all correct but are as follows:
Charlie Barnet (CD 1, track 6)
Judy Ellington (CD 1, track 6)
Mary Ann McCall (CD 1, track 13)
Ford Leary (CD 1, track 18)
Lena Horne (CD 1, track 21)
Bob Carroll (CD 1, track 23)
Peanuts Holland (CD 2, tracks 3 and 20)
Frances Wayne (CD 2, track 6)
Kay Starr (CD 2, track 17)
Bunny Briggs (CD 2, track 24)
Recorded mainly in New York, but also including New Orleans and Hollywood, on various dates between Jan. 25, 1935 and Dec. 7, 1947.
Swelling the number of Charlie Barnet Orchestra reissues that have been appearing of late is this double disc set from Acrobat in their "Jazz Legend
Series." (Perhaps its greatest competition will be the double disc set on the Retrospective label The Right Idea - A Centenary Tribute—His 50 Finest 1939-1949 (RTS 4225), but of the one hundred titles in total both sets contain jointly, only
nine are duplicated. So between the two one would have a fair sampling of Barnet's recorded output.)
Born a millionaire, Barnet could indulge in just about whatever fancy crossed his mind. One of these was big band music, and he formed his own band to
gratify it; but he was no dilettante. He was a competent reed player who attracted some of the finest musicians and arrangers to join him in the several
bands he formed over the years. Despite his breaking up a band on a whim on occasion, thus making each member's livelihood somewhat precarious, the
musicians still returned when he decided to reform and sent out the call again. In part this may have been due to the fact that their salaries during the
band's existence were guaranteed and that a good time was to be had in the band, one of Barnet's requirements. But the musical quality counted equally, and
when it came to the music, it was not party time. Discipline was the order of the day, and it shows in both the tight arrangements and also his musicians'
fine execution of them. Barnet favoured up-tempo numbers, not being much interested in playing for dancing, and so what we get are fast, swinging
renditions with crisp brass and reeds, backed by tightly punctuating rhythm, as most of the selections on these two discs exemplify. Included is his "send
up" of the syrupy approach of so many of his contemporaries in the "society" bands, titled The Wrong Idea. Then he could take a tune such as You Always Hurt the One You Love, one which would certainly lend itself to such "schmaltz," and instead give it a swinging, brassy treatment and
jazzy vocal from a young Kay Starr. Or, unlike most bandleaders, perhaps, he could include a tone poem, such as Fantasia, in the band's book.
However, Barnet liked other challenges. He—or his arrangers—could take a tune such as Scotch and Soda and slyly insert a subtle echo of bagpipes
into it, the drones being suggested by the sax section playing that part and himself the chanter. Or a traditional folk song likeThe Irish Washerwoman that countless Irish jigs have been danced to was turned into a big band boogie number in Scrub Me Mama, with a Boogie Beat. Or a tune which is more familiar to traditional jazz fans than to swing fans could be "swung", as was the case
with Victory Walk—also known variously as "Joe Avery's Piece," "Victory Bounce," "Holler Blues," and "Second Line"—a 12-bar
blues riff popular with the New Orleans jazz bands and which also became the basis of Bill Haley's "Rock around the Clock."
Barnet could also tip his hat to some of his contemporaries whom he admired and play their tunes or tunes in their styles, without being a copyist, as we
see—or rather hear—him do in Emperor Jones (Duke Ellington), E-Bob-O-Lee-Bob (Cab Calloway), West End Blues (Louis Armstrong,
including the famous cadenza), and Caravan (Duke Ellington).
Lastly, Barnet was cognizant of, and sympathetic to, the emerging "bebop" music that swing—or a least a segment of it—was morphing into during the war
years of the early nineteen forties. East Side West Side, an old song dating from the 1890s and known then as The Sidewalks of New York,
is made "up-to-date" here by having the band sing the lyrics, providing a backing chorus to the vocalist Bunny Briggs' performing a scat vocal on top of
this background chorus, thus "modernizing" it. When the band takes over after the vocals, backing Barnet's solo, it is in this modern "boppish" vogue.
Standing between me and a superior rating for this set, however, are two flaws. There is a carelessness in the booklet with naming and crediting the
vocalists, which, in turn, casts doubt on the accuracy of the rest of the personnel data therein. It would not have been too difficult to get it right.
Another is the variance in the volume level. Several tunes tend to be at different levels, necessitating the listener's frequently having to adjust the
volume control, especially when listening through earphones, to avoid instant deafness on occasion. That, too, could have been attended to before issuing
the set.
But not to end on a negative note, I would say that Barnet wears several hats, and this double CD issue nicely exemplifies these. There is almost two and a
half hours' worth of first rate music here. Unless one has a very large collection of Barnet material, this set would be a useful addition to it or to any
swing library.
Bert Thompson
CD Reviews
Acrobat FADCD2039
