It may not have been all the classics revivalists danced to; two swingin' Louises (Prima and Jordan) recorded their jump, jive and wailin' big band tunes for Capitol and Decca Records, respectively. But many of the era's signature tunes are represented, sounding surprisingly warm in analog sound: Glenn Miller's anthemic "In The Mood," "String of Pearls," and "American Patrol," Benny Goodman's hard, wild swinging "Sing, Sing, Sing" (heard recently and famously in a cookie commercial but better in Goodman's 1938 Carnegie Hall concert), Cab Calloway's 1933 "Minnie The Moocher," which he performed nearly a half-century later in the first "Blues Brothers" film and here does in full-throated youthful yodel.

You also get seminal sides from Charlie Barnet ("Cherokee"), Tommy Dorsey ("Marie," "Opus One"), and Duke Ellington ("Take The 'A' Train," "Cotton Tail"). While these songs swing sweeter than 1998's martini-and-cigar crowd might have liked, "Fabulous" may well be among the few big band CDs a new fan would need. Longtime fans have these classics on the artists' original LPs (or more studious sets like Columbia's "16 Most Requested Big Band Themes") and can probably swing past it.