Search - Flecther Henderson :: Live at the Grand Terrace Chicago 1938

Swings hard--what's more you can hear the rhythm section!

09/23/1999

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Unlike almost every other record available of the Fletcher Henderson Orchestra, this recording of an NBC Radio broadcast manages to capture the full sound of the rhythm section. In particular, the drums can be heard and the drummer is swinging very very hard. For rhythm players it is an important album because it was recorded at a point in the evolution of Fletcher's band when the rhythm section was beginning to play licks and figures that became common-place in the hipper bands of the 1940s. If you want to hear the entire orchestra, and not just the front line, this is the one Fletcher recording I would buy. If you are a rhythm player, it is also an incredible source of ideas and licks from this important era. The players in the "nouveau" swing groups could learn a lot from this album about how to truly swing."