That Thursday in Freiburg back in October 1959 remains an intoxicating experience. A tight and sprightly band in top swinging form, the elegant tones of Benny Goodman’s clarinet and the sensational Anita O’Day. O’Day’s sensuality and mellow phrasing in Fats Waller’s impudent Honeysuckle Rose and Earl Bostic’s somewhat frivolous, leisurely version of Let Me Off Uptown make these sets spark and crackle with energy even 50 years on. Goodman’s orchestra, effectively a band of bandleaders, showcases one of the finest line-ups of the post-war era and underpins the evening’s success with solos that are sharp and savoured to the full. Almost a generation separated Jack Sheldon and Jerry Dodgion from Goodman and the idiosyncratic Red Norvo, but the ensemble-playing is superb.
