Jazz, blues and nostalgia, by Sjaak Roodenburg. Soloists on display.
A Palace with big band music, with this time, the best of the best in orchestras: the Solosists. Benny Goodman had the pioneer of electric guitar in Charlie Christian and a magnificent drummer in Gene Krupa. The latter looked like a movie star with his black, combed hair and bow ties and always knew how to bring a hall up to its boiling point with his resounding drum rolls. The band of Duke Ellington had soloists to spare, with for example revolutionary bass player Jimmy Blanton. Other swing masters are tenor saxophone player Coleman Hawkins and trumpet players Bunny Berigan, Ziggy Elman and Roy Eldridge.
In this Palace, also music of bands within a band: small combos who became leaders of their large orchestras. Big bands where caught between tight arrangements, but in combos, sparks flew and the musicians had the chance to shine solo. A small formation like this, was the Gramercy Five of Artie Shaw, who specialized in swinging on the harpsichord. All in all, another Palace with highlights from the years of Swing.
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