On the one hand, this double-CD set (in a long box-shaped jacket) is one of the more satisfying overviews of Gene Krupa's early/middle career that one is likely to find -- the two discs cover 16 years of the man's work, divided in a way that isn't exactly clear. The first platter seems to be focused on Krupa's work under his own name during the years 1940-1949, when he was a top draw in popular music, and it includes most of his best-known hits; the second platter goes outside of those boundaries, stepping outside of the popular context, including some highlights of Krupa's work in association with Benny Goodman ("Don't Be That Way," "Sing Sing Sing" etc.), plus the postwar Krupa Trio, and one collaboration with Anita O'Day ("Let Me Off Uptown") in the midst of it all. That disc extends to Krupa's bebop-influenced work, which will be well-known to serious fans but perhaps less so to those who only know his hits. The sound is excellent and, thanks to the lax European copyright laws, we're treated to the highlights of Krupa's music from at least two labels, Columbia and Verve. All of that is the good part of this package, and that's mighty impressive -- the downside to all of this is the packaging from B.D. Jazz, which incorporates a really silly comic-book account (in French, yet, not that one needs a translation) of the artist's career in the jacket. Even in English, the idea would come off as pretty idiotic (and doubly so when one considers that some of the artists in this series are bluesmen like Muddy Waters -- that's just what blues fans want, a comic-book precis of Muddy's journey from the Mississippi Delta to Chicago). And this set comes at a pretty hefty list price as well, mostly (one imagines) thanks to the Euro being so strong against the dollar. But if you can find it cheap, and ignore the stupid packaging, this is an enjoyable and wide-ranging account of Krupa's art and music, and will leave no listener in doubt of the basis for his legendary status as a drummer. It closes out with his trio version of "Drum Boogie" from a 1952 Jazz at the Philharmonic Concert (released on Verve), which leaves no room for argument after everything else we've heard; indeed, the latter track is much easier to take in this context than it is on the Drum Battle album on which it originally appeared.
© Bruce Eder /TiVo