Win The Latest Bakelite Broadcasters CD ‘Doin The Charleston’!!!

Spread The Word And Win The Latest Bakelite Broadcasters CD ‘Doin The Charleston’!!!

(Hear it in on Bandcamp)

To go into the draw:

1. Add the flyer below for the 23 May Greg Poppleton and the Bakelite Broadcasters Django Bar show onto your Facebook page
2. Invite your friends to come along
3. Put your name on the 23 May Django Bar events page
4. Be at the Greg Poppleton show for the draw in the Django Bar of the Camelot Lounge, 23 May at 10pm to WIN!!!

Put this flyer onto your Facebook page and be at the 23 May Django Bar show to win the new CD by Greg Poppleton and the Bakelite Broadcasters

Good Luck! And see you at the Django Bar for Greg Poppleton and the Bakelite Broadcasters 1920s Speakeasy Trio

Django Bar in the Camelot Lounge | 8pm Thursday 23 May | cnr Marrickville Rd and Railway Pde Marrickville | Opp. Sydenham Train Station | $10 door sales only

1920s Gala Fundraiser Makes $42 000

Last Saturday, Greg Poppleton and the Bakelite Broadcasters, played their authentic Roaring 20s speakeasy jazz for the 1920s Ozwac Gala Ball, raising money for this venerable charity.

What is Ozwac? Ozwac, the Australian Women and Children’s Research Foundation, is a charity that raises and grants money for research in western Sydney. It works within the University of Sydney Clinical School at Nepean. The research is essential to improve clinical care for mothers and babies. In general, such research is poorly funded in Australia.

In Greg Poppleton and the Broadcasters for the 1920s gala where Greg Poppleton 1920s singer, Geoff Power trumpet and sousaphone, Chuck Morgan banjo and ukeleles, and Adam Barnard drums. Film and TV personalities Roy Billing and Tara Dennis were also at the Ball, sharing their tremendous talents for the cause.

$42 000 was raised.

One of the organisers of the successful 1920s themed Fundraising Ball (which was held in the Evans Theatre of Penrith Panthers) took some happy snaps of Greg Poppleton and the Bakelite Broadcasters on stage for you. We hope you enjoy them. (Thank you, Kane)

Greg Poppleton and the Bakelite Broadcasters at the Ozwac 1920s Gala Ball, Penrith Panthers

Now, if you’re looking for a real 1920s trio to sextet or even orchestra for your event, lead by Sydney’s only authentic 1920s singer (classically trained) and filled with world-touring vintage jazz and swing specialists, check out the band’s official website and get in touch via the contact page

Saturday Night Swing Club 1938 Video

Much Hullabulloo To You, Phantom Dancers,

The Phantom Dancer playlist for Tuesday 7 May 2013 is posted for you below. You can hear the show on 2SER 107.3 and online (see the online address at the top of the play list). Tune in for live 1930s – 60s swing and jazz radio by Duke Ellington, Pee Wee Erwin, Count Basie, Benny Goodman, Anita O’Day and more. Enjoy!

And now for your Phantom Dancer Video of the Week, two Phantom Dancer regulars in a soundie of CBS’ Saturday Night Swing Club. Together on the sound stage, the house swing band lead by Leith Stevens and Eddie Condon’s Dixieland group. But who is the singer? Is it Kay Thompson, Bea Wain…?

