Gus Arnheim Introduces Bing Crosby – Phantom Dancer 6 December 2022

Gus Arnheim was a popular US band leader, composer and pianist. Bing Crosby first achieved solo popularity singing with the Arnheim band. You’ll hear Bing sing live with Arnheim on live 1931 radio on this week’s Phantom Dancer. Gus Arnheim is this week’s Phantom Dancer feature artist.

The Phantom Dancer is your weekly non-stop mix of swing and jazz from live 1920s-60s radio and TV every week.

LISTEN to this week’s Phantom Dancer mix (online after 2pm AEST, Tuesday 6 December) and two years of Phantom Dancer mixes online at, at https://2ser.com/phantom-dancer/

GUS

Gus Arnheim was most popular in the 1920s and 1930s. He wrote the pop hits ‘Sweet & Lovely’ (his radio theme) and I Cried For You amongst others.

He began his professional music career in 1919 playing piano at the Sunset Inn, Santa Monica with fellow future band leaders, Abe Lyman, on drums and, Harry Halstead, on viloin.

He was accompanist to vaudevillian Sophie Tucker.

When Lyman organized a full dance orchestra, Arnheim came along as pianist. He left to start his own group in 1927. Arnheim’s orchestra made at least three film short subjects for Warner Brothers’ Vitaphone Corporation in 1928–29.

Arnheim first recorded for OKeh in 1928–1929. He signed with Victor in 1929 –  1933, then Brunswick 1933 – 1937.

COCOANUT GROVE

During 1928–31, Arnheim had an extended engagement at the Cocoanut Grove in Los Angeles. That’s where you’ll hear him from in 1931 radio broadcasts on this week’s Phantom Dancer.

In 1930, when Paul Whiteman finished filming The King of Jazz for Universal, The Rhythm Boys vocal trio, consisting of Bing Crosby, Harry Barris and Al Rinker decided to stay in California. They signed up with Arnheim’s band.

The Rhythm Boys only recorded one song with Arnheim, “Them There Eyes” (which also happened to be The Rhythm Boys final recording).

Arnheim’s Orchestra backed Crosby on a number of songs released by Victor Records in 1931. These popular records, coupled with Arnheim’s radio broadcasts featuring Crosby’s solo vocals, were a key element to the beginning of Crosby’s popularity as a crooner.

NOTABLE

Between 1930 and 1933, some notable people worked in or with Arnheim’s band:

• • Fred MacMurray played clarinet and tenor sax in 1930-31 and sang on one recording “All I Want Is Just One”.

• • Russ Columbo played violin in 1930 and sang on “A Peach of a Pair”.

• Future popular bandleader Jimmie Grier was staff arranger during this time. Grier had played lead alto saxophone and clarinet in Arnheim’s band from its founding in 1928.
• Eddie Cantor and Joan Crawford each recorded a song for Arnheim on July 23, 1931, although the Crawford side (“How Long Will It Last?”) was not issued. Cantor’s side, “There’s Nothing Too Good for My Baby,” was issued but without vocalist credit.

• • Future popular singer Buddy Clark sang with Arnheim in 1932.

• • Shirley Ross sang with Arnheim in 1933

• • Stan Kenton played piano with Arnheim starting in 1937.

Between 1939 and 1944, Mexican American crooner Andy Russell played the drums and sang with Arnheim. Arnheim was the one who suggested that Russell sing bilingually in English and Spanish and change his last name from Rábago to Russell (in honor of Russ Columbo) leading to his first million-selling record “Bésame Mucho”.

Here’s Arnheim on a 1927 Vitaphone music short…

6 DECEMBER PLAY LIST

Play List – The Phantom Dancer 107.3 2SER-FM Sydney LISTEN ONLINE Community Radio Network Show CRN #574
107.3 2SER Tuesday 6 December 2022 12:04 – 2:00pm (+11 hours GMT) and Saturdays 5 – 5:55pm National Program 5UV Adelaide Monday 2:30 – 3:30am 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 3am – 4 and 6 -7pm 2MCE Bathurst Wednesday 9 – 10am 1ART ArtsoundFM Canberra Friday 10 – 11am and Sunday 11pm Reading Radio (QLD) Friday 1am – 2 2RRR Ryde Friday 11am – 12 2ARM Armidale Friday 12 – 1pm 5LCM Lofty FM Adelaide Friday 1 – 2pm 6GME Radio Goolarri Broome Saturday 4am – 5am Denmark FM (West Australia) Saturday 10 – 11am Repeat: Wednesdays 10 – 11pm 7LTN Launceston Sunday 5 – 6am 3MGB Mallacoota Sunday 5 – 6am 3BBR West Gippsland Sunday 5 – 6pm 2SEA Sapphire Coast Eden Sunday 9 – 10pm
Set 1	Xavier Cugat
Theme + Temptation	Xavier Cugat Orchestra (voc) Choir	‘Xavier Cugat ‘ Radio Transcription 1 Dec 1946
Alma Llanera	Xavier Cugat Orchestra (voc) Miguelito Valdés & Choir	‘March of Dimes’ Radio Transcription 1 Dec 1946
Say Si Si	Xavier Cugat Orchestra (voc) Nito Rosa & Choir	‘March of Dimes’ Radio Transcription 1 Dec 1946
Canta Noche un Amor	Xavier Cugat Orchestra (voc) Del Campo & Choir	‘March of Dimes’ Radio Transcription 1 Dec 1946
Set 2	Dodo
Rose Room + Close	Dodo Marmarosa	‘Jubilee’ AFRS Hollywood 1947
Set 3	Les Paul and Mary Ford
Theme + Little Rock Getaway	Les Paul and Mary Ford	‘Les Paul & Mary Ford Show’ WMAQ NBC Chicago 26 May 1950
Until I Hold You Again	Les Paul (voc) Mary Ford	‘Les Paul & Mary Ford Show’ WMAQ NBC Chicago 26 May 1950
Puttin’ on the Style	Les Paul and Mary Ford (voc) LP and MF	‘Les Paul & Mary Ford Show’ WMAQ NBC Chicago 26 May 1950
What is This Thing Called Love + If a Nightingale Could Sing Like You	Les Paul and Mary Ford	‘Les Paul & Mary Ford Show’ WMAQ NBC Chicago 26 May 1950
Set 4	Gus Arnheim
Sweet and Lovely (theme) + Can’t You Read Between the Lines	Gus Arnheim Orchestra (voc) George Gramlich	‘Cocoanut Grove Show’ Radio Transcription Los Angeles 1931
Making Faces at the Man in the Moon	Gus Arnheim Orchestra (voc) Loyce Whiteman	‘Cocoanut Grove Show’ Radio Transcription Los Angeles 1931
Dancing with the Daffodils	Gus Arnheim Orchestra	‘Cocoanut Grove Show’ Radio Transcription Los Angeles 1931
Out of Nowhere + What is It?	Gus Arnheim Orchestra (voc) Bing Crosby & Loyce Whiteman	‘MJB Demi-Tasse Revue’ KFI NBC Gold Los Angeles 1931
Set 5	Jimmy Dorsey
Contrasts (theme) + Just You, Just Me	Jimmy Dorsey Orchestra	Palladium Ballroom KNX CBS LA 8 Feb 1943
Jug Music	Jimmy Dorsey Orchestra	Palladium Ballroom KFI NBC Red LA 20 Oct 1941
Moonlight on the Ganges	Jimmy Dorsey Orchestra	Palladium Ballroom KNX CBS LA 8 Feb 1943
Mood in Da Groove	Jimmy Dorsey Orchestra	Palladium Ballroom KFI NBC Red LA 20 Oct 1941
Set 6	1930s English Dance Bands
Young & Healthy	Billy Cotton Band (voc) Alan Breeze	Comm Rec London 18 Mar 1933
The Gold Diggers’ Song	Jack Hylton Orchestra	Comm Rec London 28 Jul 1933
I’ve Had My Moments	Billy Cotton Band (voc) Chips Chippendale	Comm Rec London 14 Aug 1934
Hylton Stomp	Jack Hylton Orchestra	Comm Rec London 12 Oct 1932
Set 7	Ford Startime
Intro by Ronald Reagan _ Drum Boogie	Gene Krupa Orchestra (voc) Anita O’Day	‘Ford Startime’ KFI NBC TV 9 Feb 1960
Chatanooga Choo Choo	Tex Beneke & The Modernaires	‘Ford Startime’ KFI NBC TV 9 Feb 1960
South Rampart Street Parade	Bob Crosby Bobcats	‘Ford Startime’ KFI NBC TV 9 Feb 1960
Big Noise from Winnetka	Ray Bauduc & Bobby Haggart	‘Ford Startime’ KFI NBC TV 9 Feb 1960
Set 8	Ellington 64
Afro Bossa	Duke Ellington Orchestra	‘One Night Stand’ Steel Pier Atlantic City NJ AFRTS Re-broadcast Jul 1964
Call Me Irresponsible	Duke Ellington Orchestra	‘One Night Stand’ Steel Pier Atlantic City NJ AFRTS Re-broadcast Jul 1964
Hello Dolly	Duke Ellington Orchestra	‘One Night Stand’ Steel Pier Atlantic City NJ AFRTS Re-broadcast Jul 1964

Freddy Martin’s Singing Saxophone – Phantom Dancer 29 Nov 2022

Freddy Martin was a U.S band leader and tenor saxophonist. His singing saxophone and his orchestra became one of the most popular and musical sweet bands. He made his first recording in 1930 and was leading bands until 1983. He is this week’s Phantom Dancer feature artist.

