1951-1952 in Bloomington, MN

This is the 35th installment of the complete works of
Benny Goodman
as reissued in the
Classics
Chronological Series
. Consisting of 21 selections recorded between April 29, 1951, and May 28, 1952, this album conveys the essence of the
Goodman
big band as it sounded throughout the
Truman
and
Eisenhower
years. Although during the early '50s many big bands had been forced to downsize or disintegrate (even
Duke Ellington
Count Basie
struggled),
had everything going for him: sustained popularity, high-fidelity production, rock-solid repertoire,
Fletcher Henderson
's arrangements, and a band peppered with excellent players. These included vibraphonist
Terry Gibbs
and guitarists
Mundell Lowe
,
George Van Eps
, and
Drifting Johnny Smith
, best known for having recorded with saxophonist
Stan Getz
for the
Roost
record label. The music heard on this compilation first appeared on 10" 33 1/3-rpm records. Most of the tunes are instrumental;
"Toodle-Lee-Yoo-Doo"
is sung by
Nancy Reed
. Tracks one through 12 were drawn from the
Columbia
LP
Let's Hear the Melody
and the remainder originated on an album that found
's group unobtrusively backed by string players from the Denver and Philadelphia symphonies. ~ arwulf arwulf