Play List – The Phantom Dancer 107.3 2SER-FM Sydney, Live Stream, Digital Radio Community Radio Network Show #51 2SER Tuesday 7 May 2013 12 noon – 2:00pm (+10 hours GMT) Set 1 Open + There Must Be A Way Boyd Raeburn Orchestra (voc) David Allan & Margie Wood Rose Room Palace Hotel KQW CBS San Francisco 19 Jun 1945 These Things Money Can’t Buy Nat King Cole ‘King Cole Trio Time’ NBC Cincinnati 6 Dec 1947 To Each His Own / Body & Soul / Mood Indigo Larry Green Starlight Room Hotel Chase KMOX CBS St Louis 1959 Closing Song & Ads MacFarlane Twins Orchestra ‘Jack Benny Show’ Fort Mead Md NBC 1943 Set 2 We’re Off To See The Wizard Jim Davidson ABC Dance Orchestra (voc) Band Comm Rec Sydney 21 Nov 1939 I’m Shooting High Benny Goodman Orchestra (voc) Helen Ward Joseph Urban Room Congress Hotel WMAQ NBC Red Chicago 20 Jan 1936 Theme + Dinah Count Basie Orchestra ‘Jubilee’ AFRS Hollywood 2 Oct 1944 Eccentric Pee Wee Erwin’s Dixieland 6 ‘One Night Stand’ Nick’s NYC AFRS Re-broadcast 14 Dec 1950 Set 3 Diminuendo In Blue Duke Ellington Orchestra ‘A Date With The Duke’ New York AFRS Re-broadcast 1946 Transbluecency Duke Ellington Orchestra (voc) Kay Davis ‘A Date With The Duke’ New York AFRS Re-broadcast 1946 Crescendo In Blue Duke Ellington Orchestra ‘A Date With The Duke’ New York AFRS Re-broadcast 1946 Pitter Panther Patter Duke Ellington Orchestra (double bass) Oscar Pettiford ‘A Date With The Duke’ New York AFRS Re-broadcast 1946 Set 4 Maria Gilberto Ernesto Bonino Comm Rec Fonit Cetra Rome 1942 Is You Is Or Is You Ain’t My Baby Herbie Fields Orchestra (voc) Carol Kay Glen Island Casino New Rochelle NY WOR Mutual NY 9 Aug 1944 Mississippi Mud Dick Jurgens Orchestra (voc) Al Galanti Trocadero Ballroom Elitch’s Gardens Mutual Network Denver Co Jun 1951 Swingin’ On A Star Jan Savitt Orchestra (voc) Buddy Welcome ‘One Night Stand’ Trianon Ballroom Southgate Ca AFRS Re-broadcast 27 Jul 1944 Set 5 There Goes That Song Again George Trevare and his Australians (voc) unknown Comm Rec Sydney 1943 Do Nothing Till You Here From Me Harry James Orchestra (voc) Helen Forrest Palladium Ballroom KNX CBS LA 1944 Blue Profile Glen Gray and the Casa Loma Orchestra Hotel New Yorker WJZ Blue NY May 1944 Old Fashioned Love Eddy Howard Orchestra (voc) Eddy Howard Aragon Ballroom WGN Mutual Chicago 5 Dec 1945 Set 6 Singin’ In The Rain Claude Hopkins and his Cotton Club Orchestra Radio Transcription New York 18 Oct 1935 St Louis Blues Count Basie Orchestra (voc) Jimmy Rushing Chatterbox Hotel William Penn WCAE NBC Red Pittsburgh 8 Feb 1937 Hindustan Bob Crosby Bobcats ‘Camel Caravan’ WABC CBS NY 4 Jul 1939 Cow Cow Boogie Gene Krupa Orchestra (voc) Anita O’Day Palladium Ballroom KNX CBS LA 13 Nov 1942 Set 7 Peg O’ My Heart Vic Lewis and his Jazzmen Radio Broadcast London 8 Aug 1945 I Cover The Waterfront Sarah Vaughan Eddie Condon’s Floorshow WPIX TV NY 13 Dec 1948 Jazz Me Blues Bobby Hackett Band ‘Chamber Music Society Of Lower Basin Street’ WJZ NBC Blue NY 23 Jun 1940 Stadust Bunny Berrigan ‘What Is Swing?’ WNEW NY 12 Mar 1936 Set 8 Washington Whirligig Charlie Barnet Orchestra Radio Transcription New York 21 Jul 1944 Open + I Never Knew Louis Armstrong Orchestra (voc) Louis Armstrong ‘Spotlight Bands’ Blue Network Dallas Tx 17 Aug 1943 Open + Benny’s Original Benny Carter Orchestra ‘Jubilee’ AFRS Orchestra 1945 God Child Chubby Jackson Orchestra ‘Symphony Sid Show’ WMCA NY 12 Mar 1949