The Phantom Dancer is your weekly non-stop mix of swing and jazz from live 1920s-60s radio and TV every week.

LISTEN to this week’s Phantom Dancer mix (online after 2pm AEST, Tuesday 29 November) and two years of Phantom Dancer mixes online at, at https://2ser.com/phantom-dancer/

ORPHAN

Freddy Martin was raised largely in an orphanage and by various relatives. His first learned drums, then changed to C melody saxophone and ultimately tenor saxophone.

He had intended to be a journalist and hoped he would earn enough money from his musical work to enter Ohio State University. Instead, he became a professional musician.

Martin led his own band while he was in high school, then played in various local bands. He spent his spare time selling musical instruments.

After working on a ship’s band, Martin joined the Mason-Dixon band, then joined Arnold Johnson and Jack Albin. It was with Albin’s “Hotel Pennsylvania Music” that he made his first recordings, for Columbia’s Harmony, Velvet Tone, and Clarion 50-cent labels in 1930.

After a couple of years, his skill began attracting other musicians. One was Guy Lombardo, who remained friends with Martin throughout his life and gets a mention in the 1950s Freddy Martin broadcast in this week’s Phantom Dancer.

LOMBARDO

One night, when Lombardo could not do a certain date, he suggested that Martin’s band could fill in for him. The band did very well and Martin’s career got started. But, the band broke up and he did not form a permanent band until 1931, at the Bossert Hotel in Brooklyn.

At the Bossert Marine Roof, a nautical-themed restaurant positioned on the roof of the hotel, Martin pioneered the “Tenor Band” style that swept the sweet-music industry.

With his own tenor sax as melodic lead, Martin fronted an all-tenor sax section with just two brasses and a violin trio plus rhythm. The rich, lilting style quickly spawned imitators in hotels and ballrooms nationwide. “Tenor bands”, usually with just the three tenors and one trumpet, could occasionally be found playing for older dancers well into the 1980s.

The Martin band recorded first for Columbia Records in 1932. As the company was broke and signing no new contracts, the band switched to Brunswick Records after one session and remained with that label till 1938. During his tenure at Brunswick/ARC, half of his recordings were issued on ARC’s stable of budget priced labels (Banner, Conqueror, Melotone, Oriole, Perfect, Romeo, and Vocalion) as well as scores of non-vocal takes issued on ARC’s special theater use label, sold only to movie theaters as background music.

SUCCESS

In 1938, he signed with RCA Victor and was assigned to Bluebird. The band also recorded pseudonymously in the early 1930s, backing singers such as Will Osborne. From 1932 to 1938, the band’s primary vocalists were saxophonist Elmer Feldkamp and pianist Terry Shand. The former primarily sang romantic ballads, while the latter was used mostly for ‘hot’ dance tunes.

Martin took his band into many prestigious hotels, including the Roosevelt Grill in New York City, and the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles. A fixture on radio, his sponsored shows included NBC’s Maybelline Penthouse Serenade of 1937.

For Martin, real success came in 1941 with an arrangement from the first movement of Tchaikovsky’s Piano Concerto No. 1 in B♭ minor. Martin recorded the piece instrumentally, but soon lyrics were added by Ray Austin, and it was re-cut as “Tonight We Love” with Clyde Rogers’ vocal – becoming his biggest hit. It sold over one million copies by 1946, and was awarded a gold disc by the RIAA.

The success of “Tonight We Love” prompted Martin to adopt several other classical themes (of Rachmaninoff, Grieg, and others), which featured the band’s pianists Jack Fina, Murray Arnold, and Barclay Allen.

In 1946, he recorded “Dingbat the Singing Cat” adapted from Prokofiev’s “Peter and the Wolf”, and later recorded “A Lover’s Concerto”, adapted from baroque composer Christian Petzold’s “Minuet in G major”, two decades before pop group The Toys released it. At this time, Martin enlarged the orchestra to a strength of six violins, four brasses, and a like number of saxes.

STYLE

Martin was nicknamed “Mr. Silvertone” by saxophonist Johnny Hodges. Chu Berry named Martin his favorite saxophonist. He has also been idolized by many other saxophonists, including Eddie Miller. Although his playing has been admired by so many jazz musicians, Martin never tried to be a jazz musician.

Martin always led a sweet styled band. Unlike most sweet bands that just played dull music, Martin’s band turned out to be one of the most musical and most melodic of all the typical hotel-room sweet bands. According to George T. Simon, Martin’s band was “one of the most pleasant, most relaxed dance bands that ever flowed across the band scene.”

He used the banner “Music in the Martin Manner.” Russ Morgan used a similar banner when he finally landed a radio series with his own band in 1936. (Morgan’s title was “Music in the Morgan Manner”.) Morgan had been playing in Martin’s band and the two were good friends for years. Morgan used some of Martin’s arrangements when he started his band.

LATER

Martin had a good ear for singers. He employed Merv Griffin, Buddy Clark, Gene Merlino, pianists Sid Appleman and Terry Shand, saxophonist Elmer Feldkamp, Stuart Wade, violinist Eddie Stone, and many others. Helen Ward was also a singer for Martin, just before she joined Benny Goodman’s new band.

Martin’s popularity as a bandleader led him to Hollywood in the 1940s where he and his band appeared in a handful of films, including Seven Days’ Leave (1942), Stage Door Canteen (1943), and Melody Time (1948), among others.

In the 1950s and 1960s, Martin continued to perform on the radio and also appeared on TV. Untroubled by changing musical tastes, he continued to work at major venues and was musical director for Elvis Presley’s first appearance in Las Vegas.

Still in demand for hotel work, Martin entered the 1970s with an engagement at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles. In the early 1970s, he was part of two tours of one-nighters that were known as ‘The Big Band Cavalcade’. Among the other performers on the show were Margaret Whiting, Bob Crosby, Frankie Carle, Buddy Morrow, Art Mooney, and George Shearing. When the tours ended, Martin returned to the West Coast. In 1977, Martin was asked to lead Guy Lombardo’s band when Lombardo was hospitalized with a heart condition.

Martin continued leading his band until the early 1980s, although by then, he was semi-retired. 

His 1947 song “Pico and Sepulveda” was recorded by Martin under the alias of “Felix Figueroa and his Orchestra” featured in the 1980 surrealist film Forbidden Zone.

