Sam ‘The Man’ Taylor Rock’n’Roll Sax – Phantom Dancer 26 April 2022

Sam ‘The Man’ Taylor, influential 1940s jump and 1950s rock tenor saxophonist, is this week’s Phantom Dancer non-stop swing jazz feature artist. You’ll hear him from two 1956 Rock ‘n’ Roll Dance Party broadcasts on this week’s mix.

Because of the current Sydney Covid lockdown I can’t mix live from the 2SER studios as I normally do on Tuesdays, so this is a ‘classic’ Phantom Dancer from ‘the vaults’ in a ‘repeat premier’ for your aural enjoyment. Make sure you donate to community radio 2SER to keep these Phantom Dancers going.

Greg Poppleton has been bringing you The Phantom Dancer, your non-stop mix of swing and jazz from live 1920s-60s radio and TV, each week since 1985.

Hear The Phantom Dancer online from 12:04pm AEST Tuesday 26 April at https://2ser.com/phantom-dancer/ where you can also hear two years of archived shows.

The finyl hour is vinyl.

SAM ‘THE MAN’ TAYLOR

Taylor was born in Lexington, Tennessee. He attended Alabama State University, where he played with the Bama State Collegians. He later worked with Scatman Crothers, Cootie Williams, Lucky Millinder, Cab Calloway, Ray Charles, Buddy Johnson, Louis Jordan and Big Joe Turner. Taylor was one of the most requested session saxophone players in New York recording studios in the 1950s. He also replaced Count Basie as the house bandleader on Alan Freed’s radio series, Rock ‘n’ Roll Dance Party, on CBS, from where this week’s Phantom Dancer Sam ‘The Man’ Taylor tracks originate.

Taylor played the saxophone solo on Turner’s “Shake, Rattle and Roll”. He also played on “Harlem Nocturne”; on “Money Honey”, recorded by Clyde McPhatter and the Drifters in 1953; and on “Sh-Boom” by the Chords.

During the 1960s, he led a five-piece band, the Blues Chasers. In the 1970s, he frequently played and recorded in Japan.

VIDEO OF THE WEEK

Sam ‘The Man’ Taylor’s hit 1955 recording on the 1930s jazz standard, Harlem Nocturne. The song was written by Earle Hagen when he was a teenager! He later gave us some of the greatest TV themes ever: “Andy Griffith Show”, “Dick Van Dyke Show”, “Gomer Pyle USMC”, “Danny Thomas Show”, “That Girl”, “I Spy”, “Mod Squad”

Make sure you come back to this blog, Greg Poppleton’s Radio Lounge, every Tuesday, for the newest Phantom Dancer play list and Video of the Week!

26 APRIL PLAY LIST

Play List – The Phantom Dancer 107.3 2SER-FM Sydney, Live Stream, Digital Radio Community Radio Network Show CRN #542
107.3 2SER Tuesday 26 April 2022 12:04 – 2:00pm (+10 hours GMT) and Saturdays 5 – 5:55pm National Program 5GTR Mt Gambier Monday 2:30 – 3:30am 3MBR Murrayville Monday 3 – 4am 4NAG Keppel FM Monday 3 – 4am 2MIA Griffith Monday 3 – 4am 2BAR Edge FM Bega Monday 3 – 4am 2BRW Braidwood Monday 3 – 4am 2YYY Young Monday 3 – 4am 3VKV Alpine Radio Monday 6 – 7pm 7MID Oatlands Monday 6 -7pm 6GME Radio Goolarri Broome Tuesday 12am – 1am 2SEA Eden Tuesday 6 – 7pm 2MCE Bathurst Wednesday 9 – 10am 1ART ArtsoundFM Canberra Friday 10 – 11am 2ARM Armidale Friday 12 – 1pm 5LCM Lofty FM Adelaide Friday 1 – 2pm Denmark FM (West Australia) Saturdays 10 – 11am Repeat: Wednesdays 10 – 11pm 7LTN Launceston Sunday 5 – 6am 3MGB Mallacoota Sunday 5 – 6am 3BBR West Gippsland Sunday 5 – 6pm
Set 1	Swing on 1930s Radio
Open + Star Dust	Eliot Lawrence Orchestra	Meadowbrook Ballroom Cedar Grove NJ WOR Mutual NY 1951
Take the A Train (theme) + Koko	Duke Ellington Orchestra	Town Casino NBC Cleveland OH 1952
GI Jive + Close	Raymond Scott Orchestra (voc) Dorothy Collins	‘The Raymond Scott Show’ AFRS Re-broadcast 1944
Set 2	Sam ‘The Man’ Taylor Big Band
Open + Push It	Sam ‘The Man’ Taylor Big Band	‘Rock’n’Roll Dance Party’ WCBS CBS NY 4 Sep 1956
Flag Waver	Sam ‘The Man’ Taylor Big Band	‘Rock’n’Roll Dance Party’ WCBS CBS NY 11 Sep 1956
Taylor Made + Close	Sam ‘The Man’ Taylor Big Band	‘Rock’n’Roll Dance Party’ WCBS CBS NY 4 Sep 1956
Set 3	Hillbilly Radio
Theme + Sugar Foot Rag	Skip Skipper Quartet	‘Stokely Hi Noon Roundup’ WMPS Memphis 1952
I Found It In Mother’s Bible	Skip Skipper Quartet (voc) Miss Sally Carter	‘Stokely Hi Noon Roundup’ WMPS Memphis 1952
I’ve Got A Gal Up On My Mind + Rainbows End + Close	The Plainsmen	‘Call of the Range’ KNX CBS Los Angeles 1946
Set 4	Bing Crosby and Rosemary Clooney
Enchanted	Rosemary Clooney (voc) Buddy Cole Music	‘Bing Crosby and Rosemary Clooney Show’ CBS Hollywood 20 Mar 1962
Shine On Harvest Moon	Bing Crosby and Rosemary Clooney (voc) Buddy Cole Music	‘Bing Crosby and Rosemary Clooney Show’ CBS Hollywood 20 Mar 1962
Deed I Do	Bing Crosby (voc) Buddy Cole Music	‘Bing Crosby and Rosemary Clooney Show’ CBS Hollywood 20 Mar 1962
Baby, Baby + Close	Rosemary Clooney (voc) Buddy Cole Music	‘Bing Crosby and Rosemary Clooney Show’ CBS Hollywood 20 Mar 1962
Set 5	Louis Armstrong
Open + I Never Knew	Louis Armstrong Orchestra (voc) Louis Armstrong	‘Spotlight Bands’ Dallas Tx Blue Network 17 Aug 1943
You Rascal You	Louis Armstrong All-Stars (voc) Louis Armstrong	‘Guest Star’ Radio Transcription New York City 7 May 1950
Basin Street Blues	Louis Armstrong All-Stars (voc) Louis Armstrong	‘Guest Star’ Radio Transcription New York City 12 Dec 1954
Skeleton in the Closet + Close	Louis Armstrong Orchestra (voc) Louis Armstrong	‘Norge Program’ Radio Transcription New York City 1937
Set 6	1930s Australian Dance Orchestras
Marmelade	Jim Davidson and his ABC Dance Band	Comm Rec Sydney 24 Jan 1938
Cosmopolitan Blues	Maurice Gilman Orchestra (voc) Noel Judd	Comm Rec Sydney 8 Jan 1935
Annie Laurie	Jim Davidson and his ABC Dance Band (voc) Alice Smith	Comm Rec Sydney 24 Jan 1938
Harlem Heat	Dudley Cantrell and his Grace Grenadiers	Comm Rec Sydney 22 Nov 1937
Set 7	1940s Dance Band Singers
I Dream of You	Bob Allen (voc) Tommy Dorsey Orchestra	‘For The Record’ Carnegie Hall WEAF NBC NY 17 Apr 1944
Playmates	Lorraine Benson (voc) Ray Herbeck and his Music with Romance Orchestra	Trianon Ballroom WGN Chicago 24 Nov 1947
Is You Is Or Is You Ain’t My Baby?	Betty Martin and Randy Ryan (voc) Bob Strong Orchestra	Glen Island Casino New Rochelle NY WOR Mutual NY 5 Aug 1944
Old Fashioned Love	Eddy Howard (voc) Eddy Howard Orchestra	Aragon Ballroom WGN Mutual Chicago 5 Dec 1948
Set 8	Charlie Parker’s 100th Birthday
Repetition / Interview / They Can’t Take That Away From Me	Charlie Parker and Strings	‘Symphony Sid Show’ Birdland WJZ ABC NY 7 Apr 1951
52nd Street Theme	Charlie Parker and Miles Davis	‘Symphony Sid Show’ Royal Roost WMCA NY 4 Sep 1948
Night in Tunisia	Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie	‘Symphony Sid Show’ WJZ ABC NY Birdland 31 Mar 1951
Ornithology	Charlie Parker and Kenny Dorham	‘Symphony Sid Show’ Royal Roost WMCA NY 1 Jan 1949

Sam ‘The Man’ Taylor Rock’n’Roll Sax – Phantom Dancer 6 July 2021

Sam ‘The Man’ Taylor, influential 1940s jump and 1950s rock tenor saxophonist, is this week’s Phantom Dancer non-stop swing jazz feature artist. You’ll hear him from two 1956 Rock ‘n’ Roll Dance Party broadcasts on this week’s mix.

