EDDIE HEYWOOD - The Eddie Heywood Collection 1940-1959
Acrobat Music ADDCD 3349
Eddie Heywood-Piano in trio, small group, big band and orchestral settings, with various personnel including Buck Clayton, Coleman Hawkins, Lester Young, Johnny Hodges et al and with vocals by Ella Fitzgerald, Billie Holiday and the Quintones
Compiled from recordings made over two decades on the Okeh, Vocalion, Commodore, Decca and RCA-Victor labels among others.
From the get-go this looked like a fabulous compilation to this reviewer and as soon as it hit the Cd player it proved so. We are treated to 46 performances ( over 2 Cds) by the cream of 1940s/50s Jazz Giants, the majority of tunes are old favourites and/or ones that regularly appear in 'Great American Songbook' compilations, but don't be put off by this sweeping remark. It is a well thought out compilation including Billie Holiday singing 'Let's Do It' and Ella giving us 'Guilty' amongst other highlights. Eddie Heywood had chart success in the mid 50s with Canadian Sunset, Land of Dreams and Soft Summer Breeze, all of which are included here. The set comes with an informative 20 page booklet with notes by Paul Watts.
If you tastes lie in the music of the war years and after and you have a romantic bent you will love this set, available from the online behemoth for under a tenner, it is a bargain and one that will feature regularly on my play list!
A word of praise too for Acrobat Music who continue to give us such superb recordings at a bargain price, long may they prosper.
Review by Clive Fleckner
Acrobat Music ADDCD 3349
Eddie Heywood-Piano in trio, small group, big band and orchestral settings, with various personnel including Buck Clayton, Coleman Hawkins, Lester Young, Johnny Hodges et al and with vocals by Ella Fitzgerald, Billie Holiday and the Quintones
Compiled from recordings made over two decades on the Okeh, Vocalion, Commodore, Decca and RCA-Victor labels among others.
From the get-go this looked like a fabulous compilation to this reviewer and as soon as it hit the Cd player it proved so. We are treated to 46 performances ( over 2 Cds) by the cream of 1940s/50s Jazz Giants, the majority of tunes are old favourites and/or ones that regularly appear in 'Great American Songbook' compilations, but don't be put off by this sweeping remark. It is a well thought out compilation including Billie Holiday singing 'Let's Do It' and Ella giving us 'Guilty' amongst other highlights. Eddie Heywood had chart success in the mid 50s with Canadian Sunset, Land of Dreams and Soft Summer Breeze, all of which are included here. The set comes with an informative 20 page booklet with notes by Paul Watts.
If you tastes lie in the music of the war years and after and you have a romantic bent you will love this set, available from the online behemoth for under a tenner, it is a bargain and one that will feature regularly on my play list!
A word of praise too for Acrobat Music who continue to give us such superb recordings at a bargain price, long may they prosper.
Review by Clive Fleckner
