Search - Jimmie Lunceford :: Anthology 1934 & 1942

Great restoration of one of THE greatest swing bands!

R. Dixon | Arkansas USA | 04/11/2009

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This two CD set is a great sampling of the great Jimmie Lunceford band. It is well transferred and restored---it sounds like it was taken from good 78 rpm copies rather than from original metal parts. If you know very little about Big Band Swing, this is a really good set of a "must have" band. Many of Lunceford's big hits and "standards" are here. For example, you get hits like Organ Grinder's Swing and Rhythm Is Our Business, Margie, and Blues In The Night (all nicely transferred), but also some less-well-known material like Okay For Baby (composed by Benny Carter), and Lonessome Road. This band was THE quintessential swinging show band of the 30s and 40s. Big Band greats openly tried to emulate the Lunceford sound. Glenn Miller (who openly admired Lunceford's band) had his ace arranger, Billy May, arrange a number of Lunceford-like charts (including 24 Robbers), and Tommy Dorsey went so far as to hire away Lunceford's chief arranger, Sy Oliver (who have him such great charts as "Blue Skies"). The price is great. The only downside to this set is that it comes in a cardboard sleeve (no jewel case), but it's still worth it in my estimation. I just stuck the discs in regular jewel cases and kept the cardboard jacket for reference."