Sam Donahue - The Sam Donahue Collection 1940-48 (2021)

Saxophonist, trumpeter, arranger and bandleader Sam Donahue, although not widely known as a significant personality in the jazz and big band music world of the 1940s, was an artist who not only played with many of the big names of the era in his formative years, but had considerable success through the decade leading his own orchestras. At first playing jazz-focused swing, he then led military dance bands in the war years and in the late 40s made a successful impact on the pop scene with a string of hits between 1946 and 1948, before becoming an album artist in the 1950s. This excellent-value 48-track 2-CD set comprises selected titles from his early 40s releases with his own orchestra on the Okeh, Bluebird and Hit labels, one of them featuring |Count Basie, along with wartime V-Disc recordings with Sam Donahues Navy Band, plus most of his A & B sides for Encore and Capitol from 1945-48. It features all his twelve chart entries, including the No. 2 hit I Never Knew and the Top 10 Billboard hits with Dinah, Just the Other Day, Put That Kiss Back Where You Found It, A Rainy Night in Rio, My Melancholy Baby, Red Wing and The Whistler. Some of his hits feature the vocals of Irene Day, Bill Lockwood, Mynell Allen and Shirley Lloyd, while others are notable instrumentals featuring his stylish saxophone. Its a fine showcase for an artist who has not received the attention his work undoubtedly merits.