Greg Poppleton Poster Django Bar 23 May 2013

Do come to the Django Bar of the Camelot Lounge on Thursday 23 May for a night of toe-tappin’ 20′s croonin’ with Greg Poppleton and the Bakelite Broadcasters. With Geoff Power trumpet and sousaphone and Grahame Conlon tenor banjo. I’ll be singing. Please spread the word. Doors open at 6pm. Music at 8pm. Pizzas are the best in Sydney. Just whipped up a poster…

Greg Poppleton and the Bakelite Broadcasters in the Django Bar

The Django Bar is on the corner of Marrickville Road and Railway Parade opposite Sydenham Station

Phantom Dancer History – 2SER 1st Anniversary 1980

History time, Phantom Dancers,

The very first 2 hour Phantom Dancer (and Program 50 for national listeners) starts this week.

I started The Phantom Dancer on 107.3 2SER Sydney way back in December 1985.

I had already been doing a 15 minute segment of swing and jazz from live 1920s-60s radio and TV within another program called Cityscope since Dec 1984. The segment was called, Hot House, after the song.

Then in December 1985 I was asked to fill in for a vacated time slot. The previous show had been called Jazz Direction Out and I unhappily inherited the name.

However, the show hit the right note with listeners. I even had a few live shows, bring musicians into the studio like James Morrison, John Morrison, Ian Date, Andrew Speight, Ted Heath Goes Latin (the band) and an outside recording of Mic Conway and his Hiccups Orchestra.

And the first request came in, handwritten in blue biro, posted from a motel in Blakehurst on a scrap of pad paper.

The next name for the show after a schedule reshuffle was even worse than Jazz Direction Out. I didn’t choose it. My proposed title, ‘Hot Shit!’, was not accepted (and was at that time illegal). Because the show was in a late lunchtime slot, it got called ‘Swing Sandwich’. Cringe.

In 1989 there was yet another radio schedule reshuffle and the show was moved to 11:30pm – 1am Sunday night – Monday mornings. I called it ‘Round About Midnight’, after the song. Listenership bloomed. And I did a few ‘wacky’ things like a ‘Honeysuckle Rose-a-thon’ and a live mix of women in jazz with excerpts from an episode of Lost In Space. Like, far out, daddy-o!’.

Sunday nights used to start at 6pm for me at 2SER, because that’s when I’d also record, then dub edit, a weekly half-hour quiz show that had a 2 year run on 2SER called, ‘Wordsports’, a word game devised by performance poet Komninos and which I also ran at the Harold Park Hotel.

I also won the first of two BASF Hi Fi Certificates Of Merit for a soundscape called ‘Registered Clubs Of NSW A Musical Legacy,’ and began working in radio professionally.

In 1991 The Phantom Dancer won a BASF Hi Fi Certficate Of Merit for its special, ’42 Years Of TV’, demonstrating that TV had been around much longer than the 25 years the Australian commercial networks had been crowing about that year.

Another reshuffle saw the show put back to a weekday afternoon at 1pm. This, too, was considered a dead spot like late Sunday night, but contrary to expectations, listenership grew some more. In this ‘carnation, I called the show ‘The One O’Clock Jump’.

Another reshuffle shunted the show in 1994 to another then graveyard slot of 10:30am Tuesday morning. But the show did well. And I changed the name to The Phantom Dancer.

Introduced in 1994, The Phantom Dancer was the first 2SER show with a digitally edited theme – and that’s the show theme that’s still in use.

