Big BAnd Music - Which?

I never try to let HiFi get in the way of the music!

 

I've listened to the Basie album about 4 times now, and I have mixed feelings about it. The first time I played it I thought it sounded a bit 'flat', but then it is a mono recording. That said, I have other mono recordings on vinyl and cd that don't sound quite so one dimensional. The brass can seem a bit shrill at times in comparison with everything else and I can sort of see what Tenson was suggesting with his 'grainy' comments, but I guess that it's really the nature of the instruments rather than the quality of the recording.
I don't mind whether the sound is coloured, and I also don't mind that to me it sounds like an old recording. Having played it a couple more times it has grown on me a little and I'm getting a bit more used to the style of the recording so that I'm now just listening to the music, and although I haven't really listened to this kind of music before I can see myself playing it as often as I play most of my CD's.

My conclusion is that I reckon that perhaps something has been lost in the transfer to CD, as it doesn't strike me as a great recording. I might be tempted to buy it on vinyl if I stumble across a copy.

If anyone who has it on vinyl wants to have a listen to the CD to compare, then I'll happily send/lend it out.

 

May I suggest you have a listen to Joe Turner..he can really move it! Look out for a great track called, er, 'Rocket 88'..

 

if you like vocal with your big band swing then you ought to try:
Basie & Sinatra, an historical musical first
Sammy davis Junior - the wham of Sam
Sinatra - songs for swinging lovers (anything arranged by Nelson Riddle is a must)
and for modern stuff, Bob Mintzer as suggested earlier. Give Colin James and the little Big band a whirl too. for some interesting takes on old classics you could try the Brian Setzer orchestra live in Japan (has a mad version of hawaii five-0 on it)

 

Andy, why would you say avoid Sid Lawrence? I'm no fan, no offense taken, but I heard them before doing covers of Glenn Miller classics, and, well, maybe not a connoisseur of this music but I don't see much wrong with that ensemble?

 

A big band is a type of musical ensemble associated with playing jazz music and which became popular during the Swing Era from the early 1930s until the late 1940s. Big bands evolved with the times and continue to today. A big band typically consists of approximately 12 to 25 musicians and contains saxophones, trumpets, trombones, singers, and a rhythm section. The terms jazz band, jazz ensemble, stage band, jazz orchestra, society band and dance band may be used to describe a specific type of big band.

In contrast to smaller jazz combos, in which most of the music is improvised, or created spontaneously, music played by big bands is highly "arranged", or prepared in advance and notated on sheet music. The music is traditionally called 'charts'. Improvised solos may be played only when called for by the arranger.