Freddy Martin & His Orchestra - Greatest Hits

Classic and Boogie: The Original Recordings	Smooth Sounds of the Great Dance Bands The original arrangements in Full Dimensional Stereo. Freddy Martin does for smooth dance music what Glen Gray does for Swing (see Eric #11506 & #11516). He takes the original arrangements of the themes of the classic bands from the 20s, 30s and 40s and turns them into spectacul...	Swing and Sway with Sammy Kaye: 21 of His Greatest Hits	The Very Best of Dinah Shore	The Very Best Of Larry Clinton & His Orchestra
The Best of Frankie Masters "Frankie Masters was one of the most amiable of all big band leaders," said jazz critic George T. Simon. "And his music was the most danceable." That it was - through nearly a dozen hits in the 1930s and '40s. A handsome man, good guitarist, fine singer and excellent front man...	The Best of Orrin Tucker And His Orchestra	Capitol Collectors Series Johnny Mercer was one of the founders of Capitol Records, so it's fitting that this entry in the label's Collectors Series is such a well-compiled and -designed package. Comprised of 20 key sides made between 1942 and 1949, it captures the Savannah-born singer/songwriter's lazy, ...

Believe it or not, an important CD
Freddy Martin is, alas, largely forgotten today. He mostly did "sweet" recordings, many of them based on classical themes (and the best of which are included in this album). He is today best remebered for the song "Bumble Boogie" (included on this CD) which Walt Disney has kept alive. Few songs, though, have the impact in their heyday that "The Hut-Sut" song did. The "Hut-Sut" song was a nonesense song, but many of the people who heard GIs sing it all over the world didn't know that! "Lovely Bunch of Coconuts," and "Managua, Nicaragua" were also big hits (I spent much of the mid-eighties whistling "Managua Nicaragua" and wondering if the song would have a comeback if the U. S. directly intervened in the war against the Sandinistas). It would have been nice to have had his version of Chopin's "Heroic" Polonaise, which was the theme song of the Polish resistance during WWII, and for that reason brings tears to the eyes. Martin's was not a great jazz organization, but the individual performances of members of his orchestra are at times awe-inspiring. If you like big band music, you won't go wrong. And someday, somewhere, you'll catch yourself humming, "Hut-sut bralsen on the ritta-rah..."

Just one cut is worth the price
I bought this CD (along with "Classics and Boogie: the Original..."), just for the unbelievable rendition of the piano soloist Jack Fina, in dialogue with F.M.'s orchestra, of the "Bumble Boogie", based on Rimsky-Korsakoff's well-known piece: it was part of the Walt Disney's full-length cartoon movie "Melody Time" of 1948, and I had been looking for it since 1950! Except for the few introductory orchestral bars, it's all here with all its piano wizardry. Just this piece makes the purchase of this CD worthwhile.