On 8 May 1995, The Phantom Dancer, was the first 2SER show (and possibly one of the first Sydney radio shows) to be wholly digitally produced and edited. The one hour special commemorated the 50th anniversary of the end of WWII in Europe. And it went to air on CD. The hard-to-get CD blank cost me around $30.

In 1997, The Phantom Dancer almost went off-air due to a ‘music producer’ who nevertheless still thought enough of the show to claim in a prestigious jazz dictionary (without telling me) that he ‘produced’ the show. He went on to an academic career.

The Phantom Dancer did have its one only ever producer in 1999. Jo White helped refocus the show and as a result, the show became even more popular in the 2000s and 2010s.

In April 2007, a story on The Phantom Dancer, was the feature article in a Sydney Morning Herald Metro lift out.

In November 2007, The Phantom Dancer, won Best Music Show in the annual national CBAA Radio Awards.

In 2008, the show began to be repeated 6am Sunday mornings.

Then in 2010, the repeat program was moved to 6pm Saturday evenings.

In 2011 I was very honoured to receive a much coveted 2SER volunteers award.

In 2012, The Phantom Dancer, went national. It’s now heard on over 30 radio stations of the Community Radio Network across Australia. It has a particularly strong listenership on the popular ArtsoundFM in Canberra.

And now, as of 30 April 2013, The Phantom Dancer has grown to be two hours long! And I still work professionally in radio – as a voice over artist with RGM Voices (here’s my voicereel) – as well as volunteer.

I suppose that makes me one of the many radio professionals 2SER has created over the years.

Many people have supported and nurtured the Phantom Dancer since 1985 when hair was long, black pants, black coats and black pointy shoes were de rigueur, and swing was a dirty word. The list of names is too long to print here. Most important are the many 2SER Phantom Dancer subscribers who keep Australia’s only live 1920s-60s radio swing & jazz show, and 2SER, on air with their subscriptions and donations. 2SER is a community supported station. Thank you.

Hence, this week’s Phantom Dancer Video of the Week. It’s a mix of 2SER 1st Birthday Idents by Sydney commercial radio personalities for the very first subscriber drive in 1980. Long time 2SER listeners, is that the voice of John Cochrane giving George Donikian some feedback after his first ID read? Enjoy…

