2008 release, a collection of smokin' tracks from Alan Freed's rockin' big band. He was neither a singer nor a musician, but Alan Freed knew just what it took to make the Big Beat of the Rock 'N' Roll era come alive. The Big Band that he lent his name to in the mid '50s was one of the hardest-rocking outfits of it's era, boasting the cream of New York's R&B session musicians in it's line up and featuring such stellar tenor saxophonists as Sam "The Man" Taylor, "Big" Al Sears, Freddie Mitchell and "King Curtis" Ousley taking some of the fieriest solos ever committed to tape. Freed's band could be heard on four albums that were issued on US Coral and Brunswick between 1956 and 1958 - one recorded under the name of the King's Henchmen. The first of them has been reissued several times but, incredibly, the contents of the other three have remained unavailable for almost half a century. 24 tracks. Ace.