Featuring six studio tracks and a full 1947 live show,
Town Hall Jazz Concert features the late-'40s version of saxophonist
Charlie Barnet's big band. Included in the band at the time were such eventual legends as trumpeters
Clark Terry and
Doc Severinsen along with alto saxophonist
Bud Shank. Although not as well known as such swing-era contemporaries as
Glenn Miller and
Benny Goodman,
Barnet's band was a superb swing outfit that also flirted heavily with such cutting-edge styles as bebop and the neophyte West Coast cool sound. Featured here are such solid tracks as
Bunny Briggs' mellow vocal take on "Dirty Rotten Shame Blues" and the deliciously hip scat cut "Bop a Boogie." The concert recording from Town Hall in New York City is a stellar affair and really showcases how vital and swinging
Barnet's band was live.
–
Matt Collar, Rovi