What Are You Listening To?

[Tiggi]

Inspired by Music Head's post above.

HJ used to be discussed in the Hi-Fi magazines I used to read twenty years ago, and was presented as the apex of what Big Band Jazz could sound like. Mental notes were made, but these have never translated into a purchase. Ed's review galvanised me into action, and this bargain 2 CD set (£3.99 delivered, from amazon) was fast tracked onto the Buy List, and has resulted in in that long-overdue purchase.

Contains two complete albums, One Night Stand (Allmusic 3/5 stars), & Harry James in Hi-Fi (Allmusic 3/5 stars), plus the majority of material from two others, Jazz Session (Allmusic 4/5 stars), & More Harry James in Hi-Fi (Almmusic 2+/5 stars).

The first of these is a live recording from 1952, and the others are later studio efforts. The sound of the studio albums is uniformly excellent, and the music is very good too.

I'm a bit baffled by the low Allmusic scores, but this may be due to all of these albums seeing release well after the heyday of the Big Band phenomenon, and possibly being judged as adding little to the genre.

Whatever, these are all good albums, and are a welcome addition to the collection.