Excellent set for the money
"Gimpy" Peach Johnson | 02/19/2006
(5 out of 5 stars)
"This is a great set of 1930s big band music, with all the major bands represented here (along with a number of lesser-known bands). The selection of tunes is interesting--there are plenty of "old classics" for this to be a good introductory set for the big band newcomer, but enough obscurities to satisfy long-time collectors. The sound quality is quite good--surface noise is minimal, but when the engineers cut it out, they took a little of the sound's "crispness" with it. Fortuantely, there's no digital "artifacting" here, but the recordings sound just a little dull sometimes (sound-wise, not necessarily performance-wise!). For a four-CD set, I would have expected a little more in the way of liner notes, but those that are here are o.k. Fortunately, the booklet provides recording dates and original matrix numbers for the serious collectors. This is a very listenable set, and for the price, it's hard to beat. Great music! Highly recommended!"