29 NOVEMBER PLAY LIST

Play List – The Phantom Dancer 107.3 2SER-FM Sydney LISTEN ONLINE Community Radio Network Show CRN #554
107.3 2SER Tuesday 29 November 2022 12:04 – 2:00pm (+11 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	Selling Bonds
Moonlight Serenade (theme) + Uncle Remus	Tex Beneke and the Glenn Miller Orchestra (voc) Ginny O’Connor + Tex Beneke and The Mellowlarks	‘March of Dimes’ Radio Transcription 1 Dec 1946
Falling Leaves	Tex Beneke and the Glenn Miller Orchestra	‘March of Dimes’ Radio Transcription 1 Dec 1946
Somewhere in the Night	Tex Beneke and the Glenn Miller Orchestra (voc) Gary Stevens	‘March of Dimes’ Radio Transcription 1 Dec 1946
Give Me Five Minutes More + Moonlight Serenade (theme)	Tex Beneke and the Glenn Miller Orchestra (voc) Tex Beneke	‘March of Dimes’ Radio Transcription 1 Dec 1946
Set 2	Chamber Music
My Mother was a Lady + She May Have Seen Better Days	Tonsorial Twitterbugs	‘Chamber Music Society of Lower Basin Street’ WJZ NBC Blue NYC 14 Jul 1941
I Dreamt I Dwelled in Harlem	Paul Lavalle	‘Chamber Music Society of Lower Basin Street’ WJZ NBC Blue NYC 14 Jul 1941
The Booglie-Wooglie Piggy	Diane Courtney	‘Chamber Music Society of Lower Basin Street’ WJZ NBC Blue NYC 14 Jul 1941
Beyond the Moon + Bugle Woogie + Close	Toots Mondello + Henry Levine	‘Chamber Music Society of Lower Basin Street’ WJZ NBC Blue NYC 14 Jul 1941
Set 3	Count Basie Rock
One O’Clock Jump (theme) + You For Me	Count Basie Orchestra	‘Rock’n’Roll Dance Party’ WCBS CBS NYC 7 Apr 1956
Play It Fair	Count Basie Orchestra (voc) LaVern Baker	‘Rock’n’Roll Dance Party’ WCBS CBS NYC 7 Apr 1956
Ev’ry Day	Count Basie Orchestra (voc) Joe Williams	‘Rock’n’Roll Dance Party’ WCBS CBS NYC 7 Apr 1956
Cherry Point + One O’Clock Jump (theme)	Count Basie Orchestra	‘Rock’n’Roll Dance Party’ WCBS CBS NYC 7 Apr 1956
Set 4	Freddy Martin
You’re Beautiful Tonight (theme) + The More the Merrier	Freddy Martin Orchestra	‘Edens Shampoo College Sorority Dance’ Radio Transcription New York City 1933
The Sweetheart of Sigma Phi	Freddy Martin Orchestra	‘Edens Shampoo College Sorority Dance’ Radio Transcription New York City 1933
The Piano Portrait	Freddy Martin Orchestra (piano) Jack Fina	‘One Night Stand’ Cocoanut Grove Ambassador Hotel Los Angeles AFRS Re-broadcast 12 Aug 1944
Just Close Your Eyes + Early in the Morning + Tchaikovsky Piano Concert #1 (theme)	Freddy Martin Orchestra (voc) Artie Wayne, The Martin Man	‘One Night Stand’ Cocoanut Grove Ambassador Hotel Los Angeles AFRS Re-broadcast 12 Aug 1944
Set 5	Uptempo 1940s Orchestra
Theme + Loose Wig	Lionel Hampton Orchestra	‘Jubilee’ AFRS Hollywood 16 Oct 1944
Melancholy Lullaby (theme) + Old Man River	Benny Carter Orchestra	Trianon Ballroom Southgate Ca KECA ABC LA 1944
Wham!	Jimmie Lunceford Orchestra	‘Jubilee’ AFRS Hollywood 1945
For Dancers Only	Jimmie Lunceford Orchestra	‘Jubilee’ AFRS Hollywood 1945
Set 6	1930s English Dance Bands
Five Fifteen	Henry Hall and the BBC Dance Orchesta (voc) Band	Comm Rec London 24 Jul 1933
Love is the Sweetest Thing	Ambrose and his  Orchestra (voc) Sam Brown	Comm Rec London 28 Oct 1932
I Cover the Waterfront	Ambrose and his  Orchestra (voc) Les Allen	Comm Rec London Jul 1933
Let’s Put Out the Lights and Go to Sleep	Ambrose and his  Orchestra (voc) Sam Brown and Elsie Carlisle	Comm Rec London 26 Oct 1932
Set 7	Duke Ellington Extended Works
Minnehaha (from ‘The Beautiful Indians’)	Duke Ellington Orchestra (voc) Kay Davis	Ciro’s Hollywood KNX CBS LA 25 Jul 1947
Hiawatha (from ‘The Beautiful Indians’)	Duke Ellington Orchestra	Ciro’s Hollywood KNX CBS LA 25 Jul 1947
New World a’Comin’	Duke Ellington Orchestra	‘Date With the Duke’ ABC Evansville IN. 16 Jun 1964
Set 8	Ellington 64
Afro Bossa	Duke Ellington Orchestra	‘One Night Stand’ Steel Pier Atlantic City NJ AFRTS Re-broadcast Jul 1964
Call Me Irresponsible	Duke Ellington Orchestra	‘One Night Stand’ Steel Pier Atlantic City NJ AFRTS Re-broadcast Jul 1964
Hello Dolly	Duke Ellington Orchestra	‘One Night Stand’ Steel Pier Atlantic City NJ AFRTS Re-broadcast Jul 1964

Tony Bennett – Phantom Dancer 22 November 2022

Tony Bennett, singer, is this week’s Phantom Dancer feature artist. You’ll hear him and his music in a 1955 interview. Bennett has released over 70 albums during his career. The biggest selling of these in the U.S. have been I Left My Heart in San Francisco, MTV Unplugged: Tony Bennett, and Duets: An American Classic, all of which went platinum for shipping one million copies. Eight other albums of his have gone gold in the U.S. Bennett also charted over 30 singles during his career.

The Phantom Dancer is your weekly non-stop mix of swing and jazz from live 1920s-60s radio and TV every week.

LISTEN to this week’s Phantom Dancer mix (online after 2pm AEST, Tuesday22 November) and two years of Phantom Dancer mixes online at, at https://2ser.com/phantom-dancer/

EARLY YEARS & WAR

At age 10, Tony Bennett sang at the opening of the Triborough Bridge in New York City, standing next to Mayor Fiorello La Guardia who patted him on the head.

He began singing for money at age 13, performing as a singing waiter in several Italian restaurants around his native Queens.

Drawing was another early passion and he saw himself having a career in commercial art. He attended New York’s School of Industrial Art studying painting and music . He later appreciated their emphasis on proper technique.

He dropped out at age 16 to help support his family and worked as a copy boy and runner for the Associated Press in Manhattan

He then set his sights on a professional singing career, returning to performing as a singing waiter, playing and winning amateur nights all around the city, and having a successful engagement at a Paramus, New Jersey, nightclub

As an infantryman in the US Army from 1944 during World War 2 in Germany, Tony Bennett narrowly escaped death in combat several times. The experience made him a pacifist. He later wrote, “Anybody who thinks that war is romantic obviously hasn’t gone through one…It was a nightmare that’s permanent. I just said, ‘This is not life. This is not life.'” At the war’s end he was part of the liberation of a Nazi concentration camp near Landsberg.

Upon his discharge from the Army and return to the States in 1946, Tony Bennett studied at the American Theatre Wing on the GI Bill. He was taught bel canto singing which has kept his voice in good shape for his entire career.

NEW AUDIENCE

Around 1990, Tony’s son, Danny Bennett, (who you will hear as a 17 month old in the 1955 Tony Bennett interview in this week’s Phantom Dancer) felt that younger audiences who were unfamiliar with his father would respond to his music if given a chance. No changes to Tony’s formal appearance, singing style, musical accompaniment or song choice (generally the Great American Songbook) were necessary or desirable.

Danny began regularly to book his father on Late Night with David Letterman, a show with a younger, “hip” audience. This was subsequently followed by appearances on Late Night with Conan O’Brien, The Simpsons, Muppets Tonight, and various MTV programs.

In 1993, Bennett played a series of benefit concerts organized by alternative rock radio stations around the country. The plan worked; as Tony later remembered, “I realized that young people had never heard those songs. Cole Porter, Gershwin – they were like, ‘Who wrote that?’ To them, it was different. If you’re different, you stand out.”

Bennett was seen at MTV Video Music Awards shows side by side with the likes of the Red Hot Chili Peppers and Flavor Flav, and as his “Steppin’ Out with My Baby” video received MTV airplay, it was clear that, as The New York Times said, “Tony Bennett has not just bridged the generation gap, he has demolished it. He has solidly connected with a younger crowd weaned on rock. And there have been no compromises.”

His 1994 MTV Unplugged: Tony Bennett album went platinum and, besides taking the Best Traditional Pop Vocal Performance Grammy award for the third straight year, also won the top Grammy prize of Album of the Year.

TECHNIQUE

Bennett had no intention of retiring until his announcement on stage in 2021, saying that he had to retire due to health reasons. He was 95.

Refering to artists like Pablo Picasso, Jack Benny, and Fred Astaire, Bennett said “right up to the day they died, they were performing. If you are creative, you get busier as you get older.”

Regarding his choices in music, Bennett stated his artistic stance in a 2010 interview:

“I’m not staying contemporary for the big record companies, I don’t follow the latest fashions. I never sing a song that’s badly written. In the 1920s and ’30s, there was a renaissance in music that was the equivalent of the artistic Renaissance. Cole Porter, Johnny Mercer and others just created the best songs that had ever been written. These are classics, and finally they’re not being treated as light entertainment. This is classical music.”