Play List – The Phantom Dancer 107.3 2SER-FM Sydney, Live Stream, Digital Radio Community Radio Network Show #50 2SER Tuesday 30 April 2013 12 noon – 2:00pm (+10 hours GMT) Set 1 Open + Ad Victor Miller Orchestra with Mel Blanc ‘Mel Blanc Show’ KNX CBS Los Angesles 3 Jul 1947 Open (April Showers+ + Baby Face Al Jolson (voc) Lou Bring Orchestra ‘Kraft Music Hall’ KFI NBC Los Angeles 7 Oct 1948 Mood Indigo Ted Fio Rito Orchestra Chez Paree WGN Chicago 1950 It’s A Long Way To Tipperary Wally Portingale Orchestra ‘Army On Parade’ 2CH AWA Network Sydney Sep 1943 Set 2 Back Room Romp (A Contrapuntal Stomp) Rex Stewart and his 52nd Street Stompers Comm Rec New York 7 Jul 1937 Boog It Glenn Miller Orchestra (voc) Marion Hutton and Band Cafe Rouge Hotel Pennsylvania WJZ NBC Blue NY 5 Apr 1940 Jumpin’ For Maria Dean Hudson Orchestra ‘One Night Stand’ Blue Room Hotel Lincoln New York AFRS Re-broadcast 11 Nov 1944 Holiday For Strings Lucky Millinder Orchestra (p) Sir Charles Thompson ‘One Night Stand’ Savoy Ballroom Harlem, NYC AFRS Re-broadcast 11 Jun 1946 Set 3 Night Life (Go Up In Smoke) Stan Kenton Orchestra Radio Transcription Los Angeles Oct 1941 Laura Charlie Parker Quartet ‘Symphony Sid Show’ WCOP Boston 1954 Ghost Of A Chance Lester Young ‘Adventures In Jazz’ WCBS TV CBS NY 1952 Walkin’ Andre Previn London House WBBM CBS Chicago 1959 Open + Undercurrent Blues Benny Goodman Orchestra ‘One Night Stand’ Palladium Ballroom Hollywood AFRS Re-broadcast 29 Mar 1949 Set 4 Sepulveda Jimmy Grier Orchestra Radio Transcription Los Angeles 1946 Lamar’s Boogie Cab Calloway Orchestra ‘One Night Stand’ Club Zanzibar New York AFRS Re-broadcast 1945 Winnin’ Boy Jelly Roll Morton ‘Chamber Music Society Of Lower Basin Street’ WJZ NBC Blue NY 14 Jul 1940 When You And I Were Young Maggie Fats Waller Panther Room Hotel Sherman WMAQ NBC Red Chicago 3 Dec 1940 Set 5 Sorta Blue Graeme Bell Comm Rec Sylvania Hotel Sydney Jan 1960 Never On Sunday Duke Ellington Orchestra ‘One Night Stand’ Steel Pier Atlantic City AFRTS Re-broadcast 1964 Have I Told You Lately? Tony Bennett (voc) Gene Krupa Trio ‘Guard Sessions’ Hollywood 1963 My Love Is Blue Russ Morgan Orchestra Dunes Hotel KLAV CBS Las Vegas 19 Jul 1969 Set 6 RIde Tenderfoot Ride Dick Jurgens Orchestra (voc) Eddy Howard Radio Transcription New York 1938 Open + In A Minor Mood Bob Crosby Orchestra ‘Swing Concert’ Congress Hotel WMAQ NBC Red Chicago 18 May 1937 News From Europe WABC CBS NY 30 Oct 1938 The Moon Was Yellow Billy Cotton Orchestra (voc) Alan Breeze Comm Rec London 19 Jan 1935 Set 7 Washington Squabble Claude Hopkins Orchestra Radio Transcription New York 1935 Caravan Bunny Berrigan Orchestra Manhattan Centre WNEW NY 26 Sep 1939 Babs + Baby Brown Inkspots WEAF NBC Red NY 9 Aug 1935

Sydney’s 1920s Speakeasy Jazz Band in 1929 Essex Roadster

Here are some pictures taken by the Tony Atkinson, President, Hudson-AMC Car Club of Aust., of Greg Poppleton and the Bakelite Broadcasters gathered about the club’s beautifully restored 1929 Essex Roadster

The Hudson-AMC Car Club of Australia is dedicated to the preservation of cars built by the Hudson, Nash and American Motors Corporation.

Greg Poppleton and the Bakelite Broadcasters are Sydney’s 1920s Speakeasy and 1930s Swing Trio – Sextet. We feature Sydney’s only authentic 1920s – 1930s singer, Greg Poppleton, and world-touring vintage swing jazz musicians.

Greg Poppleton and the Bakelite Broadcasters are in demand for weddings, corporate functions, parties and historical occasions

The Hudson-AMC Car Club and Greg Poppleton and the Bakelite Broadcasters were at the annual Fairfield Museum Fair. Thank you, Tony, for the pictures…

Greg Poppleton and the Bakelite Broadcasters around the 1929 Essex Roadster. In the Bakelite Broadcasters, singer Greg Poppleton seated with megaphone, Geoff Power big silver sousaphone and trumpet, Paul Baker banjo, Adam Barnard drums and washboard

Greg Poppleton and the Bakelite Broadcasters – Sydney’s 1920s Speakeasy Trio – Sextet

The 1929 Essex Roadster belonging to the Hudson-AMC Club of Australia

Greg Poppleton, 1920s Crooner, with 10 Year Old Drummer in the Victoria Room

Hello Bakeliters,

Here are a couple of pictures of a special Greg Poppleton and the Bakelite Broadcasters line-up put together for last night’s Sunday Carnival in the Victoria Room, Darlinghurst.

Greg Poppleton, 1920s-30s singer with The Bakelite Broadcasters for Sunday carnival in the Victoria Room, Darlinghurst

On piano was Monique Lysiak from the Siren’s Big Band. On the drums, Damon Poppleton, who is now ten. And that’s me, Greg Poppleton, singing in my fancy new duds and spurning the use of the microphone. (I’ve a big voice, anyway.) Photos are by Jimmy Vargas and, since I didn’t ask whether he wanted his name in this blog, the photo with Damon was kindly snapped by a long-time Phantom Dancer listener.

Damon Poppleton, drums, Monique Lysiak, piano, Greg Poppleton, vocals on St Louis Blues

And look, you can see in a sign on top of the piano in the background. I says, ‘CDs $20′. That’s how much the latest Greg Poppleton and his Bakelite Broadcasters CD is on Bandcamp ($10 digital download, $1 a track), with Paul Furniss, Geoff Power, Al Davey, Grahame Conlon, Rod Herbert and Lawrie Thompson. Aren’t I cheeky?

It’s amazing the people you meet in the Victoria Room, including an early rock-n-roller (and his wonderful partner) who had drummed for Frankie Avalon, Fabian and Annette Funicello amongst others and is now part of the jazz scene in Sydney.

We hope to be back in the Victoria Room in the Spring.

Some good news today is that the 1920s Greg Poppleton and the Bakelite Broadcasters (Trio), with Geoff Power on sousaphone and trumpet, is booked into the new Django Bar in the Camelot Lounge on Thursday evening, 23rd May.

More details closer to the date.

Abby Dobson from Baby et Lulu will be singing in the Camelot Lounge that night.

Camelot Lounge, 19 Marrickville Rd Marrickville

We hope to see you in the Django Bar, opposite Sydenham Station, on Thursday 23 May!

Django Bar in the Camelot Lounge, Marrickville Rd & Railway St opposite Sydenham Station

Czech Swing & Harmony Singing From 1941

On this week’s Phantom Dancer we highlight Benny Goodman’s swing band, swing sextet and his bop group in three different radio broadcasts. See the play list below

And the Video of the Week: a German swing song (Hmm Hmm) by the great Czech swing band and singers, R.A. Dvorsky and the Allan Sisters recorded in 1941. Enjoy!

Play List – The Phantom Dancer 107.3 2SER-FM Sydney, Live Stream, Digital Radio Community Radio Network Show #46 2SER Tuesday 9 April 2013 12 noon – 1:30pm (+10 hours GMT) 2SER Saturday 13 April 2013 6 – 7:30pm (+10 hours GMT) Set 1 Confessin’ Count Basie (organ) Nonet Comm Rec Boston 7 Sep 1954 Open + Skyliner Charlie Barnet Orchestra ‘One Night Stand’ AFRS re-broadcast 2 Jun 1944 It’s A Beautiful Day Chuck Foster Orchestra ‘One Night Stand’ Ice Terrace Room Hotel New Yorker AFRS re-broadcast 13 Aug 1945 Chatanooga Shoe Shine Boy Jack Smith (voc) Margaret Whiting also heard. Frank deVol Orchestra ‘Oxydol Show’ KNX CBS LA 1950 Set 2 Festival Swing ’41 French All-Star Orchestra Paris Radio 26 Dec 1940 That’s My Weakness Now + I Love You Denis Segay and the Savings Bonds Orchestra (voc) The Three Singing Dollars ‘Guest Star’ New York 24 Jan 1954 Janine Clyde McCoy Orchestra ‘Jubilee’ AFRS Hollywood Oct 1943 Birmingham Special Glen Gray and the Casa Loma Orchestra ‘GI Jive’ AFRS Hollywood 1945 Set 3 Annoying Evening Rain Bai Hing (voc) Orchestra Comm Rec Pathe Shanghai 1948 She’s Funny That Way Frank Sinatra (voc) ‘Vimms Vitamins Show’ WABC CBS NY 16 Aug 1944 Rislaia Vincent Lopez Orchestra ‘One Night Stand’ Grill Room Hotel Taft, New York AFRS re-broadcast 1959 Intermezzo Benny Goodman Orchestra ‘One Night Stand’ Palladium Ballroom Hollywood AFRS re-broadcast 29 Mar 1949 Set 4 Let Me Off Uptown Lucky Millinder Orchestra (voc) Trevor Bacon Comm Rec New York 18 Feb 1942 Umbrella Man Benny Goodman Sextet ‘Camel Caravan’ WABC CBS NY 10 Jan 1939 Jam With Sam Duke Ellington Orchestra Blackkawk Restaurant WMAQ NBC Chicago 30 Jul 1952 Jumpin’ At The Woodside Benny Goodman Orchestra WEAF NBC NY 9 Sep 1939 Set 5 There Goes That Song Again George Trevare Orchestra with vocal Comm Rec Sydney 1944 On The Sentimental Side Lee Wiley KHJ Mutual Don Lees Los Angeles 31 Mar 1938 Can’t Help Lovin’ That Man Mildred Bailey (voc) Woody Herman Orchestra ‘Wild Root Show’ NBC 8 Feb 1946 I’ll Get By Billie Holliday ‘Spotlight Bands’ Metropolitan Opera House WJZ Blue Network New York 18 Jan 1944 Set 6 Gandy Dancer George Hall Orchestra Radio Transcription New York 1937 When My Dreamboat Comes Home Count Basie Orchestra Savoy Ballroom New York 30 Jun 1937 Hold Tight + Close Glenn Miller Orchestra (voc) Marion Hutton Meadowbrook Ballroom Cedar Grove NJ WEAF NBC Red NY 18 Apr 1939

1920s Hot Jazz Quartet At The Fairfield Museum Fair

Here are some happy snaps for you of Greg Poppleton and the Bakelite Broadcasters at the 2013 Fairfield Museum fair, celebrating 30 years of the Fairfield Museum, Horsley Drive, Smithfield, with songs from the 1920s and 1930s

Greg Poppleton and the Bakelite Broadcasters at the Faifield Museum Open Day singing the songs of the 1920s

 

Greg Poppleton, singer in blue, with Geoff Power, sousaphone, and Paul Baker, banjo (Adam Barnard, drums, out of shot)

There’s also some pics of the band posing in a restored 1929 Essex 6 taken by the Hudson Car Club. I’ll post them as soon as I get them emailed to me

Swing dancers on the day at Fairfield: SwingKatz. Also on stage was a Spanish choir and Uruguayan drummers

Greg Poppleton and the Bakelite Broadcasters are a trio to sextet with Sydney’s only authentic 1920s-30s singer specialising in swing and jazz from the 1920s and 1930s. Please visit the band website: www.bakelitejazz.com. We play for all occasions

Doin’ The Charleston Album

The latest independent release by Greg Poppleton and the Bakelite Broadcasters is pure 1920s in flavour and available on Bandcamp

With the same maverick spirit that produced ‘The Phantom Dancer’ (the sold-out first CD and the award-winning, national community radio show), ‘Doin’ The Charleston’, is the long-awaited second album from Greg Poppleton & The Bakelite Broadcasters

Recorded live-in-studio in just 5 hours, ‘Doin’ The Charleston’, is the first document of Greg Poppleton & The Bakelite Broadcasters as a purely Roaring 20s Speakeasy 5-piece. There are more layers, more stylistic tangents than before, with a DNA recovered from the very bones of smoking, catchy, 1920s speakeasy pop. At the forefront is the undeniably authentic and unique Roaring 20s vocal style of Greg Poppleton

A pre-release spin of ‘Doin The Charleston’ at the 2012 Sydney Fringe Festival had swing dancers crowding the dance floor

