Track Listing

1. Don't Be That Way - Benny Goodman & His Orchestra
2. In the Mood - Glenn Miller & His Orchestra
3. Opus One - Tommy Dorsey & His Orchestra
4. Cherokee - Charlie Barnet & His Orchestra
5. Non-Stop Flight - Artie Shaw & His Orchestra
6. Casa Loma Stomp - Glen Gray
7. Take the "A" Train - Duke Ellington & His Orchestra
8. Marie - Tommy Dorsey & His Orchestra, Jack Leonard
9. Minnie the Moocher - Cab Calloway
10. American Patrol - Glenn Miller & His Orchestra
11. All God's Chillun Got Rhythm - Bunny Berigan & His Orchestra,
12. Back Bay Shuffle - Artie Shaw & His Orchestra
13. Cotton Tail - Duke Ellington & His Orchestra
14. String of Pearls - Glenn Miller & His Orchestra
15. Boogie Woogie - Tommy Dorsey & His Orchestra
16. Swingin' Uptown - Jimmie Lunceford & His Orchestra
17. Mary Had a Little Lamb - Fletcher Henderson & His Orchestra
18. Flying Home - Charlie Barnet & His Orchestra
19. Sing, Sing, Sing (With a Swing), Pts. 1-2 - Benny Goodman & His Orchestra

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #7896 in Music
• Released on: 1998-02-10
• Number of discs: 1

Customer Reviews

Great CD, the classics can't be beat.
This CD is one of the best in Swing that I have heard. I like it because it is the origenal recordings of the musicians. Yes the CD might not have the same perfect quality of the modern, remastered CDs, but that classic feel is unbeatable. This is the music that my grandparents listened to on Saturday night with an antique radio. This is the music that I want to listen to as well with that same feel.

Swing Revival Met "Fabulous"-ly On RCA Big Band Set
RCA's "Fabulous Swing Collection" was released to exploit a national big band revival craze, led by groups like Cherry Poppin' Daddies and Brian Setzer's Orchestra and in full swing (pardon the pun) in 1998. That revival has cooled but this generous (19 songs, 65 minutes) set remains among the era's better one-disc compilations (all songs from RCA family labels) for now third-generation fans.

It may not have been all the classics revivalists danced to; two swingin' Louises (Prima and Jordan) recorded their jump, jive and wailin' big band tunes for Capitol and Decca Records, respectively. But many of the era's signature tunes are represented, sounding surprisingly warm in analog sound: Glenn Miller's anthemic "In The Mood," "String of Pearls," and "American Patrol," Benny Goodman's hard, wild swinging "Sing, Sing, Sing" (heard recently and famously in a cookie commercial but better in Goodman's 1938 Carnegie Hall concert), Cab Calloway's 1933 "Minnie The Moocher," which he performed nearly a half-century later in the first "Blues Brothers" film and here does in full-throated youthful yodel.

You also get seminal sides from Charlie Barnet ("Cherokee"), Tommy Dorsey ("Marie," "Opus One"), and Duke Ellington ("Take The 'A' Train," "Cotton Tail"). While these songs swing sweeter than 1998's martini-and-cigar crowd might have liked, "Fabulous" may well be among the few big band CDs a new fan would need. Longtime fans have these classics on the artists' original LPs (or more studious sets like Columbia's "16 Most Requested Big Band Themes") and can probably swing past it.

Best I've Heard
I purchased several swing collections previously and they all had poor quality audio - they had not been cleaned up from the original recordings. This CD is MUCH cleaner and makes for an enjoyable experience.