Search - Sammy Kaye :: Wanderin Swing & Sway With Sammy Kaye

One of the great forgotten swing bands

Joe Sixpack -- Slipcue.com | ...in Middle America | 12/04/2003

(4 out of 5 stars)

"As even the liner notes to this CD admit, bandleader Sammy Kaye represented the squarer, more commercial end of the Big Band era, taking his cues from the workmanlike Glenn Miller, but restricting his dance music to an even more controlled, brisker, less lyrical style. It's fine stuff, though, emblematic of the times and well-packaged pop music... This generously programmed 26-track set features a wide swath of Kaye's postwar work, from 1945-50. Almost all the songs feature vocals, with lesser-known singers such as Don Cornell, Laura Leslie and Johnny Ryan, as well as the Kaydets vocal ensemble. It's not immortal, timelessly poetic music (like many of the big band records were ), but it is a nice slice nostalgia, and perfectly fine in its own right. Worth checking out!"