Re: What do you think of the music of Guy Lombardo?
Posted: Thu Jun 27, 2019 1:44 am
Yeah, Artie was quite the curmudgeon, even in his younger days. Talk about the ultimate perfectionist, though... and it shows in his music. I cannot recall Shaw hitting a "clinker" even once... not on records and not on acetate.russmovaz wrote:A comment on Jack Teagarden: I watched him on Episode No.8 of the Ken Burns "Jazz" documentary where he sings with Louis Armstrong. Teagarden has a pretty fine voice, in the few seconds where he's singing. A lot of gravel in that voice, but also a lot of character.gramophone-georg wrote:polished "society" sweet dance band, at least until about 1933 when he brought in Teagarden and a young singer named Billie Holiday, and made Gene Krupa his permanent drummer.
Now, this next part is just my personal opinion, but if you want to experience the absolute apex of jazz/ swing (and perhaps even popular music in general if you want to go that far) it's Artie Shaw's 1940- 41 band on Victor,
Artie Shaw: in the "Jazz" interviews he appears bitter at times, calling the dancers at swing band concerts "morons." And he's bitter with the commercial aspects of the swing band era. Guess that's why he temporarily moved to small the Musicraft label, where he presumably had more control over what he could record.
I have a lot of Artie Shaw on Victor, which I have not yet played, not at all. Good to know there will be good things to hear.
Jackson T as a singer... oh, HELLS yes.
There's a lot of it out there, too, beginning with Irving Mills' groups.