22 NOVEMBER PLAY LIST

Play List – The Phantom Dancer 107.3 2SER-FM Sydney LISTEN ONLINE Community Radio Network Show CRN #570
107.3 2SER Tuesday 22 November 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	Ben Burnie – Music While You Work
It’s a Lonesome Old Town (theme) + The Army Air Corp	Ben Bernie Orchestra	‘War Workers’ Program’ relayed to CFRB Toronto Canada 31 Aug 1942
The Singing Sands	Ben Bernie Orchestra (voc) Jack Fulton	‘War Workers’ Program’ relayed to CFRB Toronto Canada 31 Aug 1942
Put-Put-Put-Put-Put Your Arms Around Me	Ben Bernie Orchestra (voc) The King’s Jesters	‘War Workers’ Program’ relayed to CFRB Toronto Canada 31 Aug 1942
Arthur Murray Taught Me Dancing in a Hurry + Rosalie + Close	Ben Bernie Orchestra (voc) Gail Robbins	‘War Workers’ Program’ relayed to CFRB Toronto Canada 31 Aug 1942
Set 2	Sauter-Finnegan
Open + Liza	The Sauter-Finnegan Orchestra	‘Guest Star’ Radio Transcription New York City 9 Jun 1957
Midnight Sleighride	The Sauter-Finnegan Orchestra	‘Guest Star’ Radio Transcription New York City 9 Jun 1957
April in Paris	The Sauter-Finnegan Orchestra (voc) Anita Darian	‘Guest Star’ Radio Transcription New York City 9 Jun 1957
Doodle Town Fifers + Close	The Sauter-Finnegan Orchestra	‘Guest Star’ Radio Transcription New York City 9 Jun 1957
Set 3	Smooth Music
Song of the West  (theme) + Hooray for Love	Caesar Petrillo and the CBS Orchestra  (voc) Elaine Rodgers	‘The Chicagoans’ WBBM CBS Chicago 10 Apr 1950
Dancing in the Dark + Old Pal	Caesar Petrillo and the CBS Orchestra	‘The Chicagoans’ WBBM CBS Chicago 10 Apr 1950
Black Lace	Caesar Petrillo and the CBS Orchestra  (voc) Lon Saxon	‘The Chicagoans’ WBBM CBS Chicago 10 Apr 1950
Happy Times + Song of the West (theme)	Caesar Petrillo and the CBS Orchestra  (voc) Elaine Rodgers	‘The Chicagoans’ WBBM CBS Chicago 10 Apr 1950
Set 4	Tony Bennett
Who Wants My Bublinsky? (theme) + Open	Howard Miller	‘Howard Miller Show’ WBBM Chicago 30 Aug 1955
Because of You	Tony Bennett	‘Howard Miller Show’ WBBM Chicago 30 Aug 1955
Interview	Tony, Sandy & Danny Bennett	‘Howard Miller Show’ WBBM Chicago 30 Aug 1955
May I Never Love Again + Close	Tony Bennett	‘Howard Miller Show’ WBBM Chicago 30 Aug 1955
Set 5	1930s-40s Swing
Cotton Pickers’ Congregation	Russ Morgan Orchestra	Paradise Restaurant NYC 14 Oct 1938
Down South Camp Meeting	Benny Goodman Orchestra	Madhattan Room Hotel Pennsylvania NYC 20 Nov 1937
Boogie Woogie Lullaby	Ted Fio Rito Orchestra (voc) Madeline Mahoney	Naval Air Station Banana River FL 12 Aug 1945
Flying Home	Will Bradley Orchestra	Famous Door New York City 21 Feb 1941
Set 6	Harmonists
For You	King Sisters	Radio Transcription Los Angeles 1947
Blues in the Night	Trio (voc) Jimmie Lunceford Orchestra	‘Spotlight Bands’ Jefferson Barracks MI Mutual Network 23 Nov 1945
Just Squeeze Me	King Sisters	Radio Transcription Los Angeles 1947
Heebie Geebie Blues	Boswell Sisters	‘Woodbury Program’ KNX CBS LA 18 Sep 1934
Set 7	Jimmy Dorsey
Contrasts (theme) + Jug Music	Jimmy Dorsey Orchestra	Aircheck 20 Oct 1941
Hit the Note	Jimmy Dorsey Orchestra	Palladium Ballroom KNX CBS LA 5 Sep 1943
Dixieland Detour	Jimmy Dorsey Orchestra	Meadowbrook Ballroom Cedar Grove NJ WABC CBS NY 5 Oct 1939
Saturday Night	Jimmy Dorsey Orchestra (voc) Patti Thomas	‘Spotlight Bands’ 11 Feb 1945
Set 8	Bop 1949
Tiny’s Blues	Chubby Jackson Orchestra	‘Symphony Sid Show’ Royal Roost WMCA NYC 5 Mar 1949
Esy	Tito Puente Orchestra	‘Birdland Show’ WABC ABC NYC 1951

Spike Jones – Phantom Dancer 15 Nov 2022

Spike Jones is this week’s Phantom Dancer feature artist. He was a US drummer, percussionist and bandleader specializing in spoof arrangements of popular songs and classical music. Ballads receiving the Jones treatment were punctuated with gunshots, whistles, cowbells, hiccups, burps and outlandish and comedic vocals. He toured the United States and Canada as “The Musical Depreciation Revue”.

The Phantom Dancer is your weekly non-stop mix of swing and jazz from live 1920s-60s radio and TV every week.

LISTEN to this week’s Phantom Dancer mix (online after 2pm AEST, Tuesday 15 November) and two years of Phantom Dancer mixes online at, at https://2ser.com/phantom-dancer/

POTS, PANS & DRUMS

At the age of 11 Spike Jones got his first set of drums. As a teenager he played in bands that he formed himself. His first band was called Spike Jones and his Five Tacks. A railroad restaurant chef taught him how to use pots and pans, forks, knives and spoons as musical instruments. Jones frequently played in theater pit orchestras. In the 1930s, he joined the Victor Young orchestra and got many offers to appear on radio shows, including Al Jolson’s Lifebuoy Program, Burns and Allen and Bing Crosby’s Kraft Music Hall.

From 1937 to 1942, Jones was the percussionist for the John Scott Trotter Orchestra,which played on Bing Crosby’s first recording of “White Christmas”.

He was part of a backing band for songwriter Cindy Walker during her early recording career with Decca Records and Standard Transcriptions. Her song “We’re Gonna Stomp Them City Slickers Down” provided the inspiration for the name of Jones’s future band.

PARODIES

Jones became bored playing the same music each night with the orchestras. Spike Jones found other like-minded musicians and they began playing parodies of standard songs for their own entertainment.

The musicians wanted their wives to share their enjoyment, so they recorded their weekly performances. One of the recordings made its way into the hands of an RCA Victor executive, who offered the musicians a recording contract.

One of the City Slickers’ early recordings for the label was a Del Porter arrangement of “Der Fuehrer’s Face”. The record’s success inspired Jones to become the band’s leader. He initially thought the popularity the record brought them would fade. However, audiences kept asking for more, so Jones started working on more comic arrangements.

RADIO

After appearing as the house band on The Bob Burns Show, Spike got his own radio show on NBC, The Chase and Sanborn Program, as Edgar Bergen’s summer replacement in 1945.

The guest list for Jones’s 1947–49 CBS program for Coca-Cola (originally The Spotlight Revue, retitled The Spike Jones Show for its final season) included Frankie Laine, Mel Torme, Peter Lorre, Don Ameche and Burl Ives.

Frank Sinatra appeared on the show in October 1948, and Lassie in May 1949. You’ll hear Lassie’s appearance on this week’s Phantom Dancer singing ‘El Barkio’.

In 1942, the Jones gang worked on numerous Soundies, musical shorts similar to later music videos which were shown on coin-operated projectors in small nightclubs, arcades, malt shops, and taverns.

The band appeared on camera under their own name in four Soundies.

TV & MOVIES

Jones saw the potential of television and filmed two half-hour pilot films, Foreign Legion and Wild Bill Hiccup, in the summer of 1950. Veteran comedy director Eddie Cline worked on both, but neither was successful.

The band fared much better on live television, where their spontaneous antics and crazy visual gags guaranteed the viewers a good time. Spike usually dressed in a suit with an enormous check pattern and was seen leaping around playing a washboard, cowbells, a suite of klaxons and foghorns, then xylophone, then shooting a pistol.

The band starred in variety shows, such as The Colgate Comedy Hour (1951, 1955) and their All Star Revue (1952) before being given his own slot by NBC, The Spike Jones Show, which aired early in 1954, and Club Oasis on NBC, in the summer of 1958; and by CBS, as The Spike Jones Show, in the summers of 1957, 1960, and 1961.

Spike Jones and his City Slickers also appeared on NBC’s The Ford Show, Starring Tennessee Ernie Ford in the episode which aired on November 15, 1956.

In 1940, Spike Jones had an uncredited bandleading part in the Dead End Kids film Give Us Wings, appearing on camera for about four seconds.

