Charlie Barnet - Skyliner

[geoffreyefloyd]

cant say I agree with everyone on this, I think this tune blows and barnet doesn't have anywhere near the talent benny or artie had :)

[OPS5255]

Did KISS do this arrangement?

[chrishelltwirl]

Filmed live? Also, is the ending missing? I'm not sure, but, I enjoy listening to this video anyway. Excellent post blazer.

[43Biggiesmalls]

Swing.

[stunatox]

The "clarinet" Charley is playing is a soprano sax.

[blazerwolfsmartt]

Charlie Barnet on the clarinet of course, however Buddy DeFranco played for him for several years as the clarinetist!

[brittanylynn97]

Whos on the Clarinet??? 

[scotchrks]

Kelsey Grammer on Lead TROMBONE!! LOL

[rmayer821]

Notice Barney Kessel on Guitar and Howard Rumsey on bass. Harold Hahn on Drums. Is that Paul Cohen on the trumpet?

[rmayer821]

@rmayer821 I do not believe so...Cohen had black hair. Nevertheless I don't know who it is and Cohen played for CB.

[heantonstudios]

this is truly great work an amazing sound, i no nothing much about big band music but i fell in love with this and as my dad 79 would say thats proper music. i used this for my mates stag do video check out Daves Stag Do Golf. music today well....lets not go there!!!

[evenstar0]

took a break from listening to a bunch of goth rock to revisit some of swing favorites, and this is one I haven't listened to since I was living at home and had it taped off the radio on a cassette, a few years ago... I love love love it! one of my absolute favorite charlie barnet tunes - when the saxes come in behind the trumpets and things at about 0:25 I get chills every time!

[mikkirasmus]

Thanks! :-)

[MrRJDB1969]

The great Charlie Barnet !!

[slurpee27]

man... that is a toe-tapper!

[talbotvanman]

I had the pleasure of accompanying (on Drums) Charlie Barnet when he cruised

with his wife on the Cunard Liner I worked on in 1963. He borrowed the

bandleaders alto and we gave a concert for the ships crew featuring (of course!)

Skyliner and Cherokee. He was a gent!!

[duncankimball]

I beg to differ with you on two counts, jonbecker. (1) Louis Jordan was HUGE - one of the first true crossover artists to gain a big following with both 'black' and 'white' audiences and score hits on both charts (2) Charlie Barnet's Orchestra could eat Glenn Miller's group for breakfast and still have room for more pancakes. 'Skyliner' is IMHO one of *the* greatest of all swing recordings - the original Decca cut is one of the most thrilling sides I've ever heard. Who produced it?

[jonbecker03]

i always thought charlie barnett was one of the more respected jazz-oriented big band leaders of the forties. but this is sorta corny. (though the guitarist may have taken a lesson or two from charlie christian.) barnett seems to be trying to imitate glen miller. i guess this is what white guys liked back in the day........

[9876543217303]

I'm really too young....I wasn't around when the Big Bands were jamming but coming up, that's what folks played, along with Jazz music. I always loved this. I babysat for a couple that had this song and when they left, I would play it. I was only about 13 and could appreciate this along with all my other favorite music forms. Thanks for posting.

[TheDrewmeister66]

Love this song. Love Big Band music period. Shame that music went downhill since then.

[freereeder]

There are other versions on Youtube, but they really can't beat this one. Swing that really swings! When you hear some of the crap that passes for pop music today, you wonder what happened to the world.

[JiggyHo]

You get vibes here of just how badass the 40s were--very tough people, these ones just back from the depression and war. Our generation doesn't get this. Makes me wonder, though, if older people in the 40s were saying the same thing about how that generation misunderstood 1919.

[jonbecker03]

@JiggyHo the people of the forties may have been "very tough." (in fact, i'm sure they were.) but the music they liked was, on the whole, sweet and sentimental (glenn miller, tommy dorsey, charlie barnett, etc.). there were tough, kickin' musical outfits out there (louis jordan, lionel hampton), but they didn't have huge audiences. this was especially true of white swing fans.

[EdWatts]

@jonbecker03

Yeah, Charlie had some wild groups. They were known for drinking, whoring, and tearing up the hotels where they stayed, and they played like they really meant what the music was saying.

[MrVocabell]

Is that from the early 50s?

[MrM1GarandGuy]

@MrVocabell

no 1947

[DOMORCIDEA]

one day when i have my big band i might use this as my opening tune.

[robertino2008]

gracias youtube por ésta herramienta, que nos permite escuchar lo que ya dabamos por perdido en nuestros oidos!!!!

[abmrl14]

HOW COOL WAS THAT!!!!!!!!

[vlndv]

Very young Barney Kessel at 2:15.

[ThatsMrMoronToYou]

I love youtube. This is music heaven for me.

[thebigfist]

Great post, blazerwolfsmart!

