An Anthology of Big Band Swing (1930-1955) (1993)

Before jazz broke loose and started bopping, big-band music was pop music's flashiest genre, full of tight section playing pitted against hot soloists. These two CDs demonstrate the full stylistic range of the music, from the great (Count Basie's ''One O'clock Jump'') to the greasy (Glenn Miller's ''Peg O' My Heart''). Add to that the lunatic fringe, such as Tiny Bradshaw's giddy ''The Darktown Strutters' Ball'' and Louis Armstrong's vaudevillian ''You Rascal, You,'' and it's clear that swing music was much more than toodling saxophones.

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