As the band’s fame grew, Hollywood producers hired the Slickers as a specialty act for feature films, including Thank Your Lucky Stars (1943), Meet the People (1944), Bring on the Girls (1945), Breakfast in Hollywood (1946) and Variety Girl (1947). Jones was set to team with Abbott and Costello for a 1954 Universal Pictures comedy, but when Lou Costello withdrew for medical reasons, Universal replaced the comedy team with look-alikes Hugh O’Brian and Buddy Hackett, and promoted Jones to the leading role. The finished film, Fireman Save My Child, turned out to be Spike Jones’s only top-billed theatrical movie

15 NOVEMBER PLAY LIST

Play List – The Phantom Dancer 107.3 2SER-FM Sydney LISTEN ONLINE Community Radio Network Show CRN #562
107.3 2SER Tuesday 15 November 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	Buddy Moreno
You’re the Top (theme) + Who Cares?	Buddy Moreno (voc) Len Cleary Quartet	‘Top Tunes’ WBBM CBS Chicago 1950
Miserlou + Take the A Train	Len Cleary Quartet	‘Top Tunes’ WBBM CBS Chicago 1950
Careless	Buddy Moreno (voc) Len Cleary Quartet	‘Top Tunes’ WBBM CBS Chicago 1950
The Glory of Love + Close	Buddy Moreno (voc) Len Cleary Quartet	‘Top Tunes’ WBBM CBS Chicago 1950
Set 2	Dixie Swing from ‘The Voice of Labour’ WCFL Chicago
Open + Chinatown My Chinatown	Jack Kelly’s Swing Ensemble	WCFL Chicago 1942
My Melancholy Baby	Jack Kelly’s Swing Ensemble	WCFL Chicago 1942
Exactly Like You	Jack Kelly’s Swing Ensemble	WCFL Chicago 1942
Tangerine + Runnin’ Wild + Theme	Jack Kelly’s Swing Ensemble	WCFL Chicago 1942
Set 3	Count Basie
Open + Blue Room	Coleman Hawkins	London House WBBM CBS Chicago 19 Jun 1963
All the Things You Are	Coleman Hawkins	London House WBBM CBS Chicago 19 Jun 1963
Set 4	Spike Jones
El Barkio	Spike Jones and his City Slickers (voc) Eileen Gallagher and Lassie.	‘Spike Jones Show’ KNX CBS LA 28 May 1949
Our Hour	Spike Jones and his City Slickers (voc) The Sportsmen Quartet (Bill Days, Max Smith, Marty Sperzel and Gurney Bell)	Comm Rec Los Angeles 1947
Set 5	Selling Coffee
Open + I’m Breezin’ Along with the Breeze	Skip Farrell (voc) The Manor House Quintet	‘Manor House Party’ WMAQ CBS Chicago 20 Jan 1948
Now is the Hour + Pennies From Heaven	Skip Farrell (voc) The Manor House Quintet	‘Manor House Party’ WMAQ CBS Chicago 20 Jan 1948
When Day is Done	The Manor House Quintet	‘Manor House Party’ WMAQ CBS Chicago 20 Jan 1948
My How the Time Goes By + I Just Kissed Your Picture Goodnight + Close	Skip Farrell (voc) The Manor House Quintet	‘Manor House Party’ WMAQ CBS Chicago 20 Jan 1948
Set 6	Martha Tilton
If It’s The Last Thing I Do	Martha Tilton (voc) Benny Goodman Orchestra	‘Camel Caravan’ WABC CBS NY 16 Nov 1937
Gotta Get Some Shuteye	Martha Tilton (voc) Benny Goodman Orchestra	‘Camel Caravan’ WABC CBS NY 7 Feb 1939
Hurry Home	Martha Tilton (voc) Benny Goodman Orchestra	‘Camel Caravan’ WABC CBS NY 3 Jan 1939
A Home in the Clouds	Martha Tilton (voc) Benny Goodman Orchestra	‘Camel Caravan’ WABC CBS NY 14 Feb 1939
Set 7	Tommy Dorsey
I’m Getting Sentimental Over You (theme) + You’re Driving me Crazy	Tommy Dorsey Orchestra (voc) The Sentimentalists	‘Spotlight Bands’ Blue Network 29 Jan 1945
Hawaiian War Chan	Tommy Dorsey Orchestra (d) Buddy Rich	Palladium Ballroom KNX CBS LA 26 Nov 1944
Song of India	Tommy Dorsey Orchestra	‘Spotlight Bands’ Blue Network 12 Feb 1945
Losers Weepers	Tommy Dorsey Orchestra	‘For the Record’ WEAF NBC NY 17 Apr 1944
Set 8	Dave Brubeck
Perfume Counter	Dave Brubeck	‘Symphony Sid Show’ WJZ ABC NYC Dec 1953
Intro + The Duke	Dave Brubeck	Basin Street WCBS CBS NYC Feb 1956
Love Walked In	Dave Brubeck	Basin Street WCBS CBS NYC Feb 1956

Jazz Piano Billy Maxted – Phantom Dancer 8 Nov 2022

Billy Maxted, U.S jazz arranger, and pianist, is this week’s Phantom Dancer feature artist. He wrote for Benny Goodman, Red Nichols and Claude Thornhill and led his own Dixieland band in the 1950s which we’ll hear live on this week’s Phantom Dancer.

The Phantom Dancer is your weekly non-stop mix of swing and jazz from live 1920s-60s radio and TV every week.

LISTEN to this week’s Phantom Dancer mix (online after 2pm AEST, Tuesday 8 November) and two years of Phantom Dancer mixes online at, at https://2ser.com/phantom-dancer/

BILLY

Maxted began his career in 1937 as a member of the Red Nichols big band, for which he wrote arrangements.

From 1940 he played with Teddy Powell, Ben Pollack and Will Bradley (1941-42).

After serving in the U.S. Navy he wrote arrangements for the big bands of Claude Thornhill and Benny Goodman.

He led a band with Ray Eberle (1947-48) and soon after led his own Manhattan Jazz Band, which played Dixieland with Bob Zurke on boogie-woogie piano.

He was house pianist at Nick’s club in Greenwich Village from 1949-1960 from where he did a weekly broadcast over NBC.

In the 1950s he recorded for MGM, Brunswick, Cadence, and Seeco.

In 1958, British bandleader Reg Owen had a major hit on the American charts with Maxted’s upbeat instrumental composition, “Manhattan Spiritual”, released on the Palette label.

His sidemen included trumpeter Chuck Forsyth, trombonist Lee Gifford, either Sol Pace or Dan Tracey on clarinet, and (by 1958) bass saxophonist Johnny Dengler.

In the 1960s, he recorded for K&H and Liberty and as a sideman for Bob Crosby, Pee Wee Erwin, and Red Nichols.

8 NOVEMBER PLAY LIST

Play List – The Phantom Dancer 107.3 2SER-FM Sydney LISTEN ONLINE Community Radio Network Show CRN #550
107.3 2SER Tuesday 8 November 2022 12:04 – 2:00pm (+11 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	Selling Bonds
Open + Trumpeter’s Lullaby	Ralph Marterie Orchestra	‘Treasury Show’ WBBM CBS Chicago 26 Dec 1954
Two Sleepy People	Ralph Marterie Orchestra	‘Treasury Show’ WBBM CBS Chicago 26 Dec 1954
Babysitter	Ralph Marterie Orchestra	‘Treasury Show’ WBBM CBS Chicago 26 Dec 1954
The Gal That Got Away	Ralph Marterie Orchestra (voc) Bill Walters	‘Treasury Show’ WBBM CBS Chicago 26 Dec 1954
Set 2	Coleman Hawkins
It’s the Talk of the Town	Coleman Hawkins Quartet	London House WBBM CBS Chicago 19 Jun 1963
Honeysuckle Rose + Close	Coleman Hawkins Quartet	London House WBBM CBS Chicago 19 Jun 1963
Set 3	Art Lowrey
Open + Almost Like Being in Love	Art Lowrey Orchestra	‘One Night Stand’ Hotel Chase AFRS Re-broadcast KMOX CBS St Louis 1957
The Girl Without a Name	Art Lowrey Orchestra	‘One Night Stand’ Hotel Chase AFRS Re-broadcast KMOX CBS St Louis 1957
Monterey + Begin the Beguine	Art Lowrey Orchestra	‘One Night Stand’ Hotel Chase AFRS Re-broadcast KMOX CBS St Louis 1957
April Love + Say No More	Art Lowrey Orchestra	‘One Night Stand’ Hotel Chase AFRS Re-broadcast KMOX CBS St Louis 1957
Set 4	Billy Maxted
Open + Tin Roof Blues (theme) + Tailgate Ramble	Billy Maxted and his Manhattan Jazz Band	‘One Night Stand’ Nick’s AFRS Re-broadcast WRCA-FM NBC NYC 1957
When the Saints Go Marching In	Billy Maxted and his Manhattan Jazz Band	‘One Night Stand’ Nick’s AFRS Re-broadcast WRCA-FM NBC NYC 1957
Set 5	1930s-40s German Dance Orks
Guter Mond	Hans Carste Orchestra (voc) Rudi Schuericke	Comm Rec Berlin 1940
Ich mache alles mit Musik	Kurt Wege Soloists	Comm Rec Berlin 1940
Bei dir war es immer so schön	Kurt Wege Soloists	Comm Rec Berlin 1938
Über die Dächer der großen Stadt	Hans Carste Orchestra (voc) Rudi Schuericke Terzett	Comm Rec Berlin 1939
Set 6	1930s Dance Bands
Down T’uncle Bill’s	Hal Kemp Orchestra (voc) Skinnay Ennis	Radio Transcription NYC 14 Dec 1934
Stompin’ at the Savoy	Isham Jones Orchestra	WOR Mutual NYC 24 Jan 1936
Babs	The Inkspots	WEAF NBC Red NYC 9 Aug 1935
Whistling in the Dark	Gus Arnheim Orchestra (voc) Loyce Whiteman	Radio Transcription Los Angeles 1931
Set 7	1940s Women Singers
Blue Rain	Glen Gray and the Casa Loma Orchestra (voc) Connie Morgan	‘Spotlight Bands’ Columbus OH Blue Network 19 Nov 1943
I Cover the Waterfront	Sarah Vaughn	‘Eddie Condon Floorshow’ WPIX TV NYC 13 Dec 1948
Love Me or Leave Me	Sarah Vaughn	‘Eddie Condon Floorshow’ WPIX TV NYC 13 Dec 1948
It Had to Be You + Rocking Chair (theme)	Mildred Bailey	‘Music till Midnight’ WABC CBS NYC 1944
Set 8	1960s Radio and TV Jazz
Chicago	Benny Goodman Trio	WNBC NBC TV NYC 21 Aug 1967
Sometimes I’m Happy	Tony Bennett (voc) Gene Krupa Trio	Radio Transcription 1963
I’m Forever Blowing Bubbles + Rose Room	Charlie Shavers Quartet	London House WBBM CBS  Chicago May 1962