Because of the current Sydney Covid lockdown I can’t mix live from the 2SER studios as I normally do on Tuesdays, so this is a ‘classic’ Phantom Dancer from ‘the vaults’ in a ‘repeat premier’ for your aural enjoyment. Make sure you donate to community radio 2SER to keep these Phantom Dancers going.

Greg Poppleton has been bringing you The Phantom Dancer, your non-stop mix of swing and jazz from live 1920s-60s radio and TV, each week since 1985.

Hear The Phantom Dancer online from 12:04pm AEST Tuesday 6 July at https://2ser.com/phantom-dancer/ where you can also hear two years of archived shows.

The finyl hour is vinyl.

SAM ‘THE MAN’ TAYLOR

Taylor was born in Lexington, Tennessee. He attended Alabama State University, where he played with the Bama State Collegians. He later worked with Scatman Crothers, Cootie Williams, Lucky Millinder, Cab Calloway, Ray Charles, Buddy Johnson, Louis Jordan and Big Joe Turner. Taylor was one of the most requested session saxophone players in New York recording studios in the 1950s. He also replaced Count Basie as the house bandleader on Alan Freed’s radio series, Rock ‘n’ Roll Dance Party, on CBS, from where this week’s Phantom Dancer Sam ‘The Man’ Taylor tracks originate.

Taylor played the saxophone solo on Turner’s “Shake, Rattle and Roll”. He also played on “Harlem Nocturne”; on “Money Honey”, recorded by Clyde McPhatter and the Drifters in 1953; and on “Sh-Boom” by the Chords.

During the 1960s, he led a five-piece band, the Blues Chasers. In the 1970s, he frequently played and recorded in Japan.

VIDEO OF THE WEEK

Sam ‘The Man’ Taylor’s hit 1955 recording on the 1930s jazz standard, Harlem Nocturne. The song was written by Earle Hagen when he was a teenager! He later gave us some of the greatest TV themes ever: “Andy Griffith Show”, “Dick Van Dyke Show”, “Gomer Pyle USMC”, “Danny Thomas Show”, “That Girl”, “I Spy”, “Mod Squad”

Make sure you come back to this blog, Greg Poppleton’s Radio Lounge, every Tuesday, for the newest Phantom Dancer play list and Video of the Week!

6 JULY PLAY LIST

Play List – The Phantom Dancer 107.3 2SER-FM Sydney, Live Stream, Digital Radio Community Radio Network Show CRN #499
107.3 2SER Tuesday 6 JULY 2021 12:04 – 2:00pm (+10 hours GMT) and Saturdays 5 – 5:55pm National Program 5GTR Mt Gambier Monday 2:30 – 3:30am 3MBR Murrayville Monday 3 – 4am 4NAG Keppel FM Monday 3 – 4am 2SEA Eden Monday 3 – 4am 2MIA Griffith Monday 3 – 4am 2BAR Edge FM Bega Monday 3 – 4am 2BRW Braidwood Monday 3 – 4am 3VKV Alpine Radio Monday 6 – 7pm 7MID Oatlands Monday 6 -7pm 6GME Radio Goolarri Broome Tuesday 12am – 1am 2MCE Bathurst Wednesday 9 – 10am 1ART ArtsoundFM Canberra Friday 10 – 11am 2ARM Armidale Friday 12 – 1pm 5LCM Lofty FM Adelaide Friday 1 – 2pm 7LTN Launceston Sunday 5 – 6am 3MGB Mallacoota Sunday 5 – 6am 3BBR West Gippsland Sunday 5 – 6pm
Set 1	Swing on 1930s Radio
Open + Star Dust	Eliot Lawrence Orchestra	Meadowbrook Ballroom Cedar Grove NJ WOR Mutual NY 1951
Take the A Train (theme) + Koko	Duke Ellington Orchestra	Town Casino NBC Cleveland OH 1952
GI Jive + Close	Raymond Scott Orchestra (voc) Dorothy Collins	‘The Raymond Scott Show’ AFRS Re-broadcast 1944
Set 2	Sam ‘The Man’ Taylor Big Band
Open + Push It	Sam ‘The Man’ Taylor Big Band	‘Rock’n’Roll Dance Party’ WCBS CBS NY 4 Sep 1956
Flag Waver	Sam ‘The Man’ Taylor Big Band	‘Rock’n’Roll Dance Party’ WCBS CBS NY 11 Sep 1956
Taylor Made + Close	Sam ‘The Man’ Taylor Big Band	‘Rock’n’Roll Dance Party’ WCBS CBS NY 4 Sep 1956
Set 3	Hillbilly Radio
Theme + Sugar Foot Rag	Skip Skipper Quartet	‘Stokely Hi Noon Roundup’ WMPS Memphis 1952
I Found It In Mother’s Bible	Skip Skipper Quartet (voc) Miss Sally Carter	‘Stokely Hi Noon Roundup’ WMPS Memphis 1952
I’ve Got A Gal Up On My Mind + Rainbows End + Close	The Plainsmen	‘Call of the Range’ KNX CBS Los Angeles 1946
Set 4	Bing Crosby and Rosemary Clooney
Enchanted	Rosemary Clooney (voc) Buddy Cole Music	‘Bing Crosby and Rosemary Clooney Show’ CBS Hollywood 20 Mar 1962
Shine On Harvest Moon	Bing Crosby and Rosemary Clooney (voc) Buddy Cole Music	‘Bing Crosby and Rosemary Clooney Show’ CBS Hollywood 20 Mar 1962
Deed I Do	Bing Crosby (voc) Buddy Cole Music	‘Bing Crosby and Rosemary Clooney Show’ CBS Hollywood 20 Mar 1962
Baby, Baby + Close	Rosemary Clooney (voc) Buddy Cole Music	‘Bing Crosby and Rosemary Clooney Show’ CBS Hollywood 20 Mar 1962
Set 5	Louis Armstrong
Open + I Never Knew	Louis Armstrong Orchestra (voc) Louis Armstrong	‘Spotlight Bands’ Dallas Tx Blue Network 17 Aug 1943
You Rascal You	Louis Armstrong All-Stars (voc) Louis Armstrong	‘Guest Star’ Radio Transcription New York City 7 May 1950
Basin Street Blues	Louis Armstrong All-Stars (voc) Louis Armstrong	‘Guest Star’ Radio Transcription New York City 12 Dec 1954
Skeleton in the Closet + Close	Louis Armstrong Orchestra (voc) Louis Armstrong	‘Norge Program’ Radio Transcription New York City 1937
Set 6	1930s Australian Dance Orchestras
Marmelade	Jim Davidson and his ABC Dance Band	Comm Rec Sydney 24 Jan 1938
Cosmopolitan Blues	Maurice Gilman Orchestra (voc) Noel Judd	Comm Rec Sydney 8 Jan 1935
Annie Laurie	Jim Davidson and his ABC Dance Band (voc) Alice Smith	Comm Rec Sydney 24 Jan 1938
Harlem Heat	Dudley Cantrell and his Grace Grenadiers	Comm Rec Sydney 22 Nov 1937
Set 7	1940s Dance Band Singers
I Dream of You	Bob Allen (voc) Tommy Dorsey Orchestra	‘For The Record’ Carnegie Hall WEAF NBC NY 17 Apr 1944
Playmates	Lorraine Benson (voc) Ray Herbeck and his Music with Romance Orchestra	Trianon Ballroom WGN Chicago 24 Nov 1947
Is You Is Or Is You Ain’t My Baby?	Betty Martin and Randy Ryan (voc) Bob Strong Orchestra	Glen Island Casino New Rochelle NY WOR Mutual NY 5 Aug 1944
Old Fashioned Love	Eddy Howard (voc) Eddy Howard Orchestra	Aragon Ballroom WGN Mutual Chicago 5 Dec 1948
Set 8	Charlie Parker’s 100th Birthday
Repetition / Interview / They Can’t Take That Away From Me	Charlie Parker and Strings	‘Symphony Sid Show’ Birdland WJZ ABC NY 7 Apr 1951
52nd Street Theme	Charlie Parker and Miles Davis	‘Symphony Sid Show’ Royal Roost WMCA NY 4 Sep 1948
Night in Tunisia	Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie	‘Symphony Sid Show’ WJZ ABC NY Birdland 31 Mar 1951
Ornithology	Charlie Parker and Kenny Dorham	‘Symphony Sid Show’ Royal Roost WMCA NY 1 Jan 1949

Cabaret of 1920s – 30s Songs

An hour cabaret of 1920s – 1930s songs by Greg Poppleton (1920s-30s-style singer) and Grahame Conlon (banjo / guitar)

No microphone (the suspension mic is a prop) and no audio sweetening. The sound is Zoom via an inbuilt laptop mic. We’re sitting on a lounge so this could also be called Lounge Music.

Every year since 2006 we’ve played an annual concert in the historic Bondi Pavilion next to iconic Bondi Beach. This year the concert was online because of Covid and restoration work at the Pavilion.

Greg’s authenticity in 1920s – 30s singing comes from a lifetime of listening. He also trained in bel canto singing with Steve Ostrow of Continental Baths fame. Steve discovered Bette Midler and relaunched the career of Peter Allen. Cab Calloway, Margaret Whiting and Josephine Baker sang in his club.

Greg sings in an Australian accent, including when he sings in German, Spanish and Italian. He sometimes sings while eating a banana. The Jazz Police called during the show.

Songs in this spontaneous, energetic cabaret include The Charleston, Yes We Have No Bananas and Carolina in the Morning.

Bookings & Music Website: https://www.gregpoppletonmusic.com

Greg has put out 8 albums. His new album, released in July 2020, is ‘Tin Pan Alley Vol. 2’.
Read Dave J Doyle’s review of ‘Tin Pan Alley Vol. 2’ in the online US magazine, ‘The Syncopated Times’: https://syncopatedtimes.com/greg-poppleton-%E2%80%A2-tin-pan-alley-vol-2/

Download songs
SPOTIFY: https://open.spotify.com/album/1fWRX8EF00yiI9xYgYRVnA
APPLE MUSIC: https://music.apple.com/us/album/tin-pan-alley-vol-2/1515196327
AMAZON: https://www.amazon.com/Greg-Poppleton/e/B001LI794A
WEBSITE: https://www.gregpoppletonmusic.com/20s-30s-tin-pan-alley-vol-2/

Enjoy!

Hal Kemp – Phantom Dancer 21 July 2020

Hal Kemp is this week’s Phantom Dancer feature artist in 1930s radio broadcasts and his last musical short film.

The Phantom Dancer is presented and produced by 1920s-30s singer and actor Greg Poppleton. It’s been on-air every week over 107.3 2SER Sydney since 1985.

Listen to The Phantom Dancer online from 12:04pm AEST Tuesday 21 July at https://2ser.com/phantom-dancer/

The finyl hour is vinyl.

1920s

James Hal Kemp was an American jazz alto saxophonist, clarinetist, bandleader, composer, and arranger.

He formed his first band in high school. At age 19 he led the University of North Carolina band called the Carolina Club Orchestra. They sailed to England, where they made their first recordings.

On their return journey they made the acquaintance of the Prince of Wales who sat in with them on drums. This got the band mentioned in US press reports so that on their return they received several offers of contracts.

In 1927, Kemp formed his own jazz orchestra, which at various times featured singer Skinnay Ennis, trumpeter Bunny Berigan, and pianist John Scott Trotter.

1930s

In the 1930s, with the economic and social challenges of the Great Depression, Kemp’s band became better known for more soothing “sweet” dance music. From 1932 to 1934, they performed at the Blackhawk Restaurant in Chicago and were heard regularly on radio broadcasts. They became well-known nationally and secured a contract with Brunswick Records. Most of the vocals on their recordings were by Skinnay Ellis, whose vocal style and the arrangements by Trotter, which featured staccato triplets by the trumpeters and clarinets played through megaphones, gave Kemp’s records a distinctive sound.

Kemp and his orchestra had a number of hit records, including “Shuffle Off to Buffalo” (1933), “In the Middle of a Kiss” (1935), “There’s a Small Hotel” (1936), “When I’m With You” (1936), “This Year’s Kisses” (1937), and “Where or When” (1937).[4] From 1937, Kemp recorded for Victor Records.[4] His other recordings included “Got A Date With An Angel”, “Heart Of Stone”, “Lamplight”, “The Music Goes ‘Round And Around”, “You’re The Top”, “Bolero”, “Gloomy Sunday”, “Lullaby Of Broadway”, and many others.

In 1936, John Scott Trotter left, being succeeded as arranger by Hal Mooney and Lou Busch. Ennis left in 1938, and Bob Allen became the band’s featured singer. With the rising popularity of swing bands such as those of Benny Goodman and Tommy Dorsey, the popularity of Kemp’s orchestra declined and there were many changes in band membership, though they continued to make film appearances…

VIDEO

Your Phantom Dancer Video of the Week this week is Hal Kemp playing clarinet, alto sax and conducting his tripling trumpets band in a Warner Brothers’ short filmed one day before he was killed by a car accident, December 1940.

21 JULY PLAY LIST

Play List – The Phantom Dancer 107.3 2SER-FM Sydney, Live Stream, Digital Radio Community Radio Network Show CRN #446
107.3 2SER Tuesday 21 July 2020 After the 2SER 12 noon news, 12:04 – 2:00pm (+10 hours GMT) and Saturdays 5 – 5:55pm National Program: 1ART ArtsoundFM Canberra Sunday 10 – 11pm 5GTR Mt Gambier Monday 2:30 – 3:30am 3MBR Murrayville Monday 3 – 4am 4NAG Keppel FM Monday 3 – 4am 2SEA Eden Monday 3 – 4am 2MIA Griffith Monday 3 – 4pm 2BAR Edge FM Bega Monday 3 – 4pm 3VKV Alpine Radio Monday 6 – 7pm 7MID Oatlands Tuesday 8 – 9pm 2MCE Bathurst / Orange / Central West NSW Wednesday 9 – 10am 2ARM Armidale Friday 12 – 1pm 7LTN Launceston Sunday 5 – 6am 3MGB Mallacoota Sunday 5 – 6am 6GME Radio Goolarri Broome Sunday 5 – 6am
Set 1	Swinging Big Bands on 1940s One Night Stand Radio
Open (Memories of You) + Blue Moon	Sonny Donham Orchestra	‘One Night Stand’ Palladium Ballroom Hollywood AFRS Re-broadcast 1 Aug 1944
The Good Earth	Woody Herman Orchestra	‘One Night Stand’ Cafe Rouge Hotel Pennsylvania AFRS Re-broadcast 23 Aug 1945
The Man I Love + Out Of Nowhere	Gene Krupa Orchestra	‘One Night Stand’ Meadowbrook Gardens Culver City Ca AFRS Re-broadcast 31 Mar 1946
Set 2	Jazz on 1960s Radio
Open + The Lamp Is Low	Oscar Peterson Trio	Montreal Jazz Festival CBC Canada 1968
Just Lucky	Harry James Orchestra	El Patio Ballroom KCBS CBS San Francisco 20 May 1961
Set 3	Early 1930s Music Radio
Cool Water	RCA Victor Concert Orchestra	‘His Master’s Voice of the Air’ Radio Transcription Nov 1932
Shake Hands With A Million	Harry Richman	‘Dodge Show’ Radio Transcription 1934
Dinah	Jimmie Grier Orchestra (voc) The Three Cheers	Cocoanut Grove Ambassador Hotel NBC Orange Los Angeles 1932
Set 4	Women Jazz Singers on the Air
Rockin’ Chair	Mildred Bailey	‘Guest Star’ Radio Transcription NY 1951
Thank Your Stars	Ella Fitzgerald with her Orchestra	Savoy Ballroom WEAF NBC Red NY 25 Jan 1940
Open + Just A Moment More	Sarah Vaughan	‘Stars in Jazz’ Birdland WNBC NBC NY 21 Apr 1953
Set 5	Ray Noble on American Radio
The Very Thought Of You (theme) + And The Angels Sing	Ray Noble Orchestra (voc) Liz Tilton	Beverley-Wiltshire Hotel KFI NBC LA 22 Oct 1939
I Never Had A Chance	Ray Noble Orchestra (voc) Al Bowlly	‘Coty Hour’ WEAF NBC Red NY 13 Mar 1935
A Fountain in Havana	Ray Noble Orchestra (piano) Claude Thornhill	‘Coty Hour’ WEAF NBC Red NY 17 Apr 1935
Comanche War Dance + Theme (Goodnight Sweetheart)	Ray Noble Orchestra	Beverley-Wiltshire Hotel KFI NBC LA 6 April 1940
Set 6	Swing Bands on 1944 Radio
Sleep	Benny Carter Orchestra	Aircheck Trianon Ballroom Southgate Ca 1944
No Love, No Nothin’	Lionel Hampton Orchestra (voc) Dinah Washington	Trianon Ballroom Southgate Ca KFI NBC LA 16 Jun 1944
Three Little Words	Tommy Dorsey Orchestra	Casino Gardens Ocean Park Ca KECA Blue LA Oct 1944
Frantic in the Atlantic	Cab Calloway Orchestra	‘One Night Stand’ Club Zanzibar New York City AFRS Re-broadcast 22 Sep 1944
Set 7	Hal Kemp’s Tripling Trumpets on 1934 Radio
When Summer Is Gone (theme) + It’s Winter Again	Hal Kemp Orchestra (voc) Skinnay Ennis	‘Lavena Program’ Radio Transcription New York City 1934
Boulevarde of Broken Dreams	Hal Kemp Orchestra (voc) Deane Janis	‘Lavena Program’ Radio Transcription New York City 1934
Last Year’s Girl	Hal Kemp Orchestra (voc) Skinnay Ennis	‘Lavena Program’ Radio Transcription New York City 1934
Between The Devil and the Deep Blue Sea + When summer is Gone (theme)	Hal Kemp Orchestra	‘Lavena Program’ Radio Transcription New York City 1934
Set 8	Jazz on 1940s-50s TV
Soft Winds + Perdido	Roy Eldridge All-Stars	‘The Today Show’ WNBC TV NBC NY 18 Jan 1957
My Funny Valentine	Helen Ward (voc)	‘Eddie Condon’s Floor Show’ WNBC TV NBC NY 26 Mar 1949
Ridin’ High	Benny Goodman Orchestra (voc) Ella Fitzgerald	‘Texaco Show’ WNBC TV NBC NY 9 Apr 1958
Intro + Drum Boogie	Ronald Reagan MC, Gene Krupa Orchestra (voc) Anita O’Day	‘Ford Star Time’ NBC TV LA 9 Feb 1960

Paul Lavalle ‘Symphonic Rhumba’ – Phantom Dancer 30 June 2020

Paul Lavalle composer, arranger, clarinettist and saxophonist, is this week’s Phantom Dancer feature artist with two recordings from NBC’s ‘Chamber Music Society of Lower Basin Street’ radio series.

The Phantom Dancer is produced and presented by 1920s-30s singer and actor Greg Poppleton. The show has been on-air over 107.3 2SER Sydney since 1985.

You can hear it online from 12:04pm AEST Tuesday 30 June at https://2ser.com/phantom-dancer/

The finyl hour is vinyl.

USIFER

Paul Laval from 1938 and Paul Lavalle after the 1940s was the stagename of Joseph Usifer. He made one record in 1938, a sophisticated swing arrangement in the style of Raymond Scott in 1938.

Lavalle won a scholarship to Juilliard and was a student of composition of Joseph Schillinger. He played in many 1930s bands, including one in Havana, Cuba. In 1933 he became an arranger and clarinetist in the NBC house orchestra. His composition Symphonic Rhumba (1939), was broadcast by the NBC Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Leopold Stokowski, on December 6, 1942.

On this week’s Phantom Dancer you’ll hear two Lavalle originals,’The Bullfrog and the Finch’ and ‘The Angie Wangie Blues’ broadcast over NBC’s Blue Network.

RADIO

Lavalle worked on The Dinah Shore Show (1939–40), The Chamber Music Society of Lower Basin Street (1940–44), Plays for Americans (1942), Highways in Melody, The Stradivari Orchestra (1943), Strictly Business (1940), The Ted Steele Show (1942), and Dough Re Mi (1942-1943).

On radio he collaborated with Victor Borge, Mario Lanza, Robert Merrill and Dinah Shore. In November 1944, his jazz composition ‘Always’ made it to number 29 on the top 40 charts.

Lavalle was selected over several applicants to become the conductor of the Band of America in 1948. They performed on the weekly radio program Cities Service Concerts on NBC Radio for eight years and almost 400 programs. Each program began with the introduction: “Forty-eight states… 48 stars… 48 men marching down the main street of everybody’s hometown! Here comes the Cities Service Band of America, conducted by Paul Lavalle!”

TV

In 1949, Lavalle and the band became one of the first musical groups to appear weekly on television.

On May 18, 1961, Paul Lavalle and the Greatest Band in America joined singer Kay Armen in a 30-minute episode of the ABC-TV series ‘Music For a Spring Night’ entitled ‘Concert in the Park.’ Beginning in 1964, the Band of America toured extensively and also became the official band of the 1964 New York World’s Fair, an engagement that lasted into 1965.

In 1967, he was instrumental in forming the 100-member All-American High School Band (by 1968 known as McDonald’s All-American High School Band) which participated in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade and Tournament of Roses Parade

Lavalle guest conducted many orchestras, including the ABC Symphony, CBS Symphony, NBC Symphony Orchestra, New York Philharmonic and Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra. In 1966 he became the conductor for the Radio City Music Hall Symphony Orchestra, and he returned two years later to serve as director of music and as principal conductor until 1975. In 1981 he began conducting the Wilton, Connecticut, Chamber Orchestra.

Your Phantom Dancer Video of the Week is Paul Lavalle’s Symphonic Rhumba (1939), broadcast by the NBC Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Leopold Stokowski, on December 6, 1942…

30 JUNE PLAY LIST

Play List – The Phantom Dancer 107.3 2SER-FM Sydney, Live Stream, Digital Radio Community Radio Network Show CRN #443
107.3 2SER Tuesday 30 June 2020 After the 2SER 12 noon news, 12:04 – 2:00pm (+10 hours GMT) and Saturdays 5 – 5:55pm National Program: 1ART ArtsoundFM Canberra Sunday 10 – 11pm 5GTR Mt Gambier Monday 2:30 – 3:30am 3MBR Murrayville Monday 3 – 4am 4NAG Keppel FM Monday 3 – 4am 2SEA Eden Monday 3 – 4am 2MIA Griffith Monday 3 – 4pm 2BAR Edge FM Bega Monday 3 – 4pm 3VKV Alpine Radio Monday 6 – 7pm 7MID Oatlands Tuesday 8 – 9pm 2MCE Bathurst / Orange / Central West NSW Wednesday 9 – 10am 2ARM Armidale Friday 12 – 1pm 7LTN Launceston Sunday 5 – 6am 3MGB Mallacoota Sunday 5 – 6am 6GME Radio Goolarri Broome Sunday 5 – 6am
Set 1	Swing and Dance Bands on 1937 Radio
Let’s Dance (theme) + Minnie The Moocher’s Wedding Day	Benny Goodman Orchestra	Madhattan Room Hotel Pennsylvania WOR Mutual New York City 21 Oct 1937
Am I Blue?	Bunny Berrigan Orchestra	‘Saturday Night Swing Club’ WABC CBS NY 12 Jun 1937
September In The Rain + Ad + Close	Jack Hylton Orchestra (voc) Dick Mertre + Ad by ‘Mrs Goodsort’	‘The Rinso Review’ International Broadcasting Company London Radio Normandy 26 Dec 1937
Set 2	Count Basie on 1954 – 56 Radio
One O’Clock Jump + You For Me	Count Basie Orchestra	‘Treasury Bandstand’ American Legion Park, Ephrata Pa WLAN ABC Lancaster Pa 2 Sep 1954
Sent For You Yesterday	Count Basie Orchestra (voc) Jimmy Rushing	‘Fifth Anniversary of Birdland’ Birdland WRCA NBC NY 16 Dec 1954
All Right OK You Win	Count Basie Orchestra (voc) Joe Williams	Birdland WCBS CBS NY 9 Dec 1956
Set 3	The Chamber Music Society of Lower Basin Street WJZ NY 1941
Open + Ida	Henry Levine Dixieland Octet	‘The Chamber Music Society of Lower Basin Street’ WJZ NBC NY 30 Jun 1941
The Bullfrog and The Robin	Paul Lavalle Woodwinds	‘The Chamber Music Society of Lower Basin Street’ WJZ NBC NY 30 Jun 1941
Angie Wangie Blues + Close	Paul Lavalle Woodwinds	‘The Chamber Music Society of Lower Basin Street’ WJZ NBC NY 25 Aug 1941
Set 4	Jazz Radio in 1960
Intro + Love Letters	Rodolfo Alchourron Quartet	‘Esto Es Jazz’ LR1 Radio el Mundo, Buenos Aires 28 May 1960
Theme + Sweet and Lovely	Lee Konitz	‘Jazz International’ AFRTS Hollywood 16 Jun 1960
Rhythm A Ning	Thelonius Monk Quintet	‘The World Jazz Series’ Connie Mack Park WCAU CBS Philadelphia 3 Mar 1960
Set 5	Medium Tempo Swing On 1940s Radio
Bluebirds In The Moonlight	Dick Freeman and his Trocadero Orchestra (voc) Barbara James	Comm Rec Sydney Mar 1940
Together	Jimmy Dorsey Orchestra	‘One Night Stand’ Frolics Club Miami AFRS Re-broadcast 18 Jul 1944
I Never Knew	Raymond Scott’s Captivators	‘Morning Music’ WABC CBS NY 10 Jan 1943
Shoo Shoo Baby	Charlie Spivak Orchestra (voc) Irene Day	‘One Night Stand’ Century Room Commodore Hotel NY AFRS Re-broadcast 1944
Set 6	Small Groups from the Big Bands on the Radio
Sugar	Mel Powell Trio (from the Glenn Miller Orch.)	Comm Rec Paris 1945
The Sad Sack	Gramercy 5 (from the Artie Shaw Orchestra	‘Spotlight Bands’ Santa Ana Ca ABC Los Angeles 3 Oct 1945
Softly As In A Morning Sunrise	Benny Goodman Trio	‘Camel Caravan’ WABC CBS NY 3 jan 1939
Wire Brush Stomp	Gene Krupa Trio	‘Spotlight Bands’ Newport Rhode Island Blue Network 2 Oct 1944
Set 7	Swing From 1930s Germany
Musik! Musik! Musik!	Otto Stenzel von der Scala Berlin mit seinem Tanzorchester (voc) Wilfred Sommer	Comm Rec Berlin 7 Jun 1939
Aus Lauter Liebe	Die Goldene Sieben (voc) Peter Igelhoff	Comm Rec Berlin Jul 1937
Über die Dächer der großen Stadt	Hans Carste Orchestra (voc) Schuricke-Terzett	Comm Rec Berlin 1939
Wenn Wir Uns Einmal Wiederseh’n	Joop Carlquist und sein Hawaiian-Tanzorchester	Comm Rec Berlin 1938
Set 8	Mod Women Jazz Singers On The Air
Once In A While	Sarah Vaughan	‘Jazz Club USA’ Washington DC 25 Dec 1949
Just A’Sittin’ And A’Rockin’	Julie Christie	‘One Night Stand’ Palladium Ballroom LA AFRS Re-broadcast 27 Nov 1945
Confess	Patti Page	‘One Night Stand’ Click, Philadelphia AFRS Re-broadcast 3 Jun 1948
My Baby Just Cares For Me + The Lady Is A Tramp	Jaye P. Morgan	‘Second Timex All-Star Jazz Show’ CBS TV 30 Apr 1958

World’s First Electric Guitarist (1923) – Phantom Dancer Show 29 Jan 2018

FIRST ELECTRIC GUITARIST

On this week’s Phantom Dancer with Greg Poppleton we hear from the world’s first electric guitarist, Alvino Rey, at the peak of his popularity in 1942. He invented the world’s first amplified guitar at age 15 in 1923.

There’s also a set of Claude Hopkins 1935 radio transcriptions, a Duke Ellington extended work from live 1945 radio and much more live 1920s-60s radio swing and jazz.

PHANTOM DANCER

The Phantom Dancer is your non-stop swing and jazz mix of live 1920s-60s radio and TV every week. I’ve been bringing you The Phantom Dancer on Radio 2SER, and now online, since 1985.

Hear this week’s Phantom Dancer (after 18 Dec) and past Phantom Dancers at 2ser.com.
Hear the show live every Tuesday 12:04-2pm on 107.3 2SER Sydney

ALVINO REY

Was the stage name of big band leader, electronica and electric guitar pioneer, Alvin McBurney.

Alvin adopted the stage name in 1929 at the start of the Latin music craze in the U.S.

He wanted to be an electronics engineer and was an electronic genius as a kid.

He built his first radio at age 8, in 1916.

In the 1910s he had one of the first, and was the youngest, ham radio broadcaster.

STRINGY

Alvino was given a banjo as a child and then learnt guitar from age 12 in 1920, listening to records by Roy Smeck. At age 15, in 1923, Rey invented an electrical amplifier for the guitar but didn’t have it patented. He patented several later improvements.
Big Band historian, Christopher Popa, wrote about Rey’s early career in an interview he conducted with the World’s first electric guitarist,

“In 1927, Rey landed a job playing banjo with Cleveland bandleader Ev Jones.
“Yes, I joined the Union when I was 16,” he told me. “I went to Lakewood High School and from there I went to New York and never did come back.”
To capitalize on the popularity of Latin music in New York City during 1929, he added an “o” to his first name and changed his last name to “Rey,” which meant “the King” in Spanish.
He replaced banjoist Eddie Peabody with violinist Phil Spitalny, whose band was appearing at the Pennsylvania Hotel and was heard coast-to-coast over the radio.
“I spent two years in New York with Phil Spitalny and then went to California,” he recalled. “I joined Horace Heidt in San Francisco . . . he had a stage band, sort of like Fred Waring.”
Between 1934 and 1939, Rey was often featured on steel guitar with Heidt and became one of the best-known (and best-paid) sidemen in the country, thanks to Heidt’s weekly radio program.
“And there I met the King Sisters, and I married Luise, one of the sisters,” he reminisced.
Alvino Rey was the first to amplify the guitar.
“Well, that came about around 1930, when I was at NBC in San Francisco,” he explained to me. “And I’ve always been an electronic nut and I’ve been a ham operator and studied electronics. In fact, that was going to be my ambition, to be an electronics engineer, and I just applied the amplification of that to the guitar and string instruments.”
It brought a whole new sound to music.
“That was . . . before it was ever done, I believe. As far as I know, it was the first application to a string instrument,” he noted.
Ironically, some link it to rock and roll.
“Well, it got out of hand with a lot of the big rock groups who make so much racket with it. I didn’t intend it to be used with such volume. I used the idea just to be heard in a band, where the guitar — up until that time — was a soft, romantic background accompanying a singer. And after that, it became sort of an integral part of an orchestra.”

BIG BAND

In August 1939, Rey formed his first swing band with his amplified pedal steel guitar as the featured instrument.

An off-stage vocal microphone plugged into it with a Sonovox made it seem as though the guitar could talk.

That’s ‘Stringy the Guitar’, which you can see below in this week’s Phantom Dancer Video of the Week.

In 1942, Alvino was voted by music critics to be part of the Metronome All-Star Band as the top guitarist in the U.S.

He played in small groups from 1949, backing Elvis Presley in 1961 on Blue Hawaii.

He continued to perform on radio and TV and release albums into the 1980s.

VIDEO

This week’s Phantom Dancer video of the week is a 1940s soundy of ‘String the Guitar’ with Alvino Rey’s Orchestra.

29 JANUARY PLAY LIST

Play List – The Phantom Dancer 107.3 2SER-FM Sydney, Live Stream, Digital Radio Community Radio Network Show CRN #372
107.3 2SER Tuesday 29 January 2019 After the 2SER 12 noon news, 12:04 – 2:00pm (+11 hours GMT) National Program: ArtSoundFM Canberra Sunday 7 – 8pm and early morning on 24 other stations.
Set 1	1944-45 Radio Swing Bands
Aukd Lang Syne (theme) + All My Love	Guy Lombardo and his Royal Canadians (voc) Bill Flanagan	‘One Night Stand’ Grill Room Hotel Roosevelt NYC AFRS Re-broadcast 25 Oct 1950
Full Moon and Empty Arms	Buddy Morrow Orchestra (voc) Carl Denny	‘One Night Stand’ Blue Room Hotel Lincoln NYC AFRS Re-broadcast 27 May 1946
The Blizzard	Louis Prima Orchestra	‘One Night Stand’ Casino Gardens Ocean Park Ca AFRS Re-broadcast 3 Jul 1946
Set 2	Sammy Kaye
The Belmont Boogie	Sammy Kaye Orchestra	‘The Sammy Kaye Showroom’ Radio Transcription New York City 1950s
Remember Pearl Harbour	Sammy Kaye Orchestra (voc) Trio	‘Spotlight Bands’ Blue Network Washington DC 31 Jan 1942
Sparking + Close	Sammy Kaye Orchestra (voc) The Four Kaydettes	‘The Sammy Kaye Showroom’ Radio Transcription New York City 1950s
Set 3	Alvino Rey
Open + Hindustan	Alvino Rey Orchestra (voc) Sparky the Guitar	‘Spotlight Bands’ Paramount Theatre WJZ NBC Blue New York City 28 Feb 1942
Cash For Your Trash	Alvino Rey Orchestra (voc) Bonnie Rae	‘Spotlight Bands’ Paramount Theatre WJZ NBC Blue New York City 28 Feb 1942
Deep in the Heart of Texas + Close	Alvino Rey Orchestra (voc) Band	‘Spotlight Bands’ Paramount Theatre WJZ NBC Blue New York City 28 Feb 1942
Set 4	Count Basie
Station ID and Ads	Station Announcers	KFWB Warner Brothers Los Angeles 1946
Ingin’ The Ooh	Count Basie Nonet	Comm Rec Boston 7 Sep 1954
Low Life	Count Basie Orchestra	‘All-Star Parade of Bands’ Birdland WRCA NBC NY 2 Jul 1956
One O’Clock Jump + Kansas City Stride	Count Basie Orchestra	‘Jubilee’ AFRS Hollywood 27 May 1944
Set 5	Duke Ellington
Excerpts from Black, Brown and Beige: The Work Song + Come Sunday	Duke Ellington Orchestra	‘A Date With The Duke’ 400 Restaurant WJZ ABC NY 28 Apr 1945
Candy	Duke Ellington Orchestra (vic) Ray Nance	‘A Date With The Duke’ 400 Restaurant WJZ ABC NY 28 Apr 1945
Set 6	Claude Hopkins
Chasing My Blues Away	Claude Hopkins Orchestra	Radio Transcription New York City 1935
The Traffic Was Terrific	Claude Hopkins Orchestra (voc) Fred Norman	Radio Transcription New York City 1935
You Stayed Away Too Long	Claude Hopkins Orchestra	Radio Transcription New York City 1935
Everybody Shuffle	Claude Hopkins Orchestra (voc) Ovie Alston	Radio Transcription New York City 1935
Set 7	Jubilee Small Acts
Trouble Trouble	Betty Roche (voc) Benny Carter Orchestra	‘Jubilee’ AFRS Hollywood 1944
Mad Monk	Eddie South Trio	‘Jubilee’ AFRS Hollywood 1944
Daddy-O	Timmie Rogers	‘Jubilee’ AFRS Hollywood 1944
Straighten Up and Fly Right	Golden Gate Quartet	‘Jubilee’ AFRS Hollywood 1944
Set 8	Benny Goodman Small Groups
Honeysuckle Rose	Benny Goodman Quartet	‘Camel Caravan’ WABC CBS NY 18 Jan 1938
Three Little Words	Benny Goodman Quintet	‘Spotlight Bands’ Cornell University Blue Network 25 Sep 1943
Stomping at the Savoy	Benny Goodman Sextet	‘Kings of Jazz’ BBC NYC 8 Dec 1945

The Magic Key – Phantom Dancer 4 December 2018

HIGH ART AND PARODY

One of the more ambitious US radio shows of the 1930s was NBC Blue Network’s ‘The Magic Key of RCA’, ‘unlocking a world of entertainment’, as announcer Milton J Cross would intone. It was a show that featured opera, symphony, critique, comedy, swing and hillbilly and was ‘Hi-Brow’. Parodying that show from 1940 was NBC Blue’s ‘Chamber Music Society of Lower Basin Street’, ‘showcasing the 3 B’s – barrelhouse, boogie woogie and the blues’. It was ‘Lo-Brow’. For a short time in 1944, it too was narrated by Milton J Cross. We hear these shows side-by-side on this week’s Phantom Dancer with Greg Poppleton.

PHANTOM DANCER

The Phantom Dancer is your non-stop swing and jazz mix of live 1920s-60s radio and TV every week. I’ve been bringing you The Phantom Dancer on radio 2SER, and now online, since 1985.

Hear this week’s Phantom Dancer (after Nov 20) and past Phantom Dancers at 2ser.com.
Hear the show live every Tuesday 12:04-2pm on 107.3 2SER Sydney

MAGIC KEY

The Magic Key of RCA ran on NBC’s Blue Network from 29 September 29 1935 till 18 September 1939.

NBC used this quality program to demonstrate the cultural contribution radio could make. This is made clear in Milton Cross’s script on the Magic Key mix from 1937 and 1938 I’m presenting for you this week.

From 1938, they also used the show to promote RCA TV.

It is also made clear from the shows’s content I’m presenting to you this week – a recitation by one of the great Shakespearean actors, Eva Le Gallienne, an announcement for a Magic Key Eugene Goosens concert and two selections by RCA Victor recording artist, Fats Waller.

PRE-INTERNET CALLOUT

We’ll also hear a curious and successful proto-internet reach-out over radio for a rare magazine by literary critic, Alexander Woolcott.

We hear the story of this pre-Facebook call-out, it’s success and his thank you. Fascinating.

STARS

Performers who appeared on The Magic Key include Fats Waller, Benny Goodman, Ray Noble, Ruth Etting, Rudolf Ganz, Casper Reardon, Paul Robeson, Eddie Green, Jane Froman, Rudy Vallée, Irving Berlin, Darryl Zanuck, Tommy Dorsey, Artie Shaw, Sonja Henie, Tyrone Power, Paul Whiteman, Efrem Zimbalist, Ignacy Jan Paderewski, Eleanor Roosevelt, Vienna Boys’ Choir, Gladys Swarthout, Guy Lombardo, Richard Himber, Eugene Ormandy, Lauritz Melchior, Fred MacMurray, Walt Disney and the Pickens Sisters.

CHAMBER MUSIC SOCIETY OF LOWER BASIN STREET

The Chamber Music Society of Lower Basin Street was something of a parody on The Magic Key and started on the Blue Network in 1940. It ran until 1944 but was revived on NBC from 1950-52 including one half-hour TV show. A broadcast from 1952 is your Phantom Dancer video of the week.

Radio Life magazine described The Chamber Music Society of Lower Basin Street as ‘one of radio’s strangest offsprings… a wacky, strictly hep tongue-in-cheek burlesque of opera and symphony.’

It made an unknown regular vocalist named Dinah Shore a national recording and radio star.

Two resident bands provided the jazz and swing music. They were,
– Henry Levine (a former member of the Original Dixieland Jazz Band) and His Dixieland Octet offered traditional ‘readings’ of jazz standards;
– Paul Laval and His Woodwind Ten played the same type of music on more symphonic instruments, showing that such instruments as oboe, bassoon and celeste were equally capable of producing hot jazz. In 1943, Laval changed his surname to ‘Lavalle’ to avoid association with French fascist leader, Pierre Laval.

Each week the show would feature a notable guest from the jazz world. There were appearances by W.C. Handy, Eddie Condon, Lionel Hampton, Jelly Roll Morton, Sidney Bechet, Bobby Hackett, Count Basie, Benny Carter and this week, Stuff Smith.

VIDEO

This week’s Phantom Dancer video of the week a transcripton of the 19 April 1952 show with host Orson Bean.

4 DECEMBER PLAY LIST

Play List – The Phantom Dancer 107.3 2SER-FM Sydney, Live Stream, Digital Radio Community Radio Network Show CRN #343
107.3 2SER Tuesday 4 December 2018 After the 2SER 12 noon news, 12:04 – 2:00pm (+11 hours GMT) National Program: ArtSoundFM Canberra Sunday 7 – 8pm and early morning on 24 other stations.
Set 1	Radio in 1930
Open + Sweeter Than Sweet	Studio Orchestra	WENR and W9XF Chicago 1930
Dancing to Save Your Sole	Philco Orchestra	‘Philco Hour’ WABC CBS NY 1930
Blue Skies + Bye Bye Blues + My Future Just Passed + I Love You So Much	Philco Orchestra (voc) Kent Sisters	‘Philco Hour’ WABC CBS NY 1930
Set 2	Magic Key 1937-38
Open + The Merchant of Venice, Portia’s Scene Act 1	Eva La Gallion	‘The Magic Key of RCA’ WJZ NBC Blue NY 17 Apr 1938
Rare Book Call-Out Story	Alexander Woolcott	‘The Magic Key of RCA’ WJZ NBC Blue NY 17 Apr 1938
Hallelujah + A Thousand Dreams of You + Close	Fats Waller and his Victor Recording Orchestra	‘The Magic Key of RCA’ WJZ NBC Blue NY 7 Jan 1937
Set 3	Chamber Music Society of Lower Basin Street
Open + Running Wild	Paul Laval Woodwinds	‘Chamber Music Society of Lower Basin Street’ WJZ NBC Blue NY 19 Nov 1941
Lanterns on the Levee	Diane Courtney	‘Chamber Music Society of Lower Basin Street’ WJZ NBC Blue NY 19 Nov 1941
My Blue Heaven	Stuff Smith	‘Chamber Music Society of Lower Basin Street’ WJZ NBC Blue NY 19 Nov 1941
Set 4	Rock’n’Roll Dance Party
Pushin’ + Taylor Made	sam ‘The Man’ Taylor Orchestra	‘Rock’n’Roll Dance Party’ WCBS CBS NY 4 Sep 1956
Ring Ding Dilly + Candy	Big Maybelle	‘Rock’n’Roll Dance Party’ WCBS CBS NY 4 Sep 1956
See Saw + Close	The Moonglows	‘Rock’n’Roll Dance Party’ WCBS CBS NY 4 Sep 1956
Set 5	Dance Bands on 1930s Radio
Goody Goodbye	Sterling Young Orchestra (voc) Bobbie Ennis	Radio Transcription Chicago 1939
Us on a Bus	Guy Lombardo Orchestra (voc) Trio	‘Esso Boulevarde’ WABC CBS NY 13 Mar 1936
Open + Amour	Isham Jones Orchestra	WOR Mutual NYC 13 Mar 1936
42nd Street + When Summer Is Gone (theme)	Hal Kemp Orchestra	‘Lavena Program’ Radio Transcription New York City 1934
Set 6	Glenn Miller Broadcasting in German 1944
In The Mood (theme) + Star Dust	Glenn Miller Orchestra	‘Wehrmacht Hour’ ABSIE (American Broadcasting Station in Europe) London Nov 1944
Begin the Beguine	Glenn Miller Orchestra (voc) Irene Manning	‘Wehrmacht Hour’ ABSIE (American Broadcasting Station in Europe) London Nov 1944
Long Ago and Far Away	Glenn Miller Orchestra (voc) Johnny Desmond	‘Wehrmacht Hour’ ABSIE (American Broadcasting Station in Europe) London Nov 1944
Little Brown Jug + Cherokee (close)	Glenn Miller Orchestra	‘Wehrmacht Hour’ ABSIE (American Broadcasting Station in Europe) London Nov 1944
Set 7	Tommy Dorsey on 1940s Radio
I’m Getting Sentimental Over You (theme) + On The Sunnyside of the Street	Tommy Dorsey Orchestra	‘One Night Stand’ 400 Club New York City AFRS Re-broadcast 30 Sep 1945
You’re Driving Me Crazy	Tommy Dorsey Orchestra (voc) The Sentimentalists	‘Spotlight Bands’ Blue Network 29 Jan 1945
Just As Though You Were Here	Tommy Dorsey Orchestra	‘Raleigh-Kool Show’ Washington DC 18 Aug 1942
Well Get It	Tommy Dorsey Orchestra	‘Spotlight Bands’ Mutual Network 5 Dec 1945
Set 8	Charlie Parker 1940s Bop Records
Max is Making Wax	Charlie Parker	Comm Rec Los Angeles 29 Jul 1946
Shaw Nuff	Charlie Parker	Comm Rec NYC 11 May 1945
Dark Shadows	Charlie Parker	Comm Rec Hollywood 19 Feb 1947
Barbados	Charlie Parker	‘Symphony Sid Show’ Royal Roost WMCA NYC 1949

1930 Philco Hour – 3 July Phantom Dancer

Dance band music for one of America’s leading radio manufacturers in 1930 features on this week’s Phantom Dancer.

The Phantom Dancer is your non-stop mix of swing and jazz from live 1920s-60s radio and TV, presented by Australia’s only authentic 1920s-30s singer since 1985.

On air every Tuesday, live from 107.3 2SER Sydney from 12:04-2pm, the Phantom Dancer is recorded for re-broadcast over 23 radio stations and online.

You can hear all Phantom Dancer episodes online now at 2ser.com.

THIS WEEK’S PHANTOM DANCER MIX

– has a set of 1930s Western swing records, a set of Louis Armstrong of 1950s radio, a set of Lester Young from 1956 radio and this week’s feature – ‘The Philco Hour’ from 1930-31.

See the full mix play list below…

RISE AND FALL

On this week’s Phantom Dancer we hear the ‘Philco Orchestra’ from the ‘Philco Hour’ radio series of 1930- 31.

Beginning as a battery manufacturer, then as a battery supplier for radios, then as a power unit supplier for radio, by the mid 1920s Philco was building its own radios.

Its research and development department made many improvements in radio home receiver technology throughout the 1930s.

These improvements in combination with aggressive advertising in print and sponsored radio programming such as the ‘Philco Hour’, made Philco rise from third most popular U.S radio brand in 1929 to number one 1939.

Philco developments in sound quality and the aesthetic appeal of their radio units included:

– 1930: superheterodyne tubes for clearer reception (as the Philco announcer explains in this week’s Phantom Dancer mix)
– 1930: tone control. A listener could change their radio sound to brilliant, bright, mellow, or deep frequencies.
– 1930: smaller, cheaper car radios
– 1934: the first true high fidelity radio receiver on the market
– 1936: automatic tuning – listeners could assign their favorite stations to presets.
– 1939: mystery control, the first wireless remote control made for radios.

Philco was also a pioneer in television broadcasting. It launched experimental station W3XE in 1932 and was selling Philco TVs in 1939.

But in 1960, it filed for bankruptcy.

You can hear more of the 1930s ‘Philco Hour’ here as your Phantom Dancer Video of the Week:

3 JULY PLAY LIST

Play List – The Phantom Dancer 107.3 2SER-FM Sydney, Live Stream, Digital Radio Community Radio Network Show CRN #321
107.3 2SER Tuesday 3 July 2018 After the 2SER 12 noon news, 12:04 – 2:00pm (+10 hours GMT) National Program: ArtSoundFM Canberra Sunday 7 – 8pm and early morning on 23 other stations.
Set 1	Swing Ballads on 1946-47 Radio
Walking Stick	Claude Thornhill Orchestra	Cafe Rouge Hotel Pennsylvania WJZ ABC NY 22 Sep 1947
Come Rain Come Shine	Bobby Sherwood Orchestra (voc) Frances Glenn	‘One Night Stand’ Avadon Ballroom LA AFRS Re-broadcast 3 Jun 1946
Might As Well Be Spring	Art Mooney Orchestra (voc) Johnny Darcy	‘One Night Stand’ Blue Room Hotel Lincoln NYC AFRS Re-broadcast 1946
Set 2	1950s Big Band Radio
Theme + I’m Walkin’	Johnny Richards Orchestra	‘ABC Dancing Party’ WABC ABC NY 1957
Take The A Train (theme) + Caravan	Duke Ellington Orchestra	Basin Street WCBS CBS NY 16 Apr 1956
On The Alamo	Georgie Auld (ts) Orchestra with Jud Conlon’s Rhythmaires	‘Jubilee’ AFRS Hollywood 25 Dec 1952
Set 3	Philco Orchestra 1930-31 Radio
Open + Cinderella Brown	Philco Orchestra	‘Philco Program’ WABC CBS NY 1930
Boy! Oh! Boy! I’ve Got It Bad	Boswell Sisters	‘Philco Program’ WABC CBS NY 1931
I Don’t Mind Walking In The Rain	Philco Orchestra	‘Philco Program’ WABC CBS NY 1930
Set 4	1930s Radio Swing
I Can’t Get Started (theme) + O Ya Ya	Bunny Berrigan Orchestra	Manhattan Centre WNEW NYC 26 Sep 1939
Hallelujah + A Fine Romance	Johnny Green Orchestra (voc) Fred Astaire and Trudy Wood	‘Packard Hour 1936 Election Special’ KFI NBC Red LA 11 Mar 1936
Ain’t Misbehavin’	Louis Armstrong with Benny Goodman Sextet and Orchestra	‘Camel Caravan’ WEAF NBC Red NYC 14 Oct 1939
Set 5	Louis Armstrong Trad Jazz 1940s-50s Radio
When It’s Sleepy Time Down South (theme) + Indiana	Louis Armstrong	‘Guest Star’ Radio Transcription 12 Dec 1954
Do You Know What It Means To Miss New Orleans?	Louis Armstrong	Wintergarden Theatre WNBC NBC NYC 19 Jun 1947
Fine and Dandy	Louis Armstrong	‘Guest Star’ Radio Transcription 7 May 1950
Royal Garden Blues	Louis Armstrong	‘Damon Runyon Memorial Concert’ Blue Note ABC Chicago 11 Dec 1948
Set 6	Early ’40s Dance Bands
Slow and Easy	Charlie Spivak Orchestra	Radio Transcription New York City 1941
The Lion and the Mouse	Glen Gray and the Casa loma Orchestra	Aircheck Hotel New Yorker New York City May 1944
Saturday Night	Jimmy Dorsey Orchestra (voc) Patti Thomas	‘Spotlight Bands’ Blue Network 11 Feb 1945
Knock Me A Kiss + Close	Gene Krupa Orchestra (voc) Roy Eldridge	Aircheck 13 Nov 1942
Set 7	1930s Western Swing on Records
Baby Won’t You Please Come Home	Texas Rose (voc)	Comm Rec San Antonio 22 Dec 1938
Does My Baby Love Me, Yes Sir	Jimmie Revard and hos Oklahoma Playboys	Comm Rec San Antonio 14 Sep 1937
Who’s Sorry Now?	W. Lee O’Daniel	Comm Rec Dallas 30 Sep 1935
I Never Felt So Blue	Adolph Hofner and his Texans	Comm Rec San Antonio 25 Oct 1938
Set 8	Lester Young on 1956 Radio
Lullaby of Birdland + Lester Leaps In	Lester Young	Birdland WABC ABC NY 7 Aug 1956
Three Little Words	Lester Young	Birdland WABC ABC NY 5 Sep 1956

New Recording News

A quick note to tell you that there’ll be a new Greg Poppleton album soon.

Eight songs from the 1920s – 1930s sung in English, German, Spanish and Italian.

I’ll keep you updated as the album progresses. Hear all Greg Poppleton albums and mixes of 1920s-30s songs.

Here’s a photo from the recoding studio:

Greg Poppleton is the recoding studio for his latest 1920s – 30s album

 

24 April 2018 Phantom Dancer – Bea Wain First To Record ‘Over The Rainbow’

You’ll hear some very loving and touching words on today’s Phantom Dancer.

The Phantom Dancer, presented every week by actor, Greg Poppleton, Australia’s only authentic 1920s-30s singer goes live from 107.3 2SER Sydney every Tuesday after the noon news.

It’s your non-stop mix of swing and jazz from live 1920s-60s radio and TV sent to 22 radio stations of the Community Radio Network and online.

Hear this week’s Phantom Dancer (after 24 April), and past Phantom Dancers, online at radio 2ser.com

In the mix this week, live 1930s-60s radio by Bob Crosby, Sammy Kaye, Al Trace, Larry Clinton and Bea Wain. See the full play list below.

THOSE TOUCHING WORDS?

“Beautiful, Bea Wain, beautiful.”

Who’s Bea Wain? She’s one of the greatest singers of the Swing Era and my absolute favourite.

Who said those words? You’ll hear them on today’s Phantom Dancer in the Bea Wain set, incidentally.

It was Andre Baruch, award-winning network radio announcer, who said them spontaneously as the announcer for the 1939 ‘Your Hit Parade’ after Bea Wain sang, ‘O, You Crazy Moon’.

They were married in 1938 and remained together until his death 53 years later. Bea Wain died last August aged 100.

THE UNSUNG SINGING GREAT

Bea Wain began singing on local radio at age six. She lived in the Bronx. Her accent disappeared when she sang. She had four No. 1 hits. And she never had a singing lesson.

She also had her name shortened from Beatrice to Bea by some unknown radio exec, to save space on record labels.

Quoting from her New York Times obituary,
“I never wanted anybody to teach me how to sing,” she said in an interview with Sara Fishko for the New York public radio station WNYC in 2013. “I had piano, elocution and dancing lessons, but never singing lessons.”

And she went on to sing professionally past the age of 90.

THE BIG BREAK

Was a big band arranger and in 1938 was forming a swing band with big RCA – NBC promotion. You’ll hear the band broadcasting ‘The RCA Campus Club’ from the Glen island Casino on today’s Phantom Dancer. The singer he hired to front this important band was Bea Wain.

How’d he find her.

She was in the chorus for the Kate Smith Radio Show. She stepped forward for an eight bar solo. That was enough for Clinton. She was hired. Again quoting from her NYT obit:

“The impeccable Wain never fails to captivate us as Clinton’s brassmen play natty little curlicues around her,” Will Friedwald wrote in his book “Jazz Singing: America’s Great Voices From Bessie Smith to Bebop and Beyond” (1990).

OVER THE RAINBOW

In 1939 Billboard magazine’s college poll voted her the most popular female vocalist. Ella Fitzgerald was second.

In 1938 she was the first to record ‘Over The Rainbow’ from the film, ‘The Wizard of Oz’. MGM, which owned the rights, stopped the record from being issued until after the film, and Judy Garland’s version (who sang it in the movie) was released.

Wain’s ‘Over The Rainbow’ is the Phantom Dancer Video of the Week. It’s interesting to hear the first-ever version, totally untouched by Garland’s version.

Wain said in a 1988 interview, that when Helen O’Connell, a fellow big band singer, was asked how it felt to be a part of music history, she replied, “If I knew it was history, we would have paid more attention.”

HIT RECORDS

In a short recording career of just a few years (she got tired of touring and the poor recording fees and rarely made records after 18 months with the Clinton band), Bea Wain had four hit records, all with Larry Clinton’s Orchestra .
1. Heart and Soul, which she introduced in the short ‘A Song is Born’ announced by Andre Baruch
2. Deep Purple
3. Cry, Baby, Cry
4. My Reverie, an up-tempo version of the Debussy piano piece ‘Reverie’ with lyrics by Larry Clinton.

‘My Reverie’ became Bea Wain’s theme song but, quoting from her New York Times obituary, “it was almost scrapped when Debussy’s heirs learned, to their horror, that the music had been adapted for a pop audience with a brisk tempo and lyrics.

But when Larry Clinton sent them his recording, Wain recalled, they replied, “If this girl sings it, O.K”

MR AND MRS MUSIC

After the World War Two, during which Bea Wain sung in Army Camps and her husband, Andre Baruch served overseas, the couple became ‘Mr and Mrs Music,’ a daily program on WMCA, New York, on which they doubled as disc jockeys and interviewers.

 

They continued on radio when they moved to Palm Springs in 1973 and retired from being DJs in 1980.

After that, Bea Wain sang on TV and in clubs, (there’s a 1983 TV medley of her 1938-39 hits on YouTube).

Quoting from the Wiki article on Wain, she told Christopher Popa in a 2004 interview, “Actually, I’ve had a wonderful life, a wonderful career. And I’m still singing, and I’m still singing pretty good. This past December, I did a series of shows in Palm Springs, California, and the review said, “Bea Wain is still a giant.” It’s something called Musical Chairs. I did six shows in six different venues, and I was a smash. And I really got a kick out of it.”

VIDEO OF THE WEEK

Your Phantom Dancer Video of the Week the first recording of ‘Over The Rainbow’ sung by Bea Wain in 1938 but not released until after the ‘Wizard of Oz’ (in which the song features) came out in 1939. Enjoy this original take wholly uninfluenced by Judy Garland…

Play List – The Phantom Dancer 107.3 2SER-FM Sydney, Live Stream, Digital Radio Community Radio Network Show CRN #313 107.3 2SER Tuesday 24 April 2018 After the 2SER 12 noon news, 12:04 – 2:00pm (+10 hours GMT) National Program: ArtSoundFM Canberra Sunday 7 – 8pm and early morning on 22 other stations. Set 1 Swing and Sway with Sammy Kaye Theme + Elmers Tune Sammy Kaye Orchestra (voc) The Three Kaydettes ‘Spotlight Bands’ Washington DC Blue Network 31 Jan 1942 Ad + It’s a Great Feeling Sammy Kaye Orchestra (voc) The Kaydettes ‘Sammy Kaye Showreel’ Radio Transcription 1949 Medley: How Deep is the Ocean? + I’m In The Mood For Love + Avalon + Close Sammy Kaye Orchestra ‘One Night Stand’ Hotel Astor Roof New York City AFRS Re-broadcast 27 Aug 1945 Set 2 Bob Crosby Open + Mama Why Don’t You Dance With Me Bob Crosby and The Modernaires (voc) Jerry Gray Orchestra ‘Club 15’ KNX CBS LA 25 Nov 1947 Don’t Forget Tonight Tomorrow Bob Crosby (voc) Bob Crosby Orchestra ‘One Night Stand’ Hollywood Palladium AFRS Re-broadcast 27 Aug 1945 Muskrat Ramble Bob Crosby Bobcats ‘Marine Corp Show’ Radio Transcription Hollywood 1950 Set 3 WGN Parade of Bands Home Recordings Open + Isn’t It Romantic Al Trace and his Shuffle Rhythm ‘WGN Parade of Bands’ Blackhawk Restaurant WGN Chicago c 1950 Marie + Linger Awhile Ted Fio Rito Orchestra ‘WGN Parade of Bands’ Chez Paree WGN Chicago c 1950 Bella Bella Marie + Medley: In My Dreams + I Love You So Much It Hurts Jimmy Featherstone Orchestra (voc) JF and Peggy Murdoch ‘WGN Parade of Bands’ Walnut Room Bismarck Hotel WGN Chicago c 1950 Set 4 Bea Wain East of the Sun Bea Wain (voc) Larry Clinton Orchestra ‘RCA Campus Club’ Glen Island Casino New Rochelle NY WEAF NBC Red NY 2 Jul 1938 Try, Try Again Bea Wain and Band (voc) Larry Clinton Orchestra ‘RCA Campus Club’ Glen Island Casino New Rochelle NY WEAF NBC Red NY 2 Jul 1938 Oh, You Crazy Moon Bea Wain ‘Your Hit Parade’ WEAF NBC Red NY 7 Oct 1939 Set 5 Swing Trumpet Stars on Ballads Cirribirribin (theme) + You’re In Love With Someone Else Harry James Orchestra (voc) Helen Forrest Hotel Astor Roof WABC CBS NY 28 Aug 1942 Oh What It Seemed To Be Erskine Hawkins Orchestra (voc) Jimmy Mitchell ‘One Night Stand’ Blue Room Hotel Lincoln NY AFRS Re-broadcast 1 May 1946 Goodnight, Good Neighbour Charlie Spivak Orchestra (voc) Irene Daye ‘One Night Stand’ Century Room Hotel Commodore NY AFRS Re-broadcast 25 Feb 1945 Clouds Henry Busse Orchestra (voc) Carl Grayson Radio Transcription Hollywood 1935 Set 6 Hal Kemp and Skinnay Ennis Sells Beauty Creme When Summer Is Gone (theme) + You’ve Got Me Crying Again Hal Kemp Orchestra (voc) Skinnay Ennis ‘Lavena Program’ Radio Transcription New York City 1934 Last Year’s Girl Hal Kemp Orchestra (voc) Skinnay Ennis ‘Lavena Program’ Radio Transcription New York City 1934 It’s Only A Paper Moon + Ad Hal Kemp Orchestra (voc) Skinnay Ennis ‘Lavena Program’ Radio Transcription New York City 1934 I Couldn’t Tell Them What To Do Hal Kemp Orchestra (voc) Skinnay Ennis ‘Lavena Program’ Radio Transcription New York City 1934 Set 7 1950s-60s Radio Swing Bands One O’Clock Jump + Blee Blop Blues Count Basie Orchestra ‘Stars in Jazz’ Birdland WNBC NBC NY 14 Jan 1953 Cohn’s Alley Woody Herman’s Third Herd ‘All-Star Parade of Bands’ Peony park WOW NBC Omaha 1954 Song of India Dorsey Brothers’ Orchestra Cafe Rouge Hotel Statler WRCA NBC NY Dec 1955 Flashback From The Future Duke Ellington Orchestra Aircheck 24 Oct 1965 Set 8 Mickey Mouse Bands Live and Transcribed Romance (theme) + We Just Couldn’t Say Goodbye Ray Herbeck and his Music with Romance Orchestra (voc) Lorraine Benson Trianon Ballroom WGN Chicago 24 Nov 1947 I’ll See You In My dreams Jan Garber Orchestra Radio Transcription 1941 Would It Make Any Difference To You? Carl Ravazza Orchestra (voc) CR Radio Transcription 1943 Can’t We Be Friends? Johnny Mesner Orchestra Radio Transcription New York City 1939