You could well win the argument that Woody Herman had the swinging-est and most visionary of the white big bands. His band evolved from “The Band that Played the Blues” to a hard hitting Herd and then the wildly exciting bebopping Second Herd, of which the highlights from each era, and beyond, are amply displayed in this 2 disc set.
Woodman’s early years are well covered, starting off with the infectiously riffed “Woodchopper’s Ball” which spotlights the leader’s hip clarinet. The famed First Herd had hits such as “Blue Flame” and ”Blues In the Night” the latter featuring Herman’s very underrated vocals. The apotheosis of this band came when he got trumpeter Neal Heft and pianist Ralph Burns to do some arrangements, and with a team including Pete Condoli/tp, Bill Harris/tb, Flip Phillips/ts, Billy Billy Bauer/g, Chubby Jackson/b and Dave Tough/d delivered powerhouse pieces like “Apple Honey,” “Caldonia” “Northwest Passage” as well as the evocative “Laura.” This was a band with muscle!
From there, Herman went for peak to peak. He did the radical mix of classical and jazz with a take of Igor Stravinsky’s “Ebony Concerto.” But no one anticipated the next Herman carnation, a bebopping band of Marshal Loyal/tp, Shorty Rogers/tp, Lou Levy/p, Terry Gibbs/vib and the iconic Four Brothers sax section consisting of Stan Getz/ts, Sere Chaloff/bs, Zoot Sims/ts and Herbie Stewart/as. Together they created a sound for the ages with a glorious “Early Autumn” (with Getz’s famed solo), the wild “Lemon Drop” and irresistible “Four Brothers.”
While the “Second Herd” was a success musically, it was a financial disaster, with Herman having to regroup, creating a Third Herd with Dick Hafer/ts, Don Fagerquist/tp, Bill Perkins/ts, Jack Nimitz/bs and Nat Pierce/p which created smoking pieces like “Blues in Advance.” This strong team closes out the collection, which does a yeoman’s job of capturing Herman’s wide ranging genius and ability to create a band that was both popular and creatively musical.