Woody Herman - The Everest Years

The music on this sampler is drawn from five different albums: five of the dozen selections on The Herd Rides Again, four from the dozen cuts on Herman's Heat & Puente's Beat, four of the five numbers from Woody Woody (leaving off "Summer Sequence"), four of the dozen performances included on Chubby Takes Over (which has The Woody Herman Orchestra headed by bassist Chubby Jackson), and a version of Stravinsky's Ebony Concerto that features clarinetist John Laporta. Although it would have been preferable to have all of the music released on a three-CD set or maybe on two CDs (since Herman's Heat & Puente's Beat is available in full by itself), this is an excellent sampler with many high points. Read More