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Harry James
Harry James And His Orchestra 1936-1938

Compil. US on The Old Masters label
Jazz (Big Band)

Green vinyl, cover exists in blue and orange. Back is plain white. This LP contains the master takes of the dozen songs that trumpeter Harry James recorded at his first three sessions as a leader. At the time James was still a sideman with Benny Goodman but he actually drew his players during the first two dates mostly from the Count Basie Orchestra including trombonist Eddie Durham (who provided the arrangements), the legendary tenor Herschel Evans and singer Helen Humes. The third session uses mostly Goodman sidemen (pianist Jess Stacy is an important asset on all of the selections) plus baritonist Harry Carney. Bonuses are a few rare selections from 1936 that feature James (in his pre-Goodman days) with a group taken from the Ben Pollack Orchestra including clarinetist Irving Fazola. A1, A2, A3, A4: Harry James And His Orchestra New York, December 1, 1937 A5, A6, A7, B1: Harry James And His Orchestra Harry James (tp), Buck Clayton (tp), Vernon Brown (tb), Earle Warren (as), Herschel Evans (ts), Jack Washington (as, bs), Jess Stacy (p), Walter Page (db), Jo Jones (dr), Helen Humes (voc) New York, January 5, 1938 B2, B3, B4, B5: Harry James And His Orchestra New York, April 27, 1938 B6, B7: Ben Pollack And His Orchestra ("The Dean And His Kids"): Harry James (tp,voc), Bruce Squires (tb), Irving Fazola (cl), Dave Matthews (ts,arr), Freddie Slack (p), Frank Frederico (g), Thurman Teague (b), Ben Pollack (dr,dir) New York, September 16, 1936 Exact musicians from the 1st and 3rd session are unknown to me, but they included: Ziggy Elman (tp), Dave Matthews (sax), Adrian Rollini (?), Dave Tough (dr), Eddie Durham (tb,arr), Thurman Teague (db), Harry Carney (bs) Glenn Miller (credited on the sleeve) was, to my knowledge, not involved in any of these sessions.

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Harry James tr, 1916-1983 US album by

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