Artie Shaw and His Gramercy 5 - Six Star Treats (1940-1954) [5 CD, 2008]

 

Artie Shaw led one of the great bands of the 'Swing Era' and from that band he formed a small group called the Gramercy 5. Having a "band within a band" was a popular trend at the time and the Gramercy 5 were one of the best! Presented here, spanning a period from 1940 to 1954, are what are thought to be ALL the commercially released titles by the band. Featuring the familiar "Begin The Beguine" which became a million seller along with the very popular "Frenesi". Also included are the hits "Summit Ridge Drive" & "Smoke Gets In Your Eyes". With bonus tracks that come from The Gramercy 5's appearances on Radio programmes including very rare performances on the 'Radio Hall Of Fame' and 'Kraft Music Hall', this is the seminal release unsurpassed by any other.


A more substantial offering from Jasmine is this 5-CD set, which claims to present the complete commercially released recordings. On the first CD the fifteen sides recorded for Victor are supplemented by ten 1945 airshots. The remaining four CDs all date from the early to mid-fifties, and the second includes vocals by Mary Ann McCall, June Hutton, and Connee Boswell. Like Ellington, Shaw was fond of revisiting favourite tunes. Thus there are several versions of some of the best-known Five numbers, and since the personnel varied considerably over the period they are all well worth having.


Disc: 1
01. Special Delivery Stomp
02. Summit Ridge Drive
03. Keepin' Myself For You
04. Cross Your Heart
05. Dr Livingstone, I Presume
06. When The Quail Come Back To San Quentin
07. My Blue Heaven
08. Smoke Get In Your Eyes
09. Dr Livingstone, I Presume
10. The Grabtown Grapple
11. The Sad Sack
12. The Sad Sack
13. The Grabtown Grapple
14. I Was Doing All Right
15. You Took Advantage Of Me
16. Scuttlebutt
17. The Gentle Grifter
18. Mysterioso
19. Mysterioso
20. Hop, Skip And Jump
21. Summit Ridge Drive
22. Scuttlebutt
23. Hop, Skip And Jump
24. The Sad Sack
25. The Grabtown Grapple

Disc: 2
01. Summit Ridge Drive
02. The Grabtown Grapple
03. Smoke Gets In Your Eyes
04. The Pied Piper Theme
05. Cross Your Heart
06. There Must Be Something Better Than Love
07. Nothin' From Nothin'
08. Crumbum
09. The Shekemeko Shuffle
10. My Kinda Love
11. Dancing On The Ceiling
12. Where There's Smoke, There's Fire
13. My Little Nest Of Heavenly Blue
14. Besame Mucho
15. That Old Feeling
16. Tenderly
17. Stop And Go Mambo
18. The Sad Sack
19. Stop And Go Mambo
20. Sunny Side Up
21. Star Dust

Disc: 3
01. When The Quail Come Back To San Quentin
02. Someone To Watch Over Me
03. Besame Mucho
04. Love Of My Life
05. Lyric
06. The Chaser (Sequence In B Flat)
07. Autumn Leaves
08. Back Bay Shuffle
09. I've Got A Crush On You
10. Begin The Beguine
11. Summit Ridge Drive
12. Dancing In The Dark
13. Scuttlebutt
14. I Can't Get Started

Disc: 4
01. Imagination
02. The Pied Piper Them
03. Don't Take Your Love From Me
04. Cross Your Heart
05. How High The Moon
06. Frenesi
07. The Chaser (Sequence In B Flat)
08. Rough Ridin'
09. Dancing On The Ceiling
10. Autumn Leaves
11. Crumbum

Disc: 5
01. Sunny Side Up
02. Imagination
03. Tenderly
04. Lugubrious
05. The Grabtown Grapple
06. That Old Feeling
07. Bewitched, Bothered And Bewildered
08. Rough Ridin'
09. Dancing On The Ceiling
10. S'posin'
11. September Song
12. Too Marvellous For Words
13. My Funny Valentine
14. Yesterdays