Jimmy " Bebop " Dorsey

[PDEE]

I don't have much Jimmy Dorsey, really not a big follower of the "Swing era Big Bands " ( Ellington / Basie etc don't qualify)
There was a guy on the BNBB who wanted a vinyl album containing Parade of the Milk Bottle Caps as a gift for his Dad at Christmas ( Should that be Xmas on this BB?)

I found a nicely packaged Time Life 2LP box set for $3.95 at one of my haunts.. bought it for him but he never took me up on it.

So now I browse the JD section.. infrequently.

I found a cheap Stardust CD of Radio Broadcasts.It features Maynard Ferguson so I picked it up.

The first Track is called DIZ DOES EVERYTHING.. has bebop influences written all over it. The solos by JD on alto, a ? Trombonist and Maynard included.

Maynard is , well , what you'ld expect from Maynard, but JD's solo was surprising, as was the whole track. The rest of the CD is fairly typical Big Band Swing Era material.

The tune is credited to JD himself
The Question is.. did JD arrange this piece too?
Is this an unusal event or did Bebop work it's way deeper into the Jimmy Dorsey repetoire?

[Harold_Z]

PDEE , How ya doin'. Good to see you over here.

I wish I could be more clear on the source, but I think it was on wkcr radio a few years back - Jimmy D. hired Dizzy to do some writing for his band and reportedly told Diz he would love to use him in the band also but couldn't because of the racial angle.

[JSngry]

Seems like I heard something similar on an old Hindsight(?) LP. whatever the label was, it credited Diz w/the arrangement. He did some freelance arranging work in the mid-40s or so to pick up some extra bread, as I'm sure you know.

But yeah - ain't it a trip to hear JIMMY DORSEY'S band sound like that?

[PDEE]

I suspected that it might have been one of Diz's arrangements.. probably it's his composition too

Stardust is not big on info. and it might have been an error on their part listing JD as composer.. or it could be one of those " Band Leader" rip offs we hear so much about.

[victor]

my favorite recordings he did were with bob eberly and helen o'connell on vocals.....only recording i did not like was his 1957 recording "so rare"

[BeRiGaN]

Originally posted by PDEE
I don't have much Jimmy Dorsey, really not a big follower of the "Swing era Big Bands " ( Ellington / Basie etc don't qualify)
There was a guy on the BNBB who wanted a vinyl album containing Parade of the Milk Bottle Caps as a gift for his Dad at Christmas ( Should that be Xmas on this BB?)

I found a nicely packaged Time Life 2LP box set for $3.95 at one of my haunts.. bought it for him but he never took me up on it.

So now I browse the JD section.. infrequently.

I found a cheap Stardust CD of Radio Broadcasts.It features Maynard Ferguson so I picked it up.

The first Track is called DIZ DOES EVERYTHING.. has bebop influences written all over it. The solos by JD on alto, a ? Trombonist and Maynard included.

Maynard is , well , what you'ld expect from Maynard, but JD's solo was surprising, as was the whole track. The rest of the CD is fairly typical Big Band Swing Era material.

The tune is credited to JD himself
The Question is.. did JD arrange this piece too?
Is this an unusal event or did Bebop work it's way deeper into the Jimmy Dorsey repetoire?


PD (PDEE? Pdiddy?)
There is a pretty good cd from Hep, called The 400 Resturant 1946. Well, the first 4 tracks aren't from there of course, they are from July 12, 1944! Anyway, the first 2 tracks have a bop flavor, the 2nd track is Grand Central Getaway, which has Gillespie and Dorsey as songwriters, and lists Gillespie as the arranger....reading the liner notes, the first 4 tracks are from V-discs...the sound quality and music quality goes down a bit with the air checks...I still like it.(Not essential, to use your words! ;))..I hope Classics will get to his stuff soon, cuz I don't know what his mid-late 40's records sound like except for a few live recordings....then it goes to dorseyland stuff...
I think Jimmy Dorsey is never given the props, (As the youngers say, right?) Much more of his 20's recordings are out there than 30's or 40s...but IMHO, there was no better altoist from 1925-30,(And as fast as anyone til Mr. Parker came to town) Usually someone says, as a dig, that he was quite the "technican" but on Boswell sisters alternates, or just songs he recorded with several different groups, he was always improvising....anyway, I kinda sorta answered your question, right???
Anyone who would like to get a pretty good sampling of his music could not go wrong with the Decca cd, Contrasts...even if you are not the worlds biggest big band fan, there some interesting, even dare I say it, modern recordings(the later tracks from the early 40's)

[BeRiGaN]

Originally posted by victor
my favorite recordings he did were with bob eberly and helen o'connell on vocals.....only recording i did not like was his 1957 recording "so rare"
Victor, Loverofjazz,
There is a reason you don't like it...perhaps it is because he wasn't on it! Honest! I heard about that a few years ago, my Mom saw on some show like that Charle Kuralt show that whomever really did the solo spoke out, saying Jimmy was too ill to record the track and he tried his best to sound like him...I thought that was crazy, but the next time I heard it, I thought, that doesn't sound like him! Of course, I now look like a crazy man since I can't find a story on the web mentioning this, does this ring any bells, anyone????

[PDEE]

So Rare might be why I never warmed up to Dorsey.. I'm old enough to remember when it was a hit. But my early jazz following days I was very much a mouldy fig ( I was so much mouldier then, I'm cleaner than that now) saxes were evil entities.

Since my horizons broadened, I listen to everything.. don't like it all but curiosity always seems to get the better of me... Bulletin Board exchanges feed the fire.

It's not that I dislike Big Bands but a lot of the "popular" big bands from that era are just that to me.... pop bands

I do have all the Classics Berigan's though mainly for Bunny,:D

BTW Berigan led me to the Boswell's :)

I guess that's the point.. I buy Ellington / Basie, Herman, Lunceford etc.. for all the soloists... but a lot of the Big Band Era bands seem to be purchased for just ONE soloist.. generally the leader.

Thanks for the JD responses...the more I listen to it, I'll bet that it's a Diz arrangement.. if not its a lot more than a parody.

[jazzypaul]

wow, Jimmy Dorsey, Dizzy Gillespie and a paraphrased Bob Dylan quote all in one thread. I think I like you Blue Note types.

[PDEE]

Originally posted by jazzypaul
wow, Jimmy Dorsey, Dizzy Gillespie and a paraphrased Bob Dylan quote all in one thread. I think I like you Blue Note types.

glad you got the Dylan reference... guess we do belong here:D

[BeRiGaN]

Originally posted by PDEE
...BTW Berigan led me to the Boswell's :)


Cool PD, cool!:cool: