Search - Chick Webb :: Stompin at the Savoy

The right music but variable sound

bukhtan | Chicago, Illinois, USA | 07/23/2003

(4 out of 5 stars)

"This product, by a prolific re-issue label operating in the UK, offers the best selection of the great drummer and bandleader's studio recordings available on a single CD. Webb's band was one of the most acclaimed dance orchestras to arise in Harlem and had a fine array of soloists such as Taft Jordan (trumpet and vocal), Edgar Sampson (reeds)and, late in the decade, Ella Fitzgerald. Webb himself, however, was second to none and may have been the best pre-Jo Jones drummer in jazz. As the decade and recording practice progressed (this CD runs up to Webb's untimely death in 1939)his abilities became more and more audible to posterity.
I might specially recommend Chick Webb to those whose acquaintance with big band jazz is so far limited to Duke Ellington, as there was a good working relationship between the two bandleaders. Duke assisted Webb in his early career, and many of Webb's soloists (Jordan, tenor sax player Elmer Williams, and alto player Russell Procope among them) would later play for Duke. Moreover, Webb's arrangers such as Edgar Sampson vied with Duke for coloratura orchestration.
This CD covers Webb's peak period in the early and mid thirties (e.g. "Stomping at the Savoy" and "Blue Minor", both Edgar Sampson arrangements) as well as some of the Ella Fitzgerald hits later in the decade, such as "A tisket a tasket". It includes, speaking of Ellington, Duke's own arrangement of his "Azure", which he himself never recorded, to my knowledge.
My only reservation would be some odd distortion which occurs in some, not all, of the tracks. This is a rather "watery" sound (heard also on the Decca re-issues of the same pieces) which may be easily explicable to those better versed in recording and transfer technology than I, but I have to say that I found it distracting, and I am not a hi-fi fanatic. Otherwise what the musicians were doing is audible enough."

Webb is no midget when it comes to music

yosemite sam | 02/08/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"this small man, is easily one of the greatest drummers we have ever seen, and this CD is nearly as great as he is. did they know then just how fortunate they were to hear and dance to this genius? if there were a time machine i would make my first trip to the savoy and dance to chick webb. it is not stereo, and i do not know if new tech magic could have helped in that area, but other than that..this is one of my favorite cd's....if you like this cd, then also check out louis jordand (best of)."

I love this music

luvinthejazz | Long Beach, CA USA | 02/10/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Chick Webb swings hard. This stuff will get your feet moving. The more I listen to it, the more difficult it is to turn it off. Now I understand why Gene Krupa said, after the Benny Goodman band played against Chick at the Savoy in 1938, "Those cats cut us to ribbons.""