Benny Goodman Revisited

I think the only way I can describe the fun Lezlie Anders (my wife) and I had recording the Benny Goodman sessions, with (Jim Rothermel, Al Obidinsky and Jim Zimmerman) was, that it gave me the opportunity to record for the first time in my career of over 70 years,the wonderful songs I have the pleasure of playing for the very first time since I left the band in 1951 AND sharing the sessions with Lezlie, who I believe to be one of the finest singers in the world..What can I say about the musicians..(Jim Rothermel, Al Obidinsky and Jim Zimmerman) WOW! what a joy and honor! Thank you Joel for giving me and Lezlie the opportunity of a lfetime...
—Buddy Greco

I was excited for Buddy to 'revisit' Benny Goodman with you, so you know when you asked me to add some vocals to the project I was thrilled!... Thank you so much for including me.
—Lezlie

I first worked with Buddy at the Rrazz Room and we talked about the big band era and Buddy's work with Benny Goodman. I had told Buddy my uncles had a big band "the Sammy Watkins Orchestra and with my uncles Sammy and Sidney had played all over the world with their band. Buddy remembered their names. My uncle Sammy discovered this kid from Steubenville Ohio and had invited him to join the band in Cleveland where they were based out of, his name was Dean Martin, but that is another story.

I loved Benny's music and having been exposed to big band music since I was a kid I said it would be a great idea to record some of Benny's music with Buddy in the studio. Jim Rothermel the clarinetist I worked with was one of the best musicians I have ever worked with and knew that he would love to work with Buddy. Jim completed the arrangements to do the project and the rest is history. The sessions were magical. Lezlie sang some of the songs and she really brought magic to the vocal pieces. I thing we have brought back the magic of these compositions and am very proud to have been able to complete this wonderful work of music at Studio D Recording. Having been lucky enough to have worked with some of the jazz greats of our time.
Respectfully yours,
—Joel Jaffe
Producer/engineer