Harry James - Harry James in Hi-Fi

Capitol Records' catalog originally wasn't too strong in big band or swing music, the label having been founded in 1941 and, thus, managing to miss out on the prime prewar years for both musical booms, and then running smack into a series of recording bans by the Musicians' Union during the early '40s. But the company was smart enough to quickly embrace the conversion from disc recording to magnetic tape in the late '40s, and also the switch from 78s to LPs, and to tally the effects of these developments; it also recognized the fact that a big chunk of the swing audience was still viable (if not exactly dominating the music marketplace), 10-15 years older, and no longer worrying about World War II, mostly settled into middle-class life and happy to feed their turntables with music that they loved. Read More