Ray Anthony - Collection 1949-62 (2020)

Ray Anthony is a trumpeter, bandleader, composer and film star who led one of the most respected and successful big bands of the 1950s. Starting his career as a member of the Glenn Miller Orchestra in the early 1940s, he launched his own band after serving in the US Navy in WWII, and had his first hit with “A Dreamer’s Holiday” in 1949, racking up a string of over 25 chart entries through into the 1960s. This great-value 82-Track 3-CD set comprises selected A & B sides from his one hundred or so singles on the Capitol label during this era, and features 26 US Billboard and Cash Box chart entries plus his UK hits, including the No. 2 successes “At Last” and “Dragnet”, and his other Top 10 hits “Sentimental Me, “Count Every Star”, “Can Anyone Explain”, “Harbor Lights”, “Nevertheless, As Time Goes By”, and “Peter Gunn”. It includes hit performances by his featured vocalists Dick Noel, Ronnie Deauville, The Skyliners, Tommy Mercer, Gloria Craig, Marcie Miller and Jo Ann Greer, as well as many notable jazz-flavoured instrumentals which provide a fine vehicle for Ray Anthony’s substantial talent as a trumpeter. It’s an entertaining showcase for one of the best and most innovative contemporary big bands of these years.