Artist: Billy May and his Orchestra
Album: Sorta-May/Sorta-Dixie
Genre: Big Band, Dixieland
Label: Creative World
Released: 1996
Quality: FLAC (tracks+.cue)
Tracklist:
Sorta-May (1955)
01. Thou Swell (2:51)
02. Blues in the Night (3:55)
03. Chicago (3:33)
04. All You Want to Do Is Dance (2:28)
05. You Go to My Head (2:49)
06. Soon (2:45)
07. In a Persian Market (4:16)
08. Just One of Those Things (2:09)
09. You're the Top (3:03)
10. The Donkey Serenade (2:35)
11. Deep Purple (3:13)
12. They Didn't Believe Me (3:19)
Sorta-Dixie (1956)
13. Oh. By Jingo! (4:22)
14. South Rampart Street Parade (4:34)
15. Down Home Rag (2:58)
16. Sugar Foot Strut (3:58)
17. The Sheik of Araby (4:58)
18. Sorta Blues (3:39)
19. Panama (2:36)
20. Riverboat Shuffle (3:42)
21. Five Foot Two, Eyes of Blue (Has Anybody Seen My Gal) (2:57)
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Two of Billy's Capitol big band albums on one compact disc. Sorta-May, recorded in 1954, captures the usual brassy, strident kind of scoring that became his trademark on tracks like "Thou Swell," "You're the Top," "Just One of Those Things" and nice ballad takes of "You Go to My Head," and "Deep Purple." Sorta-Dixie employs a Dixieland front line -- Dick Cathcart on trumpet, Matty Matlock on clarinet, Moe Schneider on trombone, and Eddie Miller on tenor sax -- working in tandem with the big band to create some marvelous combinations between the two quite divergent styles on old warhorses like "Sheik of Araby," "Riverboat Shuffle," and "South Rampart Street Parade." May's explosive style comes through loud and clear on these crystal-clear transfers.
Review by Cub Koda