Search - John Kirby :: John Kirby

Splendor! Smooth. Impressive. Excellent. Solid. Good value.

David Porta | Sacramento | 04/07/2009

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This John Kirby CD is from Italy's Giants of Jazz label, CD 53243.

Released 1998-10-27.



It arrived today. 2009-04-06.



I am listening to it now.

I like this music, these musicians, this band.



Two tracks are from 1938, six from 1939, seven from 1940, and seven from 1941, his top year. Tracks arranged by group - JK & his Ork (Jan 1939-Jan 1941), JK & his Onyx Club Boys (Oct 1938), JK Sextet (Summer 1941).



Smooth arrangements. The trumpet makes nice notes. Impressive clarinet solos. The sax sounds good. The piano work sounds fine to me. Bass gets nice play. Drums do their job just fine.



Excellent big band jazz sound from a small band. Solid.



Good value for the price - New from an Amazon Seller for $3.01 + $2.98 Shipping = $5.99 Total. Under 28 cents a track. You could do worse.



A splendid selection of a great band in an even greater era: Swing!



Recording dates are listed, but for the six Sextet tracks.

All the Sextet tracks are listed as circa Summer 1941.

All of the recordings on this disc are listed as NYC sessions.



The musicians (all six).

Charlie Shavers (tp) Buster Baily (cl) Russell Procope (as) Billy Kyle (p) John Kirby (b) O'Neil Spencer (d).

Prob. Cozy Cole replacing Spencer on Ida! Sweet as Apple Cider, on The Peanut Vendor, and on Revolutionary Etude (Etude in C Minor)."