Hep Boyds

For this collectors' LP, two editions of the Boyd Raeburn Orchestra are featured. There are eight numbers from mid-1945 (three with vocals by Ginny Powell and/or David Allyn) that find the Raeburn big band entering its prime period. Tenorman Frankie Socolow, altoist Johnny Bothwell, trombonist Trummy Young and trumpeter Tommy Allison are the key soloists and highlights include "March of the Boyds," "Hep Boyds" and "Where You At." The other half of this album is from the Raeburn Orchestra when it was past its prime, in December 1947. By then several former Woody Herman and Stan Kenton sidemen were in the band (including trumpeter Pete Candoli, trombonist Milt Bernhart and tenorman Jimmy Giuffre) along with clarinetist Buddy DeFranco. The latter date is among the final recordings of Raeburn's 1940's orchestras and is not without interest although this album as a whole is more for completists than for general collectors.