Search - Tommy Dorsey :: Essence of Tommy Dorsey

One Of The Better Tommy Dorsey Anthologies Around

01/24/2009

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This is one element of a large series originating with the Delta Music Group of the U.K. with the preceding title "The Essence Of ..." Note that there are other series using "Essence Of" - most notably one from Sony - so be sure you check carefully as this series is infinitely superior. In the details it will simply say "Import" for this and others in the series such as Swing and Jazz Vocals (both multiple artist compilations), Ella Fitzgerald, Sarah Vaughan, Dinah Washington, Artie Shaw, Billie Holiday, John Lee Hooker, Duke Ellington, Louis Armstrong, Charlie Parker, ray Charles - to name a few.



On the reverse it says "all original recordings digitally remastered" and, in that regard, the sound quality is remarkably good. The three pages of liner notes written by Neil Kellas, a free-lance compiler and music writer who operates from Greenwich in South London, touch upon the years of the recordings, and here and there a chart performance, but there is no dedicated discography or sessionography showing label details, chart listings, etc.



But even with that drawback, this is very much a 5-star offering presenting some of Tommy's best from among the 187 hit singles his band registered from 1935 to 1954 (his band, led by Warren Covington, had 2 more in 1958 - two years after Tommy's death). Unfortunately, the listings on the two discs don't follow any release pattern - in fact they jump all over the map as you will see from the following re-listing of the tracks showing the missing details (insofar as I know them):



Disc 1: The Hucklebuck with vocal and trumpet solo by Charlie Shavers - Victor 3427, # 8 in 1949; Until with vocal by Harry Prime - Victor 3061, # 4 in 1948; I Dream Of You (More Than You Dream I Do) with vocal by Freddy Stewart - Victor 1608, # 4 in 1944; Opus No. 1 - B-side of I Dream Of You which hit # 12 and was later voted the # 12 all-time record by Billboard disc jockeys - features clarinetist Buddy DeFranco and trombonist Nelson Riddle; Cheek To Cheek; They Didn't Believe Me; The Girl Friend - featuring Bing Crosby; Taking A Chance On Love; The Honeydripper; [these last 5 tracks don't appear to have been part of any of Tommy's singles with Victor - have no idea as to when they were recorded/released) ; I Get A Kick Out Of You - Victor 20-3638 in 1949 - did not chart; Opus No. 2 - also unknown; On The Sunny Side Of The Street with vocal by The Sentimentalists - Victor 1648, # #16 in 1945; I'll Be Seeing You with vocal by Frank Sinatra - recorded Feb 26, 1940 - released in 1944 on Victor 1574, # 4; There Are Such Things with vocal by Frank Sinatra & The Pied Pipers - Victor 27974, # 1 Pop for 6 weeks and # 2 R&B in 1942/43 - NOTE: the R&B charts, then called the Harlem Hit Parade, were introduced in 1942; It Started All Over Again with vocal by Frank Sinatra & The Pied Pipers - Victor 1522, # 2 R&B and # 4 Pop in 1943; In The Blue Of Evening with vocal by Frank Sinatra - Victor 27947, # 1 Pop for 3 weeks and # 10 R&B in 1943; It's Always You with vocal by Frank Sinatra - Victor 1530, # 3 in 1943; Manhattan Serenade with vocal by Jo Stafford - Victor 27962, # 4 in 1942; Take Me with vocaL BY Frank Sinatra - Victor 27923, # 5 in 1942; How About You? with vocal by Frank Sinatra - Victor 27749, # 8 in 1942; Just As Though You Were Here with vocal by Frank Sinatra & The Pied Pipers - Victor 27903, # 6 in 1942; Star Dust with vocal by Frank Sinatra & The Pied Pipers - Victor 27233, # 7 in 1941 - in 1943 it was re-released as Victor 27520 and reached # 23; Do I Worry? with vocal by Frank Sinatra & The Pied Pipers - Victor 27338, # 4 in 1941; Everything Happens To Me with vocal by Frank Sinatra - Victor 27359, # 9 in 1941; Dolores with vocal by Frank Sinatra & The Pied Pipers - Victor 27317, # 1 in 1941.



Disc 2: Oh, Look At Me Now with vocal by Frank Sinatra, Connie Haines & The Pied Pipers - Victor 27274, # 2 in 1941; Yes, Indeed! with vocal by Jo Stafford & Sy Oliver - Victor 27421, # 4 in 1941; Our Love Affair with vocal by Frank Sinatra - Victor 26736, # 5 in 1940; We Three (My Echo, My Shadow, And Me) with vocal by Frank Sinatra - Victor 26747, # 3 in 1940; I Could Make You Care with vocal by Frank Sinatra - Victor 26717, # 17 in 1940; I'll Never Smile Again with vocal by Frank Sinatra & The Pied Pipers - Victor 26628, # 1 for 12 weeks in 1940; You're Lonely And I'm Lonely with vocal by Frank Sinatra - Victor 26596, # 9 in 1940; Imagination with vocal by Frank Sinatra - Victor 26581, # 8 in 1940; Our Love with vocal by Jack Leonard - Victor 26202, # 1 in 1939; All The Things You Are with vocal by Jack Leonard - Victor 26401, # 1 in 1939/40; Indian Summer with vocal by Jack Leonard - Victor 26390, # 1 in 1939/40; Music, Maestro, Please with vocal by Edythe Wright - Victor 25866. # 1 for 6 weeks in 1938; Stop Beatin' Around The Mulberry Bush with vocal by Edythe Wright and Skeets Herfurt - Victor 26012, # 2 in 1938; Boogie Woogie featuring pianist Howard Smith - Victor 26054, # 3 Pop and # 6 R&B in 1938 - based on Pinetop's Boogie Woogie by Clarence "Pinetop" Smith in 1928); `Sposin' - Tommy Dorsey & His Clambake Seven featuring Edythe Wright - Victor 25605, # 6 in 1937; The Big Apple - Tommy Dorsey & His Clambake Seven featuring Edythe Wright - Victor 25652, # 1 in 1937; Satan Takes A Holiday - Victor 25570, # 1 for 3 weeks in 1937; Song Of India - Victor 25523, # 5 in 1937 - based upon Rimsky-Korsakov's Chanson Indoue from the 1897 opera Sadko and features trumpeter Bunny Berigan; Who? with vocal by Jack Leonard & the band - Victor 25693 - flip of The Dipsey Doodle went to # 5 in 1937; The Dipsey Doodle with vocal by Edythe Wright - this A-side went to # 1 for 6 weeks in 1937; In The Still Of The Night with vocal by Jack Leonard - Victor 25663, # 3 in 1937; Marie with vocal by Jack Leonard & the band - Victor 25523 - this A-side with Song Of India went to # 1 for 2 weeks in 1937; Alone; On Treasure Island (these last two are instrumental versions of the 1936 and 1935 hit singles which featured vocalists Cliff Weston and Edythe Wright respectively- have no idea as to recording/release date; The Music Goes Round And Round with vocal by Edythe Wright and dialogue with Tommy - Victor 25210, # 1 for 5 weeks in 1935/36."