Tommy Dorsey - Tommy Dorsey - Greatest Hits [RCA]

Fine old big band jazz

The warmth and feeling of this kind of jazz are never reached in the more modern styles of jazz. October 24, 2008

Dorsey rules!

Everyone thinks of Miller and Goodman when Big Bands are brought up, but the Dorseys ruled. "Opus One" is the best known classic, but by far one the best songs ever from that era is "The Music Goes 'Round and 'Round" it's a classic, funny song, reminding us all of our prejudices and foibles. There is a great humor to Tommy Dorsey, lacking in some of the others, and well worth listening to, to understand another facet of the era of Big Bands. March 3, 2008

It's Unbelievable How Music Could Be This Good

The Dorsey brothers and Glen Miller were the greatest musicians of the World War II era. They kept so much of the public entertained during the war and gave so many Americans (and their allies) hope. Not even Joan Baez and Bob Dillan and their anti-Vietnam War songs are this good. This music is much better than the garbage that people call music today. June 24, 2006

Tommy Dorsey -Best All Around Dance Band!

The Dorsey band could do everything. The hottest Swing and the smoothest ballads and the liveliest pops and novelties. His band was every inch as good as The Miller, Goodman and Shaw bands and at times, even better!

Dorsey had several bands and his pre 1940 band is very different than his band of 1940 - 1946. The '40s band had a more dynamic sound to it, especially in the Swing instrumentals! Plus...all those great vocalists - Frank Sinatra, Jo Stafford, Connie Haines and the Pied Pipers vocal group, not to mention Dick Haymes, Stuart Foster and the great Clark Sisters aka The Sentimentalists.

The recordings on the CD above are a mixture of 'both' of TD's band of the era.

All the sides on the CD are choice and the only reason I have rated the CD 4 stars out of 5 is because my 'personal best' are not all on there!

And with all due respect to the reviewer below, the version of "Opus One" on this CD *is* the original 1944 recording when TD was featuring a big string section in his band. "Inferior"? No such way.

*For more by me on the Dorsey band, click on the link below-
http://www.jazzitude.com/bldorseya.htm May 9, 2005

Great sound quality, superb music

So many "greatest hits" compilations miss the mark either in quality or song selection. But this disc lives up to its billing as the "Best" of the Dorsey orchestra. It kicks off with one of the stellar and swingiest tunes of the Big Band era, "Opus Number One" (though this version is inferior to the more famous "single" version). It's hard to listen to this song and not appreciate the brilliant arrangement and musicianship displayed here. Along with Goodman's "Sing, Sing Sing" and Glenn Miller's "In the Mood" this has got to be in the top three of any Big Band all-time greatest list.

It's a pity that Dorsey has been somewhat forgotten today and shoved aside in preference of Benny, Glenn and Artie. Was he as good as those giants? No, but this disc shows that his band could swing, had a phenomenal young vocalist named Sinatra and that Tommy's trombone playing wasn't half bad. This is a must have album for anyone serious about the Big Band era. September 29, 2003

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