THAT’S ENTERTAINMENT: THE ULTIMATE ANTHOLOGY OF MGM MUSICALS
(Rhino/Turner Entertainment)
Art and photography books have been occupying my time lately, making me think
of strong images, scenes, and compositions. Now this: 129 musical moments on a
6-CD set, music as evocative as any graphic image I’ve seen. Evocative, and
glorious, for enjoying musicals always requires wearing “reality suspenders” to
believe that 100 strangers could break into song simultaneously on the streets
of New York without creating gridlock or being mugged! And that’s exactly what
a good musical does — makes us wish the worst street gang was the Jets or the
Sharks, and that our life problems can be solved with one big dance number in
the office! That’s Entertainment… delivers the poignant (Wizard of
Oz‘s “Over the Rainbow”), the silly (“The Opposite Sex” prologue), the
nostalgic (“Take Me Out to the Ball Game”), and the sublime (“Smoke Gets in
Your Eyes” from Lovely to Look At ). Forgotten the third verse to “Lydia
the Tattooed Lady”? Here `tis! Gotta to have the lyrics to “Easter Parade”?
Girl, here you go! Can’t figure out why your folks pitch a fit over Ice-T but
love “The Lady Is a Tramp”? Find out on Disc 3! Okay, so maybe that last one
didn’t work — lighten up, these are musicals! You know, “Zing! Went the
Strings of My Heart.” “There’s No Business Like Show Business.” “New York, New
York.” “March of the Doagies” from The Harvey Girls, fer Chrissake!
Like most good box sets, the booklet is thoughtfully designed with a good
cross-reference index of song titles with film titles (“Ol’ Man River” is in
twice!) and a succinct little synopses of each musical as well as its ad
poster. Essential music for any age. Why, yes… I believe I will have this
dance.
4 stars — Margaret Moser
BIG
BAND RENAISSANCE: THE EVOLUTION OF THE JAZZ ORCHESTRA — THE 1940S AND BEYOND
(Cema/Smithsonian)
The Smithsonian ain’t the Smithsonian for nothing. And the music division
ain’t too shabby either. Whatever they dig into — jazz, folk, blues — they
always dig deepest and come up with a fistful of precious natural resources.
Here, big band jazz is the cite of excavation, and recovered is a 5-CD set
that’s a continuation to 1983’s multi-disc Big Band Jazz: From the
Beginnings to the Fifties. That prior compilation was an overview of a
genre of music that like the dinosaurs themselves, was a huge, monopolizing
creature that all but vanished in the blink of time. Gone. This 5-hour musical
exhibit is similar to Beginnings in its overview presentation, but the
pros over at the Smithsonian have been careful not to overlap the two. Instead,
“evolution” is the key phrase on Big Band Renaissance, as it traces a
line from Charlie Parker’s ’41 solo on Jay McShann’s “Swingtime” all the way up
to the Sun Ra Solar Arkestra, Charlie Haden’s Liberation Music Orchestra, and
the Willem Breuker Kollektief. Quite a ride following that bloodline, as
Parker’s creation, be-bop, was the ice age come to claim big bands, some of
which have managed to survive into the present and even employ an ex-Austinite
like Alex Coke, who sits on sax line of the Breuker Kollektief. In-between,
there’s just about everyone you can think of — both forgotten and revered —
and as always the names tell the story: Benny Goodman, Artie Shaw, Woody
Herman, Harry James, Buddy Rich, Dizzy Gillespie, Gerry Mulligan, Quincy Jones,
Bob Belden, Miles Davis, Gil Evans, Benny Carter, Thelonius Monk, J.J. Johnson.
Oliver Nelson — 72 big bands in all. Duke Ellington and Stan Kenton weigh in
with the most selections at six apiece, but most performers get one track each,
which is more than enough to carefully piece together the bones of an animal
that was once king.
4 stars — Raoul Hernandez
This article appears in December 15 • 1995 and December 15 • 1995 (Cover).