Les Elgart - Best of Big Bands 2 (18 tracks) +Album Reviews

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Les Elgart
Best of Big Bands 2
Genres: Jazz, Pop

Track Listings (18) - Disc #1
1. Sophisticated Swing - Les Elgart, Hudson, Will
2. (The Gang That Sang) Heart of My Heart - Les Elgart, Ryan, B.
3. Bendix Bounce - Les Elgart, Albertine, Charles
4. Soon - Les Elgart, Hart, Lorenz
5. The Weasel Pops Off - Les Elgart, Albertine, Charles
6. Geronimo - Les Elgart, Albertine, Charles
7. I Never Knew - Les Elgart, Fio Rito, Ted
8. Why Don't You Fall in Love with Me? - Les Elgart, Lewis, A.
9. Comin' Thru the Scotch - Les Elgart, Albertine, Charles
10. Sophisticated Lady - Les Elgart, Ellington, Duke
11. The Turtle Walk - Les Elgart, Donaldson, Lou
12. Easy Pickin' [#] - Les Elgart, Williams, G.
13. Time to Go - Les Elgart, Scott, Tony [Jazz]
14. Big Man on Campus [#] - Les Elgart, Levinsky, K.
15. Senior Hop [#] - Les Elgart, Levinsky, K.
16. My Heart Belongs to Daddy - Les Elgart, Porter, Cole
17. Varsity Drag - Les Elgart, Brown, Lew
18. Zing! Went the Strings of My Heart - Les Elgart, Hanley, James F.

CD Details

All Artists: Les Elgart
Title: Best of Big Bands 2
Members Wishing: 0
Total Copies: 0
Label: Sony
Original Release Date: 5/19/1992
Release Date: 5/19/1992
Genres: Jazz, Pop
Styles: Swing Jazz, Easy Listening
Number of Discs: 1
SwapaCD Credits: 1
UPCs: 074644890921, 074644890945

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CD Reviews

One of the best dance band recordings you'll find anywhere.

12/19/1998

(5 out of 5 stars)

"The Elgart Band played with a bouncy style and a rich, punctuated sound that became definitive of the "fifties". Charlie Albertine's arrangements are, as always, clear, sensual, and fun. The production and sound of the recordings (produced by George Avakian and engineered by Fred Plaud in the legendary CBS 30th Street church studio) are superb. Even though this particular CD - which was the band's first LP for Columbia - is monoraul, when you put it on you'll feel like the band is right there in your living room. A great experience for anyone who enjoys the sound of swing."

The Greatest Dance Band

10/20/1998

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Many critics consider Les Elgart's band to be the best dance band of the big band era.Arriving on the big band scene near the close of the era (1950's), the Elgart sound swept the American dance scene.The unique blending of base sax and trombone, along with use of the guitar for rythym, was a new innovation. The chords,frequently minor, produce almost painfully beautiful musical responses on the part of the listener. This smooth, and happy swing album is sure to please the new swing generation.Buy and enjoy."

Try it..you'll love the big band sound

11/21/1998

(5 out of 5 stars)

"been an elgart fan since "zing was a single" very good cd. for non-electronic fans!"

A outstanding album from an all-too-much-abused band

Gene DeSantis | Philadelphia, PA United States | 05/15/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Though jazz snobs may dismiss the Elgart Brothers for what one writer has called (and I'm paraphrasing) "the tired-businessman's bounce", they got off with a bang with this superb maiden Columbia effort. Here they established their unique sound: the sharp sax staccato, the soft unmuted horns, the piano-less rhythm section with its close-miked guitar. Unsurprisingly the Elgarts attributed no small part of their success to Glenn Miller, and really this band is an offshoot, for though Miller was getting impatient with big-band music before his untimely death, and it's hard to imagine him playing arrangements quite like these, the Miller sound is definitely there, haunting, dreamy, always under the surface, even without the clarinet lead.

What opens one's ears are the four previously unissued tracks, several demos likely recorded before the "Sophisticated Swing" takes, in a Brooklyn ballroom -- and with a piano (Will "The Expert" Friedwald's booklet discussion is typically unclear). The piano adds little, and the Elgarts were wise to discard it, but then these spine-tingling charts didn't need help, like George Williams's "Easy Pickin'" and especially "My Heart Belongs to Daddy," which turns that tiresome song about forbidden love into an electrifying zap. Alas the Elgarts never did swing enough. Had they credibly done so this band could have ranked with the greatest jazz ensembles instead of ultimately being reduced to the hackneyed two-left-footed fake-disco arrangements of "Hooked on Swing." But this is tremendous swing -- and jazz -- however you slice it.

Peculiar programming note: This album also includes two tracks from their later album "Band of the Year" -- but not their most famous song of all, the "Bandstand Boogie." Then again the whole "Best of the Big Bands" series was plagued with such non-sequiturs. One hopes Sony BMG gets around to the first-class reissues this band deserves, not just continuing to palm them off as licensed product. (The current Collectables double-album leaves out the six extra tracks.) Further peculiar programming note: the "ace" CBS engineer Larry Keyes omits the first note of the title tune; given his stellar career he probably never noticed."