Track Listing

Disc 1:

1. I Hope Gabriel Likes My Music
2. Swing Is Here
3. Grandfather's Clock
4. I Know That You Know
5. Fare Thee Well, Annie Laurie
6. Wire Brush Stomp
7. Rhythm Jazz
8. Nagasaki
9. Tutti-Frutti
10. Jeepers Creepers
11. Murdy Purdy
12. Apurksody
13. Do You Wanna Jump, Children?
14. Quiet and Roll 'Em
15. Madam Swings It
16. Jungle Madness
17. Old Black Joe
18. Sweetheart, Honey, Darlin' Dear
19. Symphony in Riffs
20. Drummin' Man
21. Blue Rhythm Fantasy
22. Boog It
23. Tuxedo Junction
24. No Name Jive
25. Sergeant Was Shy
26. Who?

Disc 2:

1. Babe Takes a Bow
2. Rhumboogie
3. I Hear Music
4. How 'Bout That Mess?
5. Full Dress Hop
6. Sweet Georgie Brown
7. Deep in the Blues
8. There'll Be Some Changes Made
9. Drum Boogie
10. Georgia on My Mind
11. Just a Little Bit South of North Carolina
12. Slow Down
13. Green Eyes
14. Let Me off Uptown
15. Kick It
16. After You've Gone
17. Rockin' Chair
18. Stop! The Red Light's On
19. Walls Keep Talking
20. Skylark
21. Bolero at the Savoy
22. Thanks for the Boogie Ride
23. Pass the Bounce
24. Ball of Fire
25. That's What You Think

Disc 3:

1. Knock Me a Kiss
2. That Drummer's Band
3. Massachusetts
4. Murder, He Says
5. Leave Us Leap
6. What's This?
7. Dark Eyes
8. Body and Soul
9. Stompin' at the Savoy
10. Opus One
11. (Did You Ever Get) That Feeling in the Moonlight
12. Boogie Blues
13. Chickery Chick
14. In the Middle of May
15. Lover
16. Tea for Two
17. Harriet
18. How High the Moon
19. There Is No Breeze (To Cool the Flame of Love)
20. Disc Jockey Jump
21. Gene's Boogie
22. Star Burst
23. I Should Have Kept on Dreaming
24. Calling Dr. Gillespie
25. Up An' Atom

Disc 4:

1. Blue Moon
2. Leave Us Leap
3. Moontide
4. (Back Home Again In) Indiana
5. Begin the Beguine
6. Me Ideal
7. Calling Dr. Gillespie
8. Love Is in My Heart
9. Wire Brush Stomp
10. I'll Never Be the Same
11. Blue Lou
12. Man I Love
13. Birdhouse
14. 10 Ritchie Drive
15. It's Up to You
16. (Otto Make That) Riff Staccato
17. Nobody's Sweetheart
18. Lyonaise Potatoes and Some Pork Chops
19. In the Moon Mist
20. Margie
21. Night and Day
22. By the River Sainte Marie
23. All by Myself

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #85191 in Music
• Released on: 1999-06-18
• Number of discs: 4
• Formats: Box set, Import

Album Description
Four disc retrospective of the legendary jazz drummer's output as a bandleader. Nearly five hours long in total, it contains three discs with studio tracks & one comprised of live performances & transcriptions. Also contains a 32 page booklet with a full discography, recording dates, personnel details for all of the enclosed works, extensive liner notes and loads of great photos. 99 tracks total. Comes packaged in a sturdy 2 x 5 x 6inch cardboard box. 1998.

Amazon.com
Gene Krupa attained a level of fame unmatched by any other drummer in jazz history. His performances of "Sing, Sing, Sing" with the Benny Goodman band epitomized the raw excitement of jazz in the swing era, and his subsequent celebrity, further fuelled by a 1943 arrest for marijuana possession, even led to a 1960 biopic, The Gene Krupa Story, starring Sal Mineo. This four-CD set concentrates on the decade from 1938 to 1947, providing tremendous depth on a period when Krupa was leading one of the most innovative and popular big bands of the era. Although it's budget-priced, the set has sound, selection, and documentation created using very high standards indeed. The first three CDs follow the studio evolution of Krupa's bands, while the fourth is devoted to live broadcasts from 1945 to '47. The impact of his energetic drumming is evident throughout, both in his frequent features, like "Wire-brush Stomp," and in the band's rocking covers of such tunes as "Tuxedo Junction."

