Benny Goodman - The Benny Goodman Small Bands Collection 1935-45 (CD)

Clarinettist and bandleader Benny Goodman was one of the giants of the swing era, with his orchestra pioneering the genre in the late '30s and riding the big band wave through into the post-ear era. However, he also greatly enjoyed playing in more flexible small jazz groups, where his superb technique had more of a chance to shine. This great-value 70-track 3-CD set brings together a significant proportion, but excluding vocal performances, of the titles he recorded in Trio, Quartet, Quintet, Sextet and Septet environments the heyday of his swing orchestra, often recording with artists drawn from the current incarnation of his bands. It comprises recordings on the Victor, Columbia and Okeh labels, and not surprisingly features a host of significant jazz personalities, including Teddy Wilson, Gene Krupa, Lionel Hampton, Charlie Christian, Cootie Williams, Count Basie, Red Norvo, Slam Stewart, John Kirby, Fletcher Henderson, Johnny Guarnieri, Georgie Auld and many more. It's a thoroughly enjoyable anthology of small band jazz that defies being categorised, ranging across both well-known standards and original compositions, and allows us to hear Benny and his colleagues swinging and improvising in some star-studded line-ups

Track List:

Disc: 1

1. After You've Gone
2. Body And Soul
3. Who ?
4. Someday Sweetheart
5. China Boy
6. More Than You Know
7. Lady Be Good
8. Nobody's Sweetheart
9. Dinah
10. Sweet Sue, Just You
11. My Melancholy Baby
12. Tiger Rag
13. Stompin' At The Savoy
14. Whispering
15. Ida
16. Tea For Two
17. Runnin' Wild
18. Avalon
19. Handful Of Keys
20. The Man I Love
21. Smiles
22. Liza
23. Where Or When
24. Vieni, Vieni

Disc: 2

1. I'm A Ding Dong Daddy (From Dumas)
2. Sweet Lorraine
3. The Blues In Your Flat
4. Sugar
5. Dizzy Spells
6. Opus 1/2
7. I Must Have That Man
8. Sweet Georgia Brown
9. 'S Wonderful
10. Pick-A-Rib (Pt 1)
11. I Cried For You
12. I Know That You Know
13. Opus 3/4
14. Flying Home [Homeward Bound]
15. Rose Room (In Sunny Roseland)
16. Star Dust
17. Memories Of You
18. Soft Winds
19. Seven Come Eleven [Roast Turkey Stomp]
20. Shivers
21. AC-DC Current
22. I'm Confessin'
23. The Sheik Of Araby

Disc: 3

1. Poor Butterfly
2. I Surrender Dear
3. Grand Slam [Boy Meets Goy]
4. Six Appeal [My Daddy Rocks Me]
5. These Foolish Things
6. Good Enough To Keep [Airmail Special]
7. Wholly Cats
8. Royal Garden Blues
9. As long as I live
10. Benny's Bugle
11. I Can't Give You Anything But Love
12. Breakfast Feud
13. On The Alamo
14. I've Found A New Baby
15. Gone With What Draft
16. A Smo-O-Oth One
17. If I Had You
18. Limehouse Blues
19. The Wang-Wang Blues
20. The World Is Waiting For The Sunrise
21. Slipped Disc
22. Oomph Fah Fah
23. Shine
24. Ain't Misbehavin'