Tadd Dameron – Phantom Dancer 1 Nov 2022

Tadd Dameron, U.S jazz composer, arranger, and pianist, is this week’s Phantom Dancer feature artist. He was the most influential arranger of the bebop era. He also wrote charts for swing and hard bop players.

The Phantom Dancer is your weekly non-stop mix of swing and jazz from live 1920s-60s radio and TV every week.

LISTEN to this week’s Phantom Dancer mix (online after 2pm AEST, Tuesday 1 November) and two years of Phantom Dancer mixes online at, at https://2ser.com/phantom-dancer/

TADD

Tadd Dameron arranged for Count Basie, Artie Shaw, Jimmie Lunceford, Dizzy Gillespie, Billy Eckstine and Sarah Vaughan.  His greatest influences were George Gershwin and Duke Ellington.

In 1940-41 he was the piano player and arranger for the Kansas City band Harlan Leonard and his Rockets. With lyricist Carl Sigman he wrote “If You Could See Me Now” for Sarah Vaughan and it became one of her first signature songs.

In the late 1940s, Dameron wrote arrangements for Gillespie’s big band, who gave the première of his large-scale orchestral piece Soulphony in Three Hearts at Carnegie Hall in 1948.

That same year, as you’ll hear on this week’s Phantom Dancer, Dameron led his own group in New York, which included Fats Navarro.

In 1949 he was at the Paris Jazz Festival playing piano for  Miles Davis.

From 1961 he scored recordings by Milt Jackson, Sonny Stitt, and Blue Mitchell.

He arranged and played for rhythm and blues musician Bull Moose Jackson. Playing for Jackson at that same time was Benny Golson, who was to become a jazz composer in his own right. Golson has said that Dameron was the most important influence on his writing.

DAMERON

Dameron composed several bop and swing standards, including “Hot House”, “If You Could See Me Now”, “Our Delight”, “Good Bait” (composed for Count Basie) and “Lady Bird”.

His bands from the late 1940s and early 1950s featured leading players such as Fats Navarro, Miles Davis, Dexter Gordon, Sonny Rollins, Wardell Gray, and Clifford Brown. 

LATER

In 1956 he led two sessions based on his compositions, released as the 1956 album “Fontainebleau” and the 1957 album “Mating Call”. The latter featured John Coltrane.

Dameron developed a drug addiction by the end of his career. He was arrested on drug charges in 1957 and 1958, and served time (1959–60) in a federal prison hospital in Lexington, Kentucky.

After his release, Dameron recorded a single notable project as a leader, The Magic Touch, but was sidelined by health problems. He had several heart attacks before dying of cancer in 1965, at the age of 48. 

1 NOVEMBER PLAY LIST

Play List – The Phantom Dancer 107.3 2SER-FM Sydney LISTEN ONLINE Community Radio Network Show CRN #568
107.3 2SER Tuesday 1 November 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	Count Basie
Open + One O’Clock Jump (theme) + Dinah	Count Basie Orchestra	‘Jubilee’ AFRS Hollywood 2 Oct 1945
Baby, Won’t You Pleae Come Home?	Count Basie Orchestra (voc) Jimmy Rushing	‘Jubilee’ AFRS Hollywood 2 Oct 1945
Basie Boogie	Count Basie Orchestra	‘Jubilee’ AFRS Hollywood 2 Oct 1945
Rock-a-Bye Basie	Count Basie Orchestra (ts) Illinois Jacquet	‘Jubilee’ AFRS Hollywood 2 Oct 1945
Set 2	Selling Soft Drink
Coca Cola Waltz (theme) + Instrumental	Walter Blaufuss and the The Refreshment Club Orchestra	‘The Refreshment Club’ Radio Transcription Chicago 23 Nov 1936
Running a Temperature + Stepping Out to the Opera	Joan and The Escorts	‘The Refreshment Club’ Radio Transcription Chicago 23 Nov 1936
I Can’t Give You Anything But Love	Helen Jane Balke	‘The Refreshment Club’ Radio Transcription Chicago 23 Nov 1936
Tom Tom’s Drum + Sing, Baby, Sing + Close	Walter Blaufuss and the The Refreshment Club Orchestra	‘The Refreshment Club’ Radio Transcription Chicago 23 Nov 1936
Set 3	Benny Goodman
So In Love	Benny Goodman Orchestra  (voc) Terri Swopes	‘One Night Stand’ AFRS Re-broadcast 22 Mar 1949
Blue Lou	Benny Goodman Sextet	‘One Night Stand’ AFRS Re-broadcast 22 Mar 1949
Don’t Worry About Me	Benny Goodman Orchestra (voc) Buddy Greco	‘One Night Stand’ AFRS Re-broadcast 22 Mar 1949
El Greco + Let’s Dance (theme)	Benny Goodman Orchestra	‘One Night Stand’ AFRS Re-broadcast 22 Mar 1949
Set 4	Tadd Dameron
Jumpin’ with Symphony Sid (theme) + The Squirrel	Tadd Dameron Quintet	‘Symphony Sid Show’ Royal Roost WMCA NYC 28 Aug 1948
Good Bait + Anthropology	Tadd Dameron Quintet	‘Symphony Sid Show’ Royal Roost WMCA NYC 28 Aug 1948
Kitchenette Across the Hall	Tadd Dameron Quintet (voc) Pancho Kenny Hagood	‘Symphony Sid Show’ Royal Roost WMCA NYC 28 Aug 1948
Rifftide (Lady Be Good) + Jumpin’ with Symphony Sid (theme)	Tadd Dameron Quintet	‘Symphony Sid Show’ Royal Roost WMCA NYC 28 Aug 1948
Set 5	Trad Jazz
These Foolish Things	Joe Bushkin (piano) Benny Morton (tb)	‘Eddie Condon Floor Show’ WPIX TV NYC 13 Dec 1948
Someday	Louis Armstrong	Wintergarden Theatre WNBC NBC NYC 19 Jun 1947
Indiana	Billy Butterfield	‘Eddie Condon Jazz Concert’ Blue Network 27 Jan 1945
Riverside Blues	Muggsy Spanier	Club Hangover KCBS San Francisco 11 Apr 1953
Set 6	The Golden Seven
Darf ich bitten	Die Goldene Sieben	Comm Rec Berlin Apr 1936
Granada (In a Little Spanish Town)	Die Goldene Sieben	Comm Rec Berlin May 1938
Oh! Aha!	Die Goldene Sieben (voc) Rudi Schuericke Terzett	Comm Rec Berlin Feb 1939
Die Uhr Schlaegt 8	Die Goldene Sieben	Comm Rec Berlin Apr 1938
Set 7	1930s Swing
Do the New York	Gus Arnheim Orchestra	Radio Transcription Cocoanut Grove Los Angeles 1931
The Music Goes Round and Round	Paul Whiteman Orchestra	‘Paul Whiteman’s Musical Varieties’ WJZ NBC Blue NYC 19 Jan 1936
Moten Swing + King Poeter Stomp	Count Basie Orchestra	Chatterbox Hotel William Penn WCAE NBC Red Pittsburgh 10 Jan 1937
You Turned the Tables on Me + Song is Ended (theme)	Bunny Berrigan Orchestra	‘Norge Program’ Radio Transcription NYC 1937
Set 8	Modern Jazz
Four in a Bar	Paul Baron Sextet	‘Music til Midnight’ WABC CBS NYC 1944
Ridin’ High	Benny Goodman orchestra (voc) Ella Fitzgerald	‘Texaco Show’ NBC TV 9 Apr 1957
Undecided (theme) + st Louis Blues	Charlie Shavers Quartet	‘London House’ WBBM CBS Chicago May 1962

Richard Maltby Snr Musician Survival Tips – Phantom Dancer 21 Jun 2022

Richard Maltby Snr, trumpeter, band leader, composer, conductor and arranger is this week’s Phantom Dancer feature artist. He is most famous for his 1956 recording, “Themes from (the movie) The Man With The Golden Arm”.

The Phantom Dancer is your weekly non-stop mix of swing and jazz from live 1920s-60s radio and TV every week.

LISTEN to this week’s Phantom Dancer mix (online after 2pm AEST, Tuesday 21 June) and two years of Phantom Dancer mixes online at, at https://2ser.com/phantom-dancer/

RADIO & TV

Studying music at Northwestern University for a year, he left to tour the US as a trumpet player with dance bands including Little Jack Little’s, Roger Prypr and Bob Strong.

In 1940 he gave up the trumpet for writing, composing and conducting which he had been doing since writing for Benny Goodman’s Orchestra while it held its residency at the Congress Hotel Chicago in 1935.

He wrote ‘Six Flats Unfurnished’ recorded by Benny Goodman and one of Goodman’s biggest selling records.

He then came under the influence of Paul Whiteman who found him a job composing and arranging for the ABC Network.

Maltby wrote over 5,000 arrangements in many musical styles, including a threnody memoriam to John F Kennedy.

In 1954 is had a hit with ‘St Louis Blues Mambo’ for RCA_victor’s “X” label, later rebranded “Vik”.

In 1955, Maltby organized a 16-piece orchestra group and toured the US in a series of one-night stands. Many of his ”one-nighters” were at universities.

He also appeared for six week engagement at the Cafe Rouge of  the Statler Hotel In New York City.

Maltby also appeared on the Vaughn Monroe TV show in 1955 and theJackie Gleason – Paul Whiteman “Greatest Bands Show.” He was guest artist on “Star of the Day” on the Monitor radio show on NBC.

He and his orchestra have received such plaudits as “A sharp and imaginative crew” from The Billboard and, “One of the hottest instrumental artists,” from the New York Dally Mirror.

MUSIC SURVIVAL TIPS

In a 1965 Billboard article, Maltby explained that there weren’t enough ballrooms and live gig opportunities to sustain his 14-piece orchestra.

“The trick today is to be a maestro part of the week, while devoting the remaining weekdays to other types of musical endevours,” Maltby said.

So on the weekends, Maltby played college dates and other live shows with his orchestra (which for reasons of aesthetics he never went smaller than 14 pieces.). On weekdays he scored TV and radio jingles, produced independent albums, and scored for films.

“To handle this diverse work, one must be a competent composer-arranger,” Maltby noted.

Maltby established his own production company and publishing business.

He also entered into music education: publishing music books, giving music seminars, judging contests, and guest conducting orchestras.

In 1965, Maltby was the biggest contributor to the SESAC transcription library.

You’ll enjoy his swinging 16-piece band on this week’s Phantom Dancer is a 1958 broadcast from Washington DC.

His son, Richard Maltby Jr, is an American theatre director and producer, lyricist, and screenwriter. He conceived and directed the only two musical revues to win the Tony Award for Best Musical: Ain’t Misbehavin’ (1978: Tony, N.Y. Drama Critics, Outer Critics, Drama Desk Awards, also Tony Award for Best Director) and Fosse (1999: Tony, Outer Critics, Drama Desk Awards).

21 JUNE PLAY LIST

Play List – The Phantom Dancer 107.3 2SER-FM Sydney LISTEN ONLINE Community Radio Network Show CRN #550
107.3 2SER Tuesday 21 June 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	Ben Burnie – Music While You Work
It’s a Lonesome Old Town (theme) + I’d Rather Believe Your Eyes	Ben Bernie Orchestra	‘War Workers’ Program’ WBBM CBS Chicago 8 Sep 1942
Can’t Get Out of this Mood	Ben Bernie Orchestra (voc) Gail Robbins	‘War Workers’ Program’ WBBM CBS Chicago 8 Sep 1942
Juke Box Saturday Night	Ben Bernie Orchestra (voc) The King’s Jesters	‘War Workers’ Program’ WBBM CBS Chicago 8 Sep 1942
This is the Army, Mr Jones + I Get the Neck of the Chicken + Close	Ben Bernie Orchestra (voc) Ben Bernie	‘War Workers’ Program’ WBBM CBS Chicago 8 Sep 1942
Set 2	Abe Lyman
Open + Shine	Abe Lyman Orchestra	‘Lucky Strike Hour’ WEAF NBC Red New York City 8 Dec 1932
I’ll Follow You + You Lucky So-and So	Abe Lyman Orchestra (voc) Frank Silvano	‘Lucky Strike Hour’ WEAF NBC Red New York City 8 Dec 1932
Bugle Call Rag + It Don’t Mean a Thing if it Ain’t Got That Swing	Abe Lyman Orchestra	‘Lucky Strike Hour’ WEAF NBC Red New York City 8 Dec 1932
Here it is Monday + Wang Wang Blues + Close	Abe Lyman Orchestra	‘Lucky Strike Hour’ WEAF NBC Red New York City 8 Dec 1932
Set 3	Breakfast Radio
Breakfast Club Opening Theme	Joe DeLicchio Orchestra  (voc) Don, McNeill, Evelyn Lynn, Jack Baker, The Three Romeos	‘The Breakfast Club’ WCFL NBC Blue Chicago 21 Dec 1940
Instrumentals + My Dream of Love	Joe DeLicchio Orchestra (voc) Jack Baker	‘The Breakfast Club’ WCFL NBC Blue Chicago 21 Dec 1940
Breakfast Club Song	Joe DeLicchio Orchestra (voc) Don McNeill	‘The Breakfast Club’ WCFL NBC Blue Chicago 21 Dec 1940
March + You’re The One + Square Dance + Glad Iron Ad	Joe DeLicchio Orchestra (voc) Evelyn Lynn, Don McNeill	‘The Breakfast Club’ WCFL NBC Blue Chicago 21 Dec 1940
Set 4	Richard Maltby
Open + You Do Something to Me	Richard Maltby Orchestra	‘One Night Stand’ Blue Room Hotel Shoreham WTOP CBS Washington DC AFRTS Re-broadcast 1958
An Affair to Remember	Richard Maltby Orchestra (voc) Mary Maza	‘One Night Stand’ Blue Room Hotel Shoreham WTOP CBS Washington DC AFRTS Re-broadcast 1958
Three Blind Cats	Richard Maltby Orchestra	‘One Night Stand’ Blue Room Hotel Shoreham WTOP CBS Washington DC AFRTS Re-broadcast 1958
Marilyn + Close	Richard Maltby Orchestra	‘One Night Stand’ Blue Room Hotel Shoreham WTOP CBS Washington DC AFRTS Re-broadcast 1958
Set 5	Xavier Cugat
Open + My Shawl (theme)	Xavier Cugat Orchestra	‘One Night Stand’ Roseland Ballroom WABC ABC NYC AFRTS Re-broadcast 1958
In a Little Spanish Town	Xavier Cugat Orchestra	‘One Night Stand’ Roseland Ballroom WABC ABC NYC AFRTS Re-broadcast 1958
Calypso + Besume	Xavier Cugat Orchestra	‘One Night Stand’ Roseland Ballroom WABC ABC NYC AFRTS Re-broadcast 1958
Instrumental + Close	Xavier Cugat Orchestra	‘One Night Stand’ Roseland Ballroom WABC ABC NYC AFRTS Re-broadcast 1958
Set 6	1940s Swing Radio
Skyliner	Charlie Barnet Orchestra	Casino Gardens Ocean Park CA 30 Jan 1946
Once in Love with Amy	Freddy Martin Orchestra (voc) Merv Griffin	Mural Room Hotel St Francis San Francisco 1940s
Foo a Little Ballyhooo	Cab Calloway Orchestra (voc) Cab Calloway	New Zanzibar NYC 14 Aug 1945
My Future Just Passed	Shep Fields and his Rippling Rhythm Orchestra (voc) Toni Arden	Glen Island Casino New Rochelle NY 1940s
Set 7	Big Bands
Melancholy Lullaby (theme) + Old Man River	Benny Carter Orchestra	Trianon Ballroom Southgate CA KECA Blue LA 1944
My Honey’s Lovin’ Arms	Duke Ellington Orchestra	‘Date with the Duke’ WENR ABC Chicago 26 May 1945
Tangerine	Jimmy Dorsey Orchestra (voc) Helen O’Connell and Bob Eberly	‘Command Performance USA’ AFRS Hollywood Dec 1942
Hitsum Kitsum	Louis Prima Orchestra (voc) Louis Prima & Band	‘Spotlight Bands’ Mitchell Field Long Island WJZ Blue NYC 15 Jan 1945
Set 8	Bop 1949
Tiny’s Blues	Chubby Jackson Orchestra	‘Symphony Sid Show’ Royal Roost WMCA NYC 1220 Mar 1949
I’m Forever Blowing Bubbles	Jackie Kane & Roy Kral	‘Symphony Sid Show’ Royal Roost WMCA NYC 1949
Father Knickerbocker	Chubby Jackson Orchestra	‘Symphony Sid Show’ Royal Roost WMCA NYC 5 Mar 1949

Tony Bennett – Phantom Dancer 14 Jun 2022

Tony Bennett, singer, is this week’s Phantom Dancer feature artist. You’ll hear him and his music in a 1955 interview. Bennett has released over 70 albums during his career. The biggest selling of these in the U.S. have been I Left My Heart in San Francisco, MTV Unplugged: Tony Bennett, and Duets: An American Classic, all of which went platinum for shipping one million copies. Eight other albums of his have gone gold in the U.S. Bennett also charted over 30 singles during his career.

The Phantom Dancer is your weekly non-stop mix of swing and jazz from live 1920s-60s radio and TV every week.

LISTEN to this week’s Phantom Dancer mix (online after 2pm AEST, Tuesday 14 June) and two years of Phantom Dancer mixes online at, at https://2ser.com/phantom-dancer/

EARLY YEARS & WAR

At age 10, Tony Bennett sang at the opening of the Triborough Bridge in New York City, standing next to Mayor Fiorello La Guardia who patted him on the head.

He began singing for money at age 13, performing as a singing waiter in several Italian restaurants around his native Queens.

Drawing was another early passion and he saw himself having a career in commercial art. He attended New York’s School of Industrial Art studying painting and music . He later appreciated their emphasis on proper technique.

He dropped out at age 16 to help support his family and worked as a copy boy and runner for the Associated Press in Manhattan

He then set his sights on a professional singing career, returning to performing as a singing waiter, playing and winning amateur nights all around the city, and having a successful engagement at a Paramus, New Jersey, nightclub

As an infantryman in the US Army from 1944 during World War 2 in Germany, Tony Bennett narrowly escaped death in combat several times. The experience made him a pacifist. He later wrote, “Anybody who thinks that war is romantic obviously hasn’t gone through one…It was a nightmare that’s permanent. I just said, ‘This is not life. This is not life.'” At the war’s end he was part of the liberation of a Nazi concentration camp near Landsberg.

Upon his discharge from the Army and return to the States in 1946, Tony Bennett studied at the American Theatre Wing on the GI Bill. He was taught bel canto singing which has kept his voice in good shape for his entire career.

NEW AUDIENCE

Around 1990, Tony’s son, Danny Bennett, (who you will hear as a 17 month old in the 1955 Tony Bennett interview in this week’s Phantom Dancer) felt that younger audiences who were unfamiliar with his father would respond to his music if given a chance. No changes to Tony’s formal appearance, singing style, musical accompaniment or song choice (generally the Great American Songbook) were necessary or desirable.

Danny began regularly to book his father on Late Night with David Letterman, a show with a younger, “hip” audience. This was subsequently followed by appearances on Late Night with Conan O’Brien, The Simpsons, Muppets Tonight, and various MTV programs.

In 1993, Bennett played a series of benefit concerts organized by alternative rock radio stations around the country. The plan worked; as Tony later remembered, “I realized that young people had never heard those songs. Cole Porter, Gershwin – they were like, ‘Who wrote that?’ To them, it was different. If you’re different, you stand out.”

Bennett was seen at MTV Video Music Awards shows side by side with the likes of the Red Hot Chili Peppers and Flavor Flav, and as his “Steppin’ Out with My Baby” video received MTV airplay, it was clear that, as The New York Times said, “Tony Bennett has not just bridged the generation gap, he has demolished it. He has solidly connected with a younger crowd weaned on rock. And there have been no compromises.”

His 1994 MTV Unplugged: Tony Bennett album went platinum and, besides taking the Best Traditional Pop Vocal Performance Grammy award for the third straight year, also won the top Grammy prize of Album of the Year.

TECHNIQUE

Bennett had no intention of retiring until his announcement on stage in 2021, saying that he had to retire due to health reasons. He was 95.

Refering to artists like Pablo Picasso, Jack Benny, and Fred Astaire, Bennett said “right up to the day they died, they were performing. If you are creative, you get busier as you get older.”

Regarding his choices in music, Bennett stated his artistic stance in a 2010 interview:

“I’m not staying contemporary for the big record companies, I don’t follow the latest fashions. I never sing a song that’s badly written. In the 1920s and ’30s, there was a renaissance in music that was the equivalent of the artistic Renaissance. Cole Porter, Johnny Mercer and others just created the best songs that had ever been written. These are classics, and finally they’re not being treated as light entertainment. This is classical music.”

14 JUNE PLAY LIST

Play List – The Phantom Dancer 107.3 2SER-FM Sydney LISTEN ONLINE Community Radio Network Show CRN #549
107.3 2SER Tuesday 14 June 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	Ben Burnie – Music While You Work
It’s a Lonesome Old Town (theme) + The Army Air Corp	Ben Bernie Orchestra	‘War Workers’ Program’ relayed to CFRB Toronto Canada 31 Aug 1942
The Singing Sands	Ben Bernie Orchestra (voc) Jack Fulton	‘War Workers’ Program’ relayed to CFRB Toronto Canada 31 Aug 1942
Put-Put-Put-Put-Put Your Arms Around Me	Ben Bernie Orchestra (voc) The King’s Jesters	‘War Workers’ Program’ relayed to CFRB Toronto Canada 31 Aug 1942
Arthur Murray Taught Me Dancing in a Hurry + Rosalie + Close	Ben Bernie Orchestra (voc) Gail Robbins	‘War Workers’ Program’ relayed to CFRB Toronto Canada 31 Aug 1942
Set 2	Sauter-Finnegan
Open + Liza	The Sauter-Finnegan Orchestra	‘Guest Star’ Radio Transcription New York City 9 Jun 1957
Midnight Sleighride	The Sauter-Finnegan Orchestra	‘Guest Star’ Radio Transcription New York City 9 Jun 1957
April in Paris	The Sauter-Finnegan Orchestra (voc) Anita Darian	‘Guest Star’ Radio Transcription New York City 9 Jun 1957
Doodle Town Fifers + Close	The Sauter-Finnegan Orchestra	‘Guest Star’ Radio Transcription New York City 9 Jun 1957
Set 3	Smooth Music
Song of the West  (theme) + Hooray for Love	Caesar Petrillo and the CBS Orchestra  (voc) Elaine Rodgers	‘The Chicagoans’ WBBM CBS Chicago 10 Apr 1950
Dancing in the Dark + Old Pal	Caesar Petrillo and the CBS Orchestra	‘The Chicagoans’ WBBM CBS Chicago 10 Apr 1950
Black Lace	Caesar Petrillo and the CBS Orchestra  (voc) Lon Saxon	‘The Chicagoans’ WBBM CBS Chicago 10 Apr 1950
Happy Times + Song of the West (theme)	Caesar Petrillo and the CBS Orchestra  (voc) Elaine Rodgers	‘The Chicagoans’ WBBM CBS Chicago 10 Apr 1950
Set 4	Tony Bennett
Who Wants My Bublinsky? (theme) + Open	Howard Miller	‘Howard Miller Show’ WBBM Chicago 30 Aug 1955
Because of You	Tony Bennett	‘Howard Miller Show’ WBBM Chicago 30 Aug 1955
Interview	Tony, Sandy & Danny Bennett	‘Howard Miller Show’ WBBM Chicago 30 Aug 1955
May I Never Love Again + Close	Tony Bennett	‘Howard Miller Show’ WBBM Chicago 30 Aug 1955
Set 5	1930s-40s Swing
Cotton Pickers’ Congregation	Russ Morgan Orchestra	Paradise Restaurant NYC 14 Oct 1938
Down South Camp Meeting	Benny Goodman Orchestra	Madhattan Room Hotel Pennsylvania NYC 20 Nov 1937
Boogie Woogie Lullaby	Ted Fