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- Artist: Bud Freeman
- Rating:
- Release Date: September 15, 1998
- Total Time: 63:21
- Type: Compilation (best of)
- Genre: Jazz
Review
Saxophonist Bud Freeman (1906-1981) was the fundamentally friendly swing tenor from Chicago. A cardinal member of the Eddie Condon mob, he came to personify good times and toe-tappin' entertainment. Freeman was a sensitive balladeer with a soft, warm, butter-smooth tone. He could also cut loose and swing like a madman; both extremes were prerequisites, more or less, for inclusion in Condon's extended family of old-fashioned jazz players, as was Bud's highly developed sense of humor. Most people who are aware of Bud Freeman smile involuntarily whenever his name comes up. There are several excellent Freeman compilations in existence; this Giants of Jazz sampler of precious sides recorded between 1928 and 1939 might actually be one of the very best. Bud is heard leading a sextet in the company of Bunny Berigan and Claude Thornhill in 1935; he bubbles and cavorts at the helm of a hot little trio with Jess Stacy and George Wettling, and stands shoulder to shoulder with Bobby Hackett and Pee Wee Russell in an eight-piece group that helped to establish the standard for jazz issued on the Commodore label before, during, and after the Second World War. You'll want to be sure to listen for Bud's clarinet on "The Buzzard" and "Tillie's Downtown Now." One of the earliest recordings is "Crazeology," a strangely wonderful expansion of "Crazy Rhythm," which was one of the most popular songs of 1928. (Nobody tampered with "Crazy Rhythm" to this extent until 1953, when Django Reinhardt reinvented the song as a quirky, harmonically inverted experiment in cool and mysterious modernity.) Every single track is superb. Bud's bouncing presence makes each of the upbeat numbers glow like a room full of dancing, laughing will-o'-the-wisps, stuffing themselves with currant tarts and mulled wine. Nothing sounds more optimistic and reassuring than "The Blue Room," "At Sundown," "My Honey's Lovin' Arms," and especially "You Took Advantage of Me," with its disarmingly funny surprise ending. Bud Freeman's ballad playing is unforgettably gorgeous and mesmerizing. "(I Got a Woman, Crazy for Me) She's Funny That Way," a positively charmed duet with pianist Jess Stacy, is powerfully subtle, intimate, and intoxicating. ~ arwulf arwulf, All Music GuideTracks
| Track Title | Composers | Performers | Time |
| Exactly Like You | Jimmy McHugh, Dorothy Fields | Bud Freeman | (2:46) |
| Three Little Words | Bert Kalmar, Harry Ruby | Bud Freeman | (2:58) |
| Swingin' Without Mezz | Milt Gabler, |
Bud Freeman | (3:08) |
| The Blue Room | Richard Rodgers, Lorenz Hart | Bud Freeman | (3:04) |
| Life Spears a Jitterbug [Take 2] | Milt Gabler | Bud Freeman | (2:52) |
| Memories of You | Eubie Blake, Andy Razaf | Bud Freeman | (3:14) |
| Tappin' the Commodore Till | Milt Gabler | Bud Freeman | (2:47) |
| What's the Use? | Isham Jones, |
Bud Freeman | (3:17) |
| At Sundown | Walter Donaldson | Bud Freeman | (2:56) |
| My Honey's Lovin' Arms | Bud Freeman | (3:01) | |
| I Don't Believe It | Bud Freeman | Bud Freeman | (2:59) |
| Keep Smiling at Trouble | Al Jolson, B.G. DeSylva, |
Bud Freeman | (2:50) |
| What Is There to Say? | Vernon Duke, E.Y. "Yip" Harburg | Bud Freeman | (3:28) |
| The Buzzard | Bud Freeman | Bud Freeman | (3:10) |
| Tillie's Downtown Now | Bud Freeman | Bud Freeman | (3:19) |
| I Got Rhythm | George Gershwin, Ira Gershwin | Bud Freeman | (2:49) |
| Three's No Crowd | Bud Freeman, George Wettling, Jess Stacy | Bud Freeman | (1:56) |
| You Took Advantage of Me | Richard Rodgers, Lorenz Hart | Bud Freeman | (2:52) |
| Crazeology | Bud Freeman | Bud Freeman | (2:57) |
| Can't Help Lovin' Dat Man | Jerome Kern, Oscar Hammerstein II | Bud Freeman | (3:21) |
| (I Got a Woman, Crazy for Me) She's Funny That Way | Richard A. Whiting, |
Bud Freeman | (3:37) |
