If you want to appreciate how hard a swinging band Chick Webb had during his short time on earth (1905-39) just keep in mind that every time he had a “battle of the bands” with competing leaders such as Ellington or Goodman, he was described by Buddy Rich as “the daddy of them all”. This four disc, 97 song collection puts together the most important recordings of his orchestra, which included artists no less than Taft Jordan/tp, Benny Carter/as, Hilton Jefferson/as, Edgar Sampson/as-arr, Louis Prima/as-voc and a young teenage girl named Ella Fitzgerald.
The boxed set actually starts with a couple of 1929 sessions of Webb The Jungle Band with Louis Jordan getting some nice solos, with his own Savoy Orchestra, Webb debuts songs later made popular by Benny Goodman such as “When Dreams Come True”, Stomping At The Savoy” “Blue Lou” and “Don’t Be That Way”, all arranged by composer Edgar Sampson. The team burns through For my money, these versions burn the smile off of Goodman’s band.
Enter Ella Fitzgerald, and the band enters a different level, as Fitzgerald’s sweet voice is the perfect foil to the band on pieces like “Love and Kisses”, “A Little Bit Later On” and the catchy “(If You Can’t Sing It) You’ll Have To Swing It”. She and Webb drive the daylights out of “Rock It For Me” , and is sublime on “If Dreams Come True”, the striking it rich with the mega hits “A-Tisket A-Tasket”,
“Undecided” and “Chew, Chew, Chew, Chew (Your Bubble Gum”. Webb died from the effects of tuberculosis not long after his March 1939 session, leaving the young Miss Fitzgerald to lead the band. That, I assume, will be the subject of another boxed set; this one is focused on the drummer that inspired an entire era and style of music.