The second of two Phontastic CDs that trace violinist Svend Asmussen's early years has a sampling of his recordings from the 1941-50 period. Despite the rise of bop during the era, the music is essentially all small-group swing, with a few novelty numbers (some of which use a rather average vocal group). Due to his spending virtually his entire life in Europe, Asmussen has long been greatly underrated. His playing on such numbers included on this set as "Ring Dem Bells," "Exactly Like You," "I've Found a New Baby" and "Dinah" shows that he was actually on the level of Stephane Grappelli; his backup musicians were also quite talented, if obscure. Easily recommended to swing collectors.