The greatest moments, though, come from his inspired choice of associates, with singer Anita O'Day and the great trumpeter Roy Eldridge matching the leader's spontaneity on hits like "Drop Me Off Uptown" and "Drum Boogie." Even the ballads swing--O'Day's band debut on "Georgia on My Mind" is superb--and Krupa's drive is sufficient to propel even the large 1944 group with strings. His talents with a small group are on display in his "band within a band," the trio with tenor saxophonist Charlie Ventura that's heard on such tracks as "Dark Eyes" and "Stompin' at the Savoy." Krupa was also one of the first big-band leaders to respond to bebop, including vocalist Dave Lambert, trumpeter Red Rodney, and the young Gerry Mulligan in his band's ranks. The fourth CD shows Krupa at his most energetic, providing further perspectives on both "the band that swings with strings" and a great bandleader in the transition from swing to bop. --Stuart Broomer

Customer Reviews

The Most Comprehensive Krupa Set!
Though there are many Krupa albums, after his big band days, this four CD set, concentrates on his big band days. Tremendous performances and vocals by Anita O'Day!!

Though true fans of Gene Krupa have to purchase all the Benny Goodman recordings he did, and especially his '38 immortal Carnegie Hall concert, which contains Krupa's immortal 14 minute "Sing, Sing, Sing." That song is the only one that is not contained on this release, but every other one is!! Just take a quick look at other big band era releases of Krupa and you will find many have very few songs, or even those which have full CDs, none can compare to this set. "Stop! The Green Light's On", with its Roy and Anita contributions is on very few compilations, yet it's here!! The fourth CD, contains live and radio transcriptions which sound tremendous and are perhaps, the most energetic of all the CDs. Also these radio recordings are in incredible fidelity, and I do not see the titles elsewhere. His version of "Rhumboogie" is the best, as his tremendous cover of "Begin the Beguine", which uses Ray's trumpet as the melody, instead of the clarinet......inspired, and original, but what else from Mr. Krupa??

There are a few sound problems, as some tracks sound much better than others, and even a few tracks start out great, but the sound deteriorates within the selection itself. But, since there is NO other comprehensive Big Band Krupa set on the market, you cannot go wrong with this one. While Gene may not have had those titles that you automatically identify with other top bandleaders of the day, after just one listening to this fantastic set, you WILL wonder why!!

Tremendous packaging, beautiful, and the cost is so low. This is one set you cannot pass up. Of course Gene Krupa went on to many other great recordings, past his Big Band Days, they were on different labels, and I would rather this FOUR CD set, just concentrating on his '39-'46 recordings. For his Verve albums, they are in print in their entirety. This is the BEST release of one of the truly great Big Band leaders..............and the BEST drummer in history...........Mr. Gene Krupa!!!

a microcosm of wonderful jazz-to-swing evolution...
...is presented by this splendid four-disc set. Disc One heralds the formation of Krupa's own band and the early numbers are hot and jazzy, up-tempo, pure instrumental, soloists strutting thier stuff and Krupa letting folks know this is not going to be a "one man band." Nothing revolutionary about the jazz but the tunes are great.

Next, he experiments with singers, at first just for a few refrains--until he connects with Anita O'Day. Then things absolutely sizzle and skyrocket!

O'Day appears throughout most of Discs Two and Three and in my opinion these numbers mark the high-water point for Krupa's band. O'Day seemingly never met a song she couldn't wrap into her own distinctive style. She's no vibrato, but her terrific inflection may have been exceeded only by Billie Holiday. Here's O'Day with Eldredge on "Drop Me Off Uptown"; O'Day with "Stop! The Red Light's on"; a softer "And Her tears Flowed Like Wine," almost ominously foreshadowing her future.

She leaves and the band is rudderless. They've moved into swing and beyond just having any old "girl singer" but no one, not even a good vibrato, can meld with the band as one unit like O'Day could.

The latter part of Disc Three reveals a bit of a struggle post-O'Day. Disc Four is all live recordings, which to me couldn't compare to all of the studio numbers on Discs One-Three. From what I've read, half of the thrill with Krupa was seeing him sweat, sweat, sweat and kick it up live, live--so I wasn't surprised that the recorded live numbers seemed just OK

So this to me is an exciting microcosm of a lot of what happened to the music in general during these years--from beginning the then-"hot thing" of jazz, through youthful enthusiasm, to swing and mature experimentation (blending O'Day with exuberant instruments), settling into the comfortable but struggling final chapters.

Which is not to say it's not worth getting--it most definitely is. With a few exceptions (e.g., "Massachusetts") the sound is great. As with other four-disc sets in this fabulous collection (e.g., Roy Eldredge, Lester Young Stories), the extensive liner commentaries and personnel notes are extremely revealing and informative.

But most important, I'll wager you'll find yourself playing Discs Two and Three over and over, closing your eyes and easily imagining what it must have been like to see and dance live to the Krupa/O'Day band. At this price, that thrill can't be beat!