[wagerfilmART]

Impeccable!

[jettwonder]

Skyliner is classic. Thanks to blazerwolfsmartt for posting this and to chkjns for sharing.

[sammipink]

brings back great memories 5 star thanks to chuck for sharing

[bandstand16]

Thank you so much, for 2 mins. and 52 seconds, I forgot about all the earthquakes, floods and poverty that's surrounding us. This music is from an era that will never be forgotten. The stage design reminded me of Ricky Ricardo's Tropicana Club...Wonderful...

[OldMrMemories]

lol! I know what you mean. This is one show I know Lucy would have wanted to be in.

[chkjns]

In 1944, Barnet had another big hit with "Skyliner". In 1947, he started to switch from swing music to bebop. During his swing period his band included Buddy DeFranco, Roy Eldridge, Neal Hefti, Lena Horne, Barney Kessel, Dodo Marmorosa, Oscar Pettiford, & Art House, while later versions of the band included Maynard Ferguson, Doc Severinsen, and Clark Terry.

Added this to my 1944 playlist, one of 425 lists that let you hear 300 artists or the sounds of any past year for up to 2 hours each.

[thebigfist]

Great find, Chuck. Charlie definitely had one of the most underrated of all of the big bands,Thas some all -star lineup he had!

[freereeder]

Boy...to say "We've lost something" is a vast understatement!!!

I defy anyone to sit still listeneing to this stuff!

[catcatttt]

i listen that on absolute radio every Mon-Fri.

[schnieef]

The trombone section at 1:42 is something I can't get out of my ears.

[rcolosi]

That's funny.. I have the exact same issue. I'm going on about 5 days with it in my head... you? : )

[generationll]

Very nice.I also like Redskin Rhumba by him

[aeonsocial]

Amaaaazing song! I love it! I have the BBC Bigband version as an MP3.

Thanks so much for sharing this vid!

[QULLA9]

@aeonsocial where did you get this MP3, please ?

[loladin08]

@QULLA9

Great song! if you're still searching for the MP3, send me a PM.

[johnnycchops]

It's cut off in the coda! Why does that happen so much on here? Also, would have liked to hear the whole piano solo in front. Oh well. The sound is great, but they didn't capture the wild spirit of the Barnet band visually. Barnet himself is always good on camera, though.

[krg1965]

Great cut - swings like a good 'un. I first heard the Ted Heath version and loved it ever since, wonderful to hear the original - thanks! Neal Hefti (RIP) was an absolute genius, responsible for another of my all-time favourites, Splanky. (Like another poster, I'm too young to remember the big band era, but luckily my Dad introduced me to the music...)

[1948BigCy]

Neal WAS a genius. Check out his work with Count Basie.  He also issued an album under his own name that is great. He was one of the BEST arrangers around!

[pacefam4]

I first heard this on KAAM radio last year, not even alive during the big bands. This song and So Rare by JD now two of my favorite instrumental songs. My kids even love it. Thanks for keeping this alive!

[zartonis]

One of my favorite pieces of music. Thanks for posting this live performance.

[enaj78]

Thanks so much for this. One of my favorite Barnet numbers.

[2agray]

One of his biggest hits. Very nice.

[akoripahs]

Re: stijnhouwer's question - I'm almost positive that Barney Kessel is the guitar soloist!

[didymus46]

You're absolutely right - a guitar genius.

[MorganPolander]

He does the solo work on Harry James' I'm Begining to See the Light. I hope he had a life after Liberace.

[rmayer821]

That is incorrect. Allan Reuss is the guitarist on the hit version of I'm Beginning to See the Light". Google it. Bob Poland on bari sax, Kurt Bloom on tenor, Harold Hahn on drums here.

[stijnhouwer]

the more or less static pictures hide the fact that "skyliner" is one of the most gorgeous move-your-feet wow swing tunes ever, and undoubtedly one of the roots of modern pop music.

[stijnhouwer]

ps: who's the guy on the guitar? short, but amazing solo

[JohnQRandom]

@stijnhouwer

When I reading the part of your comment that said "move your feet", I thought you were going to say "move your ass".

[dieselpuppy74]

@stijnhouwer. Absolutely agree !! I've always liked the sound of Big Band music and this has to be one of the classics in the genre - and yes, my feet were moving to it too !.

Love that long saxophone chord that leads into the "Chorus" - has a theatrical tone to it and I'm almost expecting the hero to propose to his love :-p.

[tallpaul521]

Thanks. My favorite tune of Barnet's, who is sadly forgotten in the realm of Big Bands. Posted on May 16th -- my birthday. There used to be a video of Barnet doing "Cherokee" from a film, on You Tube, but it has disappeared.

[saribu]

Que maravilloso video. Me encanta esta melodía.

[akoripahs]

Nice video, but this is actually Skyliner!