Greg Poppleton is very proud of the results, “For me, ‘Doin’ The Charleston’, is all about the songs, how they line up, intertwine, switch partners and promenade home”

Greg has expanded his 3.5 octave sonic palette with a long list of influences to forge his own sound. Heir to a tradition of finely-crafted, dramatic, confessional music that explores the ups and downs of life and love with a keenly-observed honesty that touches all who hear, Greg Poppleton is backed by what really is an all-star speakeasy band of world-touring jazz musicians…

Paul Furniss weaves shimmering, infectious, toe-tapping anthems using soprano, alto, tenor saxophones and clarinet. Al Davey wails, growls and caresses on trumpet and trombone. He brings together the brightest elements and darkest undertones in a unique blend of unshackled two-beat. Grahame Conlon’s banjo demands attention weaving audacious fat chords around the pulsing, minimalist sousaphone loops of Rod Herbert and ARIA nominee Geoff Power and the chemically infused drum beats and bootleg hooch washboard laid down by Bell band legend, Lawrie Thompson

The quintet makes lullabies, lush dreamy vintage pop, and the powerful, bone-rattling immediacy of hot, danceable jazz. Vocal hooks are inescapable, lush productions uncannily authentic to the Roaring 20s, as sophisticated and pristine as anything on a 78 disc. ‘Doin’ The Charleston’s’ 14 tracks (including a bonus alternate take on the soaring St James Infirmary) trace a unique aesthetic universe that is fully-crafted and fully-realised, deftly walking the lines between joyous exhilaration and otherworldly rapture, pleasure-centre pop and total self-possession

It has been described as the Temperance Seven meets’ Don Byron’s Bug Music

Greg Poppleton & The Bakelite Broadcasters’ is a universe that invites exploration and demands revisiting. ‘Doin’ The Charleston’ is a journey from darkness to light, from anger to love, from chaos to order. Buy at Bandcamp, CD Baby and bakelitejazz.com

Greg Poppleton and the Bakelite Broadcasters Trio for a 30th Birthday at the ArtHouse

‘Doin’ The Charleston’ has been featured by Bob Rogers in a one hour special on the album over 2CH and the Macquarie Network, Sydney. It has also been CD of the Week on ArtSoundFM Canberra and Jazz Album of the Week on 5MBS Adelaide

Former jazz critic for The Australian newspaper, Kevin Jones, wrote about ‘Doin The Charleston’…

“Even in the 21st century, the music of the so-called jazz age (the Roaring Twenties) still holds a fascination for many, judging by the number of bands which play this style of music world-wide. The Bakelite Broadcasters, led by vocalist Greg Poppleton, keeps the 1920s’ flag flying in Sydney as this enjoyable disc, the second by the group, shows.

They are mostly pre-Swing Era songs written before Benny Goodman launched jazz’s most popular years at the Palomar Ballroom in Los Angeles on August 21, 1935 ranging from Paul Dresser’s My Gal Sal (1907) to Fats Wallers’ I’m Gonna Sit Right Down And Write Myself A Lettter (1935) and include The Charleston (1923) and Sweet Lorraine and Button Up Your Overcoat (both written in 1928)
Listening to the 1929 recording by the Mound City Blue Blowers of I Ain’t Got Nobody and My Gal Sal shows the Broadcasters have captured the basic sound. Not surprising when you consider the group includes musicians of the calibre of Paul Furniss (reeds) Al Davey (trumpet and trombone) and Lawrie Thompson (drums and washboard) who show how well they have mastered the style. Grahame Conlon (tenor banjo) makes a mockery of those many banjo jokes with his rollicking solo on The Road To Gundagai. As for the leader, some may find his voice a little affected at times but he has captured that decade’s vocal style to perfection especially on Falling in Love Again sung in both English and German. As enjoyable as they are to listen to The Bakelite Broadcasters must be even better live.”

Enjoy!