There are few big bands that actually define the “Swing Era”, but Tommy Dorsey’s Orchestra has to be in the first listing. Not only was his band able to deliver pop hits to serve as a soundtrack for the Depression and War years, but he was a hot bed for some of the greatest musicians and singers of all time, including, but not limited to trumpeters Bunny Berigan, Ziggy Elman, Charlie Shavers and Doc Severinsen, pianists Jess Stacy, trombonist Nelson Riddle, clarinetists Buddy DeFranco and Peanuts Hucko, drummers Louie Bellson, Dave Tough and Buddy Rich and a singer by the name of, what was it? Oh, yeah, Frank Sinatra.
Because of his popularity, Dorsey was also able to hire the best musical arrangers like Paul Weston, Bill Finegan and Sy Oliver, as well as bringing in male and female vocalists like Connie Haines, Dick Haymes, Edythe Wright and Jo Stafford, with sub groups in the band named The Pied Pipers. There was also a “small band within the band” called The Clambake Seven which produced faux Traditional/New Orleans music on pop pieces like “Josephine” and “My Cabin Of Dreams”.
But the “ real “ Dorsey band had appeal to the fans of “real” swing and crooners. As for the instrumentals, few could do as well as Dorsey on the signature ballad “I’m Getting Sentimental Over You”, but the band itself could make your eyes bug out on tunes such as “Song of India”, “Boogie Woogie” “Well Git It” or “Opus One”.
Dorsey wasn’t exactly a slouch before or after Sinatra at the mic. Jack Leonard handled the hip “Marie” and “In The Still Of The Night” with brilliance. Carmen Mastren sizzles on “Dark Eyes” and Edythe Wright coos on the cute “Dipsy Doodle”, with Stuart Foster oozing romance on “H ow Are Things In Glocca Morra”
But let’s be honest; Dorsey reigned supreme when Sinatra was part of the Pied Pipers, with gorgeous harmonies and solos on “I’ll Never Smile Again”, “Dolores” “Our Love Affair” or the drop dead gorgeous take of “Star Dust”. There isn’t a single song that has Sinatra’s voice that isn’t considered essential listening, and there is still a coterie of fans that are convinced that these years were his best. They were at least his happiest.
This six disc, 176 song collection is no sentimental journey (to steal another band’s song). No, it is a template for what jazz should and can accomplish with the right musicians and the right audience.