Woody Herman, Blue Flame: Portrait Of A Jazz Legend (Jazzed Media)
Producer Graham Carter traces Herman’s career from a vaudeville childhood through leadership of a succession of big bands that made him a formative influence in jazz for more than 50 years. Photographs, film and early television trace development of the Herman herds. There are rare scenes of sidemen including Stan Getz, Serge Chaloff and Bill Harris in action, and complete sequences of performances by later editions of the band. Historians and Herman alumni help place his contributions in perspective. Many soloists go unidentified, but a generous sampling of Herman’s music rounds out a full picture of his rich life.