Interesting Blend
Bop Man | USA | 12/01/2007
(5 out of 5 stars)
"An interesting musical blend by Benny Goodman featuring another stylistic change: The first four songs on this Cd were the last recordings by Benny's 1949 Capitol "Bop" band featuring Vocalists Buddy Greco and Dolly Houston. At the end of 1949, Goodman broke up his band, toured Europe, and returned home to Columbia Records in 1950. The next seven selections are by the Goodman Sextet, and features The Ravens vocalist, Jimmy Ricks, on three tracks. At this point in time Goodman officially turned his back on Modern Jazz and returned to a more conservative swing format featuring, mostly, his past hits. Several events helped shape this musical change in direction: The release of Goodman's 1938 Carnegie Hall Concert on Lp for the first time in September, 1950, would prove to be the biggest-selling Jazz album of all time, and Fletcher Henderson's failing health moved Goodman to start a charity fund to help with his finances. The remaining ten songs on this Cd are from this fund-raising broadcast from WNEW radio."