[78-L] EFHJREM

[Bill McClung]

I too like James for his versatility.  He grew up in the circus as his
father was the musical director for circus bands.  James absorbed a lot of
styles growing up and they came through in his broadcasts and recordings. 
I don't think people born after the 40s realilze what a megastar he was.  I
like his music very much.  It seems he saw the importance of engaging his
audiences.


> [Original Message]
> From: Jeff Sultanof <jeffsultanof at gmail.com>
> To: 78-L Mail List <78-l at klickitat.78online.com>
> Date: 6/22/2009 7:22:27 PM
> Subject: Re: [78-L] EFHJREM
>
> George Simon went on record to protest the strings in James' band, but as
I
> said in my earlier post, some of the James sides are very beautiful. And
> Harry let his arrangers write whatever they wanted; he needed as many
> arrangements as he could get given his radio work and his live gigs, but
> above all, he loved good music of all types. Johnny Thompson wrote a
couple
> of very interesting compositions for the band, and James had a version of
> Poinciana that was positively bizarre. James even had an arrangement of
> Debussy's Golliwog's Cakewalk because he liked the piece. I will always
> respect him because he used his huge popularity to expose his audience to
> all types of quality music, as well as the treacly stuff that sold lots of
> records.
>
> Jeff Sultanof
>
> >
> >
> > Indeed, when the College Conservatory of Music in Cincinnati ejected
their
> > 78 rpm collection in 1988 there was another large instance of EFHJREM.
And
> > it's a pity they are so prevalent, as they are really very good
records, but
> > they survive in such high numbers that makes them undesirable. I also
tend
> > towards his later LP albums from "The New James" on -- no one suspected
he
> > would become such an outstanding bop player; moreover he retained the
same
> > measure of expressiveness and bravura that makes his early work so
> > exceptional. I can do without the string section he had in the early
40s;
> > indeed, so could have James as he once noted, but it was there for
> > commercial purposes.
> >
> >
> > Uncle Dave Lewis uncledavelewis at hotmail.com
> >
> >
> >
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