Swing Big Bands

AMG Review of Swing Big Bands

William Ruhlmann
All Music Guide

This Italian compilation, drawn without credit from the archives of RCA Victor Records, collects 12 Tommy Dorsey recordings across a span of more than nine years, from 1937 to 1946, emphasizing the Dorsey band's ability to play rhythmic swing charts written by the likes of Sy Oliver, Carmen Mastren, and Axel Stordahl. Solos are taken by such stellar sidemen as Charlie Shavers, Bunny Berigan, and Yank Lawson, with plenty of creamy playing by Dorsey himself, of course. Memorable tracks such as "Boogie Woogie" and "Opus No. 1" are included, as well as Dorsey's theme song, "I'm Getting Sentimental Over You." The disc is really just a sampler of the large Dorsey catalog, and there are many other compilations that are more thorough and better organized, but this is a good, short consideration of some of Dorsey's hotter ig band recordings.