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The Fabulous Dorseys


Hardbopjazz

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Not wanting to spill the beans or spoil the fun for anyone, but here is what the Swedish jazz mag ORKESTER JOURNALEN had to say about this flick in their October, 1947 issue:

Dorsey Brothers' Movie Weak

The movie about the Dorsey Brothers' lives and doings has now been shown here and proved to be a big disappointment. It premiered in a few smaller movie theaters far outside our capital's center, which seemed like an indication that the worst was to be expected regarding the quality of the film. Quite so - it proved to be  bad in all respects, and you did not even get to hear really good music. Some good musical moments were to be heard here and there, but nowhere near as much as one had hoped for in a movie about musicians. The best music came about in a jam session that made an appearance halfway through the movie. Its main personality was Art Tatum who played excellently, but of course you only got to see him for a few seconds, whereupon the camera moved away, focusing instead on a table in the club  where the movie's lovers sat and turtledoved. Which was a big blunder on the part of the director, because after all we can turtledove ourselves anytime, but I'll be damned if anybody can play like Tatum. When Tatum's solo was over the camera moved back to the band for a few moments and you got to see Charlie Barnet, Ziggy Elman and Ray Bauduc in action, and Jimmy and Tommy Dorsey too, of course, but what they played was not all that out of the ordinary. Tatum was the only one worth hearing in the entire movie, but he got to play too little to make it worth the price of the movie ticket.

 

Just quotin' ... ^_^

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