Classics In Swingtime

Throughout its history, jazz musicians have often drawn its repertoire from other sources, transforming the music into jazz. In its earliest days, bands often included hymns, marches, blues, ragtime, pop songs of the period, tunes from the stage and screen, and classical melodies. The latter is the focus of Classics In Swingtime, a fascinating and enjoyable compilation produced by John Petters.

Most of the 25 performances on this CD are from the swing era and originally came out on 78s. It must have been a challenge at the time to do justice in three minutes to the themes which often came from lengthy symphonies and other classical works the John Kirby Sextet was famous for swinging the classics and they are represented on this collection by 11 selections. Also included are a rarity from the great if short-lived trumpeter George Girard (Liszt’s “Liebestraum No. 3”), Gene Krupa (“Valse Triste”), two from Benny Goodman (including “Bach Goes To Town”), Art Tatum, Mildred Bailey (“My Reverie”), Eddie Lang (a solo guitar version of Rachmaninoff’s “Prelude in C Sharp Minor”), Eddie South, the Quintet of the Hot Club of France, Sidney Bechet (“Summertime”), Glenn Miller (Beethoven’s “Moonlight Sonata”), the King Cole Trio, and Pee Wee Erwin (“Peter & The Wolf”). Surprisingly “The Lamp Is Low” (a standard that was adapted from a Ravel composition) is not included. All but three of the selections date from 1937-46.

While most of the performances have been reissued in the past, hearing them in this collection is a good excuse to revisit the gems, and to appreciate what top-notch jazz musicians did to some of the works of Liszt, Sibelius, Grieg, Chopin, Dvorak, Beethoven, Paganini, Rimsky-Korsakoff, Rachmaninoff, Schubert, Prokofiev and others.

Classics In Swingtime
Upbeat URCD 352
www.upbeatrecordings.co.uk

Scott Yanow

Since 1975 Scott Yanow has been a regular reviewer of albums in many jazz styles. He has written for many jazz and arts magazines, including JazzTimes, Jazziz, Down Beat, Cadence, CODA, and the Los Angeles Jazz Scene, and was the jazz editor for Record Review. He has written an in-depth biography on Dizzy Gillespie for AllMusic.com. He has authored 11 books on jazz, over 900 liner notes for CDs and over 20,000 reviews of jazz recordings. Yanow was a contributor to and co-editor of the third edition of the All Music Guide to Jazz. He continues to write for Downbeat, Jazziz, the Los Angeles Jazz Scene, the Jazz Rag, the New York City Jazz Record and other publications.