No doubt inspired by the increasing popularity of swing dancing and the success of contemporary hot jazz acts like the Squirrel Nut Zippers and big band revivalists like Big Bad Voodoo Daddy, the 10-volume Music Classics series highlights bands and vocalists from the Big Band era of the 1940s through vintage film clip "soundies." I watched Volume Five, which featured a number of swing bands from yesteryear, with a couple of solo vocalists thrown in for good measure. The pick of the litter includes three numbers by two very hot all-female bands, Ina Ray Hutton and Her Melodears and Rita Rio and Orchestra (Ina Ray and Rita could sure shake a tailfeather), Duke Ellington and his crew doing "Take The A Train" and "Fly Me To The Moon," Benny Goodman and Orchestra on "I've Got A Heartful of Music/House Hop," Louis Jordan and His Tympany Five performing "Jordan Jive" and "G.I. Jive," and Roy Milton and Band, with vocalist June Richmond, doing "47th Street Jive." Bizarre moments include Rudy Valle singing a cowboy song, a task for which he was singularly unsuited, and a very scary Roberta Sherwood howling "Up A Lazy River" with the Dorsey Brothers. The video quality is uneven from clip to clip, as is the audio; still this time capsule is definitely recommended for big band enthusiasts. Other volumes include numbers by Nat King Cole, Cab Calloway, Artie Shaw, The Andrew Sisters, Frank Sinatra, Louis Armstrong, Fats Waller, Count Basie, and Dizzy Gillespie, among others. Aud: C, P. (P. Van Vleck)
Music Classics: Volume Five
(1998) 69 min. $19.98. MPI Home Video. PPR. Color cover. Vol. 14, Issue 5
Music Classics: Volume Five
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