Wild About Harry

Nice clean vinyl with a smart gloss flipback cover.

Wild About Harry! is a studio album by American trumpeter Harry James with The Harry James Orchestra. The album was recorded in May, 1957 and released by Capitol Records (ST 874).^[1]

After coasting through the mid-1950s, James made a complete reevaluation of where he was heading in his musical career. Count Basie provided the impetus by making a significant comeback with his newly formed "16 Men Swinging" band, and James wanted a band with a decided Basie flavor. This album is the first of several released on Capitol Records representative of the Basie style that James adopted during this period, with some of the arrangements provided by former Basie saxophonist and arranger Ernie Wilkins, whom James hired for his own band.^[2]

By the time of the scheduled recording of the album in May 1957, drummer Buddy Rich had long since left James's band. But knowing Rich's admiration for Basie's music, James asked Rich to play on the album. Rich was billed as "Buddy Poor" since he was still under contract to Verve Records. Harry James was so pleased by the results from the first day of recording that he wore the same black-and-white striped shirt on the other sessions for the album. ^[3]