Eddy Duchin & His Orchestra - Dancing With Duchin

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Music reviews of Dancing With Duchin

Music Review: A classic. Great music.
Rating: 5 Stars

To Eddy Duchin that is. I reviewed another Duchin CD on these pages, and my thumb goes to the sky for this one. The fact is, if you're reading this review, you should buy this CD.

On this CD Duchin's band, or bands (since several years and no doubt a changing lineup of instrumentalists and singers are represented), are in great form. The arrangements are, as always with Duchin, shapely, pungent, beautiful. Also, as ever with Duchin, the highlight of myriad highlights is his magical touch on the ivories. The sensitivity of Duchin's playing, whether soloing or responding to a singer or another instrumentalist, is up there with the very best.

His band is, to my ears, matchless as well. While Duchin's style is undoubtedly "dated" (hey, they all get there eventually), when you get past it, it's actually a rather good thing. While "Swing" took over during the Duchin band's heyday, and Duchin and his mates made the necessary adjustments, they were at heart a "sweet" band. But their lighter touch has a big musical payoff: more moods are elicited here than from your average swing band; musical subtleties abound, like key modulations (always striking, sometimes stunning), flavoring these pieces in ways that would unfortunately be bygone within a decade, as a more muscular style took over.

A big plus on this CD is the variety of singers Duchin used. His early recordings favor a relatively lightweight tenor (but excellent trumpeter!), Lew Sherwood. Later on, for much of his career, Duchin steered clear of female singers in an attempt to avoid the shall-we-say interpersonal problems that arose in an all-male band. On this CD you get a whole raft of singers, ranging from good to excellent, including June Robbins, Johnny Drake, Stanley Worth, and others.

Standout tunes include "I Give You My Word", "You Walk By", the darkly moody "Get Out of Town", "It Al Comes Back to Me Now", but, well, there's hardly a bad one in the bunch. If you don't know this music, you will be surprised at what you've been missing.

Description of Dancing With Duchin

Jazz CDs

• Music > Styles
• Pop