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Audio Samples
Holiday Inn: White ChristmasAnnie Get Your Gun: They say it's wonderfulFollow the Fleet: Let yourself goTop Hat: Top Hat, White Tie and TailsBlue SkiesTop Hat: No StringsMusic Box Revue: ListeningZiegfeld Midnight Frolic: I'll see you in C-U-B-AAlexander's Ragtime Band: Alexander's Ragtime BandWhat'll I Do?Puttin' on the Ritz: Puttin' on the RitzGet thee behind me, SatanAs Thousands Cheer: SuppertimeAs Thousands Cheer: Heat WaveLazyThat International RagAs Thousands Cheer: Harlem On My MindWhen I Lost YouAnnie Get Your Gun: There's no business like show businessTrack List
Holiday Inn: White ChristmasAnnie Get Your Gun: They say it's wonderfulFollow the Fleet: Let yourself goTop Hat: Top Hat, White Tie and TailsBlue SkiesTop Hat: No StringsMusic Box Revue: ListeningZiegfeld Midnight Frolic: I'll see you in C-U-B-AAlexander's Ragtime Band: Alexander's Ragtime BandWhat'll I Do?Puttin' on the Ritz: Puttin' on the RitzGet thee behind me, SatanAs Thousands Cheer: SuppertimeAs Thousands Cheer: Heat WaveLazyThat International RagAs Thousands Cheer: Harlem On My MindWhen I Lost YouAnnie Get Your Gun: There's no business like show businessAlbum Remarks & Appraisals:
Irving Berlin's remarkable trajectory from a small town in Russia to a mansion in Manhattan is the quintessential story of an immigrant who embraced the opportunities America had to offer and who gave creative riches back to it many times over. These high standards give each song a vivid personality and structural integrity that makes them a joy to arrangers. Genres displayed include jazz, ragtime, Dixieland, mamabo, calypso and salsa stylings of various songs.
Album Notes
The Berlin for Brass volume in Naxos' American Classics series focuses on Irving Berlin. Performing the iconic composer's music is the Chestnut Brass Company. At a relatively brief 19 songs, the set is forced to cover the main points only of Berlin. Thus, well-known favorites like "Alexander's Ragtime Band," "Puttin' on the Ritz," "There's No Business Like Show Business," and even "White Christmas" dominate the set here. The limitations of a brass band are made clear about halfway through when one starts to long for some strings or percussion to soften the sound. But besides this minor gripe, the Chestnut Brass Co. does a fine job of interpreting Berlin's music, finding nuance amid its brassy bluster. "Heat Wave" and "No Strings (I'm Fancy Free)" especially bop along at a quick clip, the former defining the high and low ends of the brass band with aplomb, while the latter is as jaunty and carefree as the song's name. It's probably difficult to make such a boisterous section of instruments sound light and airy, so it's a credit to the arranger here that "No Strings" is so bouncy. The arrangements and performances elsewhere range from satisfactory to great, making Berlin for Brass a release that should appeal to fans of the composer, brass instruments, or both. ~ Johnny Loftus
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See Also
- Soft Lights and Sweet Music: Clusone Trio Plays th (Clusone 3)
- Calling Berlin, Vol. 1 (Larkins, Ellis)
