Search - Fletcher Henderson :: 1924-1938

Joy and enthousiasm

Bernd Krämer | Eindhoven, Netherlands | 07/10/2001

(5 out of 5 stars)

"During my student years in the 70s I heard these tracks for the first time in a set of 4 old and noisy LPs I borrowed: "The Fletcher Henderson story". I copied some of its best tracks to my old hissing tape recorder, and for years I enjoyed this joyful original music, despite the ticks and hissing. I especially liked the arrangements and the enthusiastic solos of the many famous musicians that made part of their debut in this great band (like Lester Young, Louis Armstrong, Coleman Hawkins, Ben Webster, etc.). You can hear the excitement and joy of playing together. Listen for instance to "Back in your own backyard". Until now I never found these "best" tracks back again in any record shop, so I was amazed to find most of them here together on one CD. I bought it, and it is still one of my favourites from the early days of jazz."

Great music, uneven recording

Johnny Hodges | Clark Fork, ID United States | 10/03/2004

(4 out of 5 stars)

"A very nice cross section of Fletch's wonderful bands. While we become accustomed to less than hifi sound from this era, the variations in recording quality from track to track are distracting. Cuts are arranged randomly, although liner notes are by date so looking up band members on any track is difficult. The scope of the recordings and the reasonable price still make this a good intro to the upbeat complex arrangements and the high musician craftsmanship that mark the most under appreciated big band of the era.



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Copied disc, want my money back...

Phillip Collins | 09/02/2009

(1 out of 5 stars)

"Imagine my disappointment in recieving a copied disc. The inlay is on piece of card with a photocopied graphic. No track info. I have other Giants of Jazz CD's so I know that there is something amiss. So what now, worse, it was Amazon itself that I ordered off. My theory is that the mp3 tracks have simply been burned onto a CD and the inlay scanned. I can't even find out where to complain on site."