Soundtrack Information

Hollywood Swing and Jazz

Hollywood Swing and Jazz

Rhino Movie Music (R2 79805)

Release Date: 2000

Format: CD

Music By

  • Various Artists

Track Listing

Disc 1: Hollywood Swing and Jazz
1. "Living In A Great Big Way" - Bill "Bojangles" Robinson, Thomas "Fats" Waller & Jeni Le Gon
2. "Congo Fever (Jungle Fever)" - The Mills Brothers
3. "Let That Be A Lesson To You" - Johnnie "Scat" Davis, Frances Langford & Benny Goodman & His Orchestra
4. "I've Got A Heartful Of Music" - The Benny Goodman Quartet
5. "You're An Education" - The Three Symphonettes with Freddie Rich & His Orchestra
6. "All God's Chillun Got Rhythm" - Ivie Anderson, Benny & The Chrinoline Choir with Duke Ellington & His Orchestra
7. "Jeepers Creepers" - Louis Armstrong
8. "Nightmare" - Artie Shaw & His Orchestra
9. "Traffic Jam" - Artie Shaw & His Orchestra
10. "Blues In The Night" - Jimmie Lunceford & His Orchestra
11. "You've Got To Know How To Dance" - Six Hits and a Miss
12. "Buds Won't Bud" - Ethel Waters
13. "Medley: Things Ain't What They Used To Be / Going Up" - Duke Ellington & His Orchestra
14. "Shine" - Buck & Bubbles
15. "Mrs. Whiffen" - Mel Torme, Marcy McGuire & Ivy Scott
16. "One O'Clock Jump" - Jimmy Dorsey & His Orchestra
17. "Body And Soul" - The Hazel Scott Trip
18. "Toot Suite" - Harry James & His Orchestra
19. "Hong Kong Blues" - Hoagy Carmichael
20. "Baltimore Oriole" - Hoagy Carmichael
21. "Please Don't Say No" - The King Sisters
22. "Jammin' The Blues" - Lester Young & Company
23. "On The Sunny Side Of The Street" - Marie Bryant, Lester Young & Company
24. "It's You Or No One" - Doris Day with The Page Cavanaugh Trio
25. "You Do Something To Me" - Lena Horne
26. "I'll Get By" - Lena Horne
Disc 2: Hollywood Swing and Jazz
1. "Medley: Do, Do Do / Bidin' My Time / I've Got A Crush On You / Love Is Here To Stay" - Benny Carter & His Orchestra
2. "Ain't Misbehavin'" - Louis Armstrong & His All-Stars with Jack Teagarden
3. "Hold Me Close To You" - Billy Eckstine
4. "Taking A Chance On Love" - Dorothy Dandridge
5. "My Flaming Heart" - Nat "King" Cole
6. "Now You Has Jazz" - Bing Crosby & Louis Armstrong
7. "I Love You, Samantha" - Bing Crosby & Louis Armstrong
8. "I Got It Bad And That Ain't Good" - Julie Wilson with Ray Anthony & His Orchestra
9. "Improvisation (Source #1)" - Andre Previn Trio
10. "Red Drum Blues" - Andre Previn Trio
11. Improvisation (Source #2) - Andre Previn Trio
12. "Coffee Time" - Carmen McRae with the Andre Previn Trio
13. "Spaghetti Fantasy" - Gerry Mulligan & Company
14. "Alarm Clock" - Gerry Mulligan & Company
15. "Should I?" - Andre Previn Trio
16. "Things Are Looking Down" - Gerry Mulligan & Company
17. "Bread And Wine" - Gerry Mulligan & Company
18. "God Bless The Child" - Pearl Bailey
19. "Don't Blame Me" - Leslie Uggams
20. "Sunday In New York" - Mel Torme
21. "The Girl From Ipanema" - Stan Getz & Astrud Gilberto
22. "Skol Sister" - Count Basie & His Octet
23. "Goof Proof" - Count Basie & His Octet
24. "Lottie" - Count Basie & His Octet
25. "I Got Rhythm" - Louis Armstrong
Track lengths not available for this album. If you have track length/time information for this album, please e-mail it to us at mail@soundtrack.net and we will add it to the database.

Review: Hollywood Swing and Jazz

by Matthew Sheby December 2, 2004
4.5 / 5 Stars

A few days ago, I read in the Times about the distribution of American pop culture among foreign countries. More specifically, an increasing prominence of French rappers had attracted the notice and commentary of domestic music pundits. I am not surprised by this movement, seeing as how democracy, jazz, and cinema, all American cultural movements, have been adopted by France. [Ed: France learned "capitulate to Nazis" from some other country. Poland perhaps?] Francophilia or -phobia aside, it is demonstrative to know that film and jazz are among the more lasting contributions by the United States to the world's collective artistic consciousness. (As for the French, I'm a big fan of croissants and film noir.) I recently had the opportunity to review a collection that combined these two disparate art forms, in an outstanding 2-CD collection of smoking jazz numbers from, according to the CD case, "classic M-G-M, Warner Bros., and RKO Films."

The first disk surveys film music from the thirties and forties; jazz was no longer "jungle music" (i.e., ludicrously termed as "non-white" music), but still "youth-oriented," as the liner notes assert. Off the bat, the best track is most certainly the eighth, Artie Shaw's all-too-brief Nightmare (from MGM's Dancing Co-Ed). Though I readily admit that I've heard jazz that's been uplifting, making one want to leap and shout, and have heard jazz that leaves one bittersweet, melancholy, or even depressed, I've never heard eerie jazz before - said track is a piece of music that needs to be experienced. The well-known Mr. Bojangles and company chime in on the opening track with Living in a Great Big Way, a cheerful and happy track that, I dare say, plasters a smile on one's face. As true now as it was a half-century ago, the truism that You Have to Know How To Dance, as skillfully articulated by "Six Hits and a Miss," applies as much as to the hip Y2K club scene that pervades our beloved SoundtrackNet HQ as it does to the 1936 of the film Colleen. A seductive, rainy-day Hong Kong Blues is performed by the pianist Hoagy Carmichael in his (and Lauren Bacall's) big-screen debut. A droll narrator even informs the listener that (s)he is listening to a "jam session" before Lester Young's Jammin' the Blues.

Covering a later time period, the fifties and sixties, the second disk covers less individual performers by featuring multiple pieces from a given film. Bing Crosby and Louis Armstrong highlight the CD with a tutorial, so to speak, on the substance of the genre with Cole Porter's Now You Has Jazz. The great Satchmo also shines within various groups in their interpretation of Ain't Misbehavin' and I Got Rhythm, each selection from a different film. André Previn, Gerry Mulligan, and their respective combos articulate music appropriate to smoky jazz cafes with several selections from 1960's The Subterraneans. A tune that I've always found annoying, The Girl from Ipanema, instead sounds tranquil and pleasant in Stan Getz's capable hands. That impressed me. Also impressive were the three pieces by Count Basie & His Octet: Skol Sister, Goof Proof, and Lottie.

This two-disk set serves a dual purpose. First, it illuminates the social context in which jazz was perceived by contemporary American society over the course of thirty-odd years. Second, it features great music by notable performers. Either one alone would merit my recommendation, but with the combination of the two, I definitely recommend this collection. Because I feel that the second CD should have used as wide a collection of artists as did the first, I can't give this a five-star rating. Instead, I'll give this a 4½ out of 5 and call it a strong "should-buy."

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