- Naxosdirect.ca

Classical spoken here

Read reviews, listen to the music, and purchase the

Customer Service Toll Free 866.489.4152

Flash 9 required. Click to download.

Narrow your search
with our Music Browser

Classical Music

        Ballet
        Chamber Music
        Choral
        Concertos
        Film Music
        Instrumental
        Musicals
        Opera / Operetta
        Orchestral
        Vocal

Jazz

Jazz Contemporary
Jazz Icons

Wind Band

World

        Ballad
        Bhuddist
        Chinese Music
        Classical (World)
        Early Music (World)
        Folk
        Gamelan
        Gypsy
        Hindustani
        Jazz (World)
        Klezmer
        Vocal (World)
        World

Sale on select Chandos titles

Sale on select BBC Legends Items

Naxos Classics Clearance Sale

Sale on select Naxos American Classics

Sale on Charles Dickens DVD Box Set

Sale on select box sets

Clearance on Complete Beethoven Edition

Sale on the Jazz Icons Series

Clearance

Penguin Guide

200 Essential Recordings

Recently Released

Upcoming Releases

SACD

DVD

        Ballet DVD
        Classical Concert
        Classical Documentary
        Dance Documentary
        Opera DVD

Audio Books

        Anthologies / Collections
        Arts
        Biographies
        Children's Classics
        Classic Fiction
        Great Epics and Tales
        History
        Junior Classic Fiction
        Junior History
        Literature
        Music Biographies
        Music Education
        Non-Fiction
        Philosophy
        Plays - Others
        Plays - Shakespeare
        Poetry
        Religion
        Samplers
        Sports
        Wine Guide

NaxosDirect Podcasts

Video Librarian Reviews

Labels

Naxos Label

        Naxos American Classics
        Naxos Best Of...
        Naxos Box Sets
        Naxos Cinema Classics
        Naxos Classics
        Naxos DVD
        Naxos DVD-Audio
        Naxos International
        Naxos Jazz
        Naxos Limited Edition
        Naxos Milken Archives
        Naxos Night Music
        Naxos Opera
        Naxos Orchestral
        Naxos Special Release
        Naxos Wind Band Classics
        Naxos World

Composers

Conductors

Ensembles

Orchestras

Choirs

Artists

Instruments

Producers

Home

Nostalgia

$0.00

This item is not currently available.

This item is currently out of print.

Link to this Link to this page

TED HEATH & HIS MUSIC 'So Easy' Original 1948-1952 Recordings Ted Heath not only survived the so-called "Big Band Era" - he prolonged it. ...

Read more about this recording

TED HEATH & HIS MUSIC 'So Easy'

Original 1948-1952 Recordings

Ted Heath not only survived the so-called "Big Band Era" - he prolonged it. Along with his contemporaries such as Ellington, Basie, Brown and Herman, he continued his international popularity through concerts and recordings, even though the "dance band" per se had lost its widespread appeal and venues. In fact, all of those mentioned had been leaders for ten-or-more years before Heath started his own band in 1945.

He was born Edward Heath in Wandsworth, a section of London, in 1902. He reportedly was a trombone prodigy and was busking with his instrument while still very young.

As early as 1936 the Heath trombone was already an ubiquitous presence in the British dance bands. In that year, Hilton Schleman, in his book Rhythm on Record, cited Heath's participation as a sideman-arranger in the combinations of Ambrose, Lew Davis, Bert Firman, The Four Bright Sparks, Jack Hylton, Howard Jacobs, Syd Lipton, The Rhythm Rascals, and Jay Wilbur.

During WWII he played with Geraldo's radio band, and then in 1945 - when the dance band industry was beset with competition from new forms of musical entertainment and TV - he formed a band which rose to immense success against the odds, actually prolonging the popularity of the full dance unit, especially in Great Britain.

During the band's existence it was very popular on radio and for its many personal appearances. Frequent gigs during the 1950s were its concerts at London's Palladium. It even made it across the Atlantic to make two tours of the US, which were unusual in that the entire combination was present. Previously, Jack Hylton and Ray Noble were compelled to use American musicians. In 1948, the Heath band commenced releasing recordings on the London label, a subsidiary of British Decca, which sold very well in the States. Particularly appealing were those LPs which presented a single composer's works, i.e., "Kern for Moderns"; "Rodgers for Moderns"; etc.

Critically listening to this compilation of Ted Heath and his Music, one recalls the sounds of the very best American swing bands: Tommy Dorsey, Les Brown, Glenn Miller, Stan Kenton, Jimmy Dorsey, and many others. But the arrangements do not copy, but rather hint - or embellish - by creating a melange of sounds and styles. Looking at the list of songs, even a true swing band aficionado cannot predict how a particular selection will sound from its title.

Here are some instances. That Heath was a trombone expert shows in the marvelous trombone choir-effect which was a Tommy Dorsey specialty. Les Brown's arrangement style is represented by the full-range unison sound each instrumental section in-turn displays. Occasionally Glenn Miller's special colouring of the woodwinds, with the clarinet doubling above the saxophones, can be heard. Dynamics were Kenton's specialty: Heath employs them liberally. And who could forget Jimmy Dorsey's tasteful use of the solo alto saxophone, which Heath very frequently uses. And there are also whimsical touches to some pieces.

The songs on this album range from classic pop ballads to up-tempo swingers and also include rhythm and mood numbers composed for concert presentation.

For example, the opening and closing tracks show inspiration from earlier Glenn Miller recordings. Blue Skies March is reminiscent of Miller's quasi-martial arrangement of "St Louis Blues". The closer, Colonel Bogey (featured in the movie Bridge on the River Kwai), again evokes Miller in style and tempo: this time "American Patrol". Other Milleresque moments include the woodwinds' voicing on the melody of With a Song in my Heart (Track 2) and the whimsical co-option of Miller's introduction to "Chattanooga Choo-Choo" for Heath's own composition Night Train to Scotland (Track 3).

And speaking of whimsy, note the several counter-melodies in Blue Skies March which are quoted from other compositions such as "Stormy Weather".

Heath also was fortunate to have exceptional section leaders who could impart strong solos. My Silent Love (Track 8) is indeed reminiscent of Harry James especially in the first chorus. Harlem Nocturne (Track 6) contains passages which resemble Jimmy Dorsey's alto saxophone solos.

Sidewalks of Cuba (Track 9) is treated unlike its Latin-sounding title, recalling the stylings of Stan Kenton, or perhaps, Woody Herman.

Button Up Your Overcoat (Track 12) is pure Les Brown - at least in the first chorus - and invokes Brown's arrangement of "Back in Your Own Backyard", a contemporary 1920s composition.

Compositions, likely intended for concert presentation, are represented by Roumanian Roundabout and Obsession (Tracks 14 and 19), among others.

Heath passed away in 1969, but his band survived - like Basie, Kenton, Miller, Brown, etc. - in various incarnations: the so-called "ghost bands". In fact, many of Heath's original musicians gathered together to re-create "His Music" into the 21st Century.

Paul Roth, 2003

REFERENCES

Hilton R.Schleman, Rhythm on Record, Melody Maker Ltd., London, 1936.

Roger D. Kinkle, The Complete Encyclopedia of Popular Music and Jazz 1900-1950, Arlington House, New Rochelle, NY, 1974.

The Big Bands Database Plus

Paul Roth, a Florida-based musicologist-archivist, specializes in the dance band culture, especially the American and British combinations of the 1930s. His personal archive includes over 25,000 selections many of which are on his 7,000-or-so 78s. He produced and hosted "big band" shows on Washington, DC radio in the 1980s and on Florida radio and TV in the 1990s. He lectures on the history of the popular song and is currently writing a series of essays, which he hopes to publish as a book on the "commercial" dance band. To this end he has been taping interviews with bandleaders, vocalists, etc. for over twenty years. Roth is a retired engineer and academician. He is also an amateur woodwind player.

Disc 1

Blue Skies March

Your name:
Your email:
Friend's Name:
Friend's Email:
Write a personalized message:

Your name:
Rating:
Title:
Review: