"Best Of Tommy Dorsey
& His Orchestra"
Here are hits from the best years of
a band that was hugely popular from the 1930s to the 1950s. Tommy
D, "the sentimental gentleman of swing," was justly
renowned for his refined, singing-and-sighing trombone playing.
His band could be driving, but emphasized the smooth and the
dulcet, in keeping with popular, swing-era demand. Among these
most-loved Dorsey sides are the million-sellers like Pine Top
Smith's anthem "Boogie Woogie," and "Song of India,"
a Rimsky-Korsakov revamp that swingingly exudes adventure in
the jungle. Great soloists like Buddy Rich, Louis Bellson, and
Buddy DeFranco are here, as are arrangements by Sy Oliver, whom
Dorsey cleverly hired away from Jimmy Lunceford's vaunted band.
The early 1940s, the Sinatra years for the Dorsey band, also
are reflected. --Peter Monaghan |
