Like many of the singing stars of the 40's and 50's, Jo Stafford began her career with one of the big bands. As a member of the Pied Pipers she joined the Tommy Dorsey Band in 1939, and also began her solo performances with Tommy, singing "Little Man With a Candy Cigar" as her first solo recording.

This album features Jo with the "Big Band" sound, with arrangements by Paul Weston, Billy May and Benny Carter. Some of these recordings were first released in her JO + BROADWAY LP and three are presented with the kind permission of Rod McKuen, who owned the masters from another Stafford album - LOOK AT ME NOW.

Both the instrumentation: 8 brass, 5 saxes and 4 rhythm, and also the songs, reflect a period in American music when the vocalists were backed by arrangements which complimented their vocal styles.

The musicians on these recordings are almost all graduates of the Big Bands of Tommy Dorsey, Benny Goodman, Glenn Miller, Jimmy Dorsey and Les Brown, and of course Billy May and Benny Carter have had distinguished Big Bands of their own. They are also rightly regarded as two of the greatest arrangers ever to write for a Big Band.

Paul Weston