Jazzing the classics
Liszt "Ebony Rhapsody" (Duke Ellington)
Rimsky-Korsakov "Song Of India" (Tommy Dorsey)
Liszt "Liebestraum" (Tommy Dorsey)
Tchaikovski "Our Love" (Jimmy Dorsey)
Johann Strauss "Blue Danube Waltz" (Jimmy Dorsey)
Johann Strauss "Perpetuum Mobile" (The Comedian Harmonists)
Bach "Improvisation Swing Sur Le Premier Mouvement Du Concerto En Re Mineur” (Stéphane, South & Reinhardt)
Debussy "My Reverie" (Larry Clinton)
Waldteufel "Skaters’ Waltz In Swingtime" (Bob Crosby)
Ravel "The Lamp Is Low" (Mildred Bailey)
Grieg "Anitra’s Dance" (John Kirby)
Tchaikovsky "Moon Love" (Glenn Miller)
Verdi "The Anvil Chorus" (Glenn Miller)
Tchaikovsky "On The Isle Of May" (Connee Boswell)
Mozart "In An Eighteenth-Century Drawing Room" (Raymond Scott)
Mozart "Turkish March" (Hazel Scott)
Grieg "I Love You" (Bing Crosby)
Offenbach "Barcarolle" (Frankie Carle)
Massenet "Élégie" (Art Tatum)
Chopin "Till The End Of Time" (Perry Como)
Rimsky-Korsakov "The Flight Of The Bumble Bee" (Harry James)
Georges Bizet "Spanish Kick" (Charlie Barnet)
Chopin "I’m Always Chasing Rainbows" (Helen Forrest & Dick Haymes)
Dvorák "Humoresque" (Guy Lombardo)
Rachmaninov "Full Moon And Empty Arms" (Frank Sinatra)
Khachaturian "Sabre Dance" (Woody Herman)

Duke Ellington
Tommy Dorsey
Jimmy Dorsey
The Comedian Harmonists
Stéphane, South & Rheinhardt
Larry Clinton
Bob Crosby
Mildred Bailey
John Kirby
Glenn Miller
Connee Boswell
Raymond Scott
Hazel Scott
Bing Crosby
Frankie Carle
Art Tatum
Perry Como
Harry James
Charlie Barnet
Helen Forrest & Dick Haymes
Guy Lombardo
Frank Sinatra
Woody Herman

Here is an utterly unique and hugely entertaining selection of the best from the many vintage jazz and popular vocal interpretations from the 30s and 40s of famous classical tunes. There has long been of tradition for popularizing ‘classical’ themes; presenting them in a manner far removed from the concert platform. During the 30s and 40s this practice enjoyed a tremendous vogue, with literally hundreds of popular and jazz records plundering classical composers for material. Jazzing The Classics – Vintage 30s & 40s offers a kaleidoscopic range of 26 remarkably varied examples. Perhaps after Paul Whiteman it was the big bands that were the main ‘culprits’, and there are examples included here from Glenn Miller (Anvil Chorus and Moon Love from Tchaikovsky’s 5th Symphony), Tommy Dorsey (Liebestraum and Song Of India), brother Jimmy Dorsey (Our Love from Romeo & Juliet and with the amazing Josephine Tumminia doing extraordinary things to The Blue Danube), as well as Guy Lombardo, Larry Clinton and the big-band jazz of such as Charlie Barnet and Woody Herman. There’s also remarkable jazz from Art Tatum (phenomenal virtuosity in Massenet’s Elegie), Django Reinhardt and Stephane Grappelli and Eddie South in Bach, and a delightful Skaters’ Waltz from clarinettist Irving Fazola with the Bob Crosby Orchestra. All the top solo artists seemed to feature at least some ‘classical’ material. Prime examples here are Frank Sinatra (a beautiful rendition of Rachmaninov's Piano Concerto No.2 Adagio), Bing Crosby (Grieg's Ich liebe dich), Perry Como (raiding Chopin) and Connee Boswell (making a lovely song out of Tchaikovsky’s Andante Cantabile).