Drop Me Off In Harlem
Among big band leaders of the 1930s and 1940s, saxophonist Charlie Barnet stood out for his unswerving devotion to his values, both social and musical. In 1934 his band was the first white group to play at Harlem's Apollo Theatre, and he was devoted to jazz with few concessions to popular taste, making his ensemble an instrument of his arrangers' creativity. This compilation spans 1942-46, an important period when the band achieved its distinctive variation of the rich Ellington style (apparent in three Ellington tunes heard here) and then went on to become the first big band of modern jazz. "The Moose," written by Ralph Burns and a feature for the young pianist Dodo Marmorosa, is a brilliantly shifting harbinger of bebop, while Dennis Sandole's elusive "Dark Bayou" still sounds harmonically fresh. There's much to enjoy here, from the jive and bop vocals by "Peanuts" Holland to the soaring lead trumpet of Al Killian and Barnet's own solo contributions.--Stuart Broomer