trumpet1951, I've made the same observation. When we talk about great trumpet players, names like Marsalis, Nakariakov, Hirt, obviously Mendez and a host of others are mentioned, but not Harry James. I wonder why that is? He's obviously right up there with cream of the crop.
Actually, Harry's MGM films from the 40s often had Hi-Fi multitrack elements, usually mixed to mono for the theaters of the era. But, the MGM/Turner vaults still hold most of the direct-to-film music tracks, many of which contain astonishing sound. The dub in this posting doesn't necessarily reflect what the studios were able to capture, even then. I think Turner actually issued this track on a CD compilation, and it sounds quite good.
Harry James is by far my favorite big band musician. Unlike rock and rollers today...these big band musicians could read mucical charts "cold" without even practicing it first. These were "real musicians". They could read and arrange music.
If you look at James's facial expressions....there is a real "sly, bad boy cool" on his face. I'd be willing to bet this dude drank booze like a marine and smoked pot too.
What a lucky bastard, played with Benny, married Betty Grable. her with the 100 million dollar legs, fronted his own band, who I had the pleasure of watching at The Southport theatre, and gave pleasure to millions, thanks a million, Harry. RIP.