There s Something in the Air
£5.60
- There s Something In The Air
- South Rampart Street Parade
- C Jam Blues
- Pompton Turnpike
- Ringle Dingle
- Anchors Aweigh
- Commando Patrol
- Boston Bounce
- Rimg Dem Bells
- Cow Cow Boogie
- High Society
- Mistakes
- Mission On Moscow
- That s A Plenty
The struggle to sound like an American band - The Squadronaires, officially the RAF Dance Orchestra, comprised some of the best British jazz oriented musicians of the early Forties and while they had to perform and record their share of pop ephemera, they are mostly remembered for the jazz they played. While a cross section of their commercially recorded output is documented on ASV Living Era, this selection presents material drawn from broadcasts, transcriptions and live performances between 1943-1945. The Squads could t be blamed for not trying: they played their pants off to sound like their American peers (Glenn Miller and Sam Donahue), but they nowhere manage to capture that free flowing, almost nonchalant and smooth swinging quality that Donahue and the Navy Band especially attained so seemingly effortlessly (see Donahues output on HEP).Quite surprisingly I find that the Squads can barely hold their own against some of the big bands in occupied Europe: Dick Willebrandts, The Ramblers & Ernst van t Hoff in Holland, Jean Omer, Fud Candrix & Stan Brenders in Belgium and Freddie Brocksieper, Lutz Templin & Willy Stech in Germany (of all places!!), not to mention that great swing band from neutral Sweden: Thore Ehrling, captured the essence of swing in a much more convincing way.As an historical document (well documented and meticulously restored as always from HEP) this is a must have for collectors such as myself, but from a purely musical point of view it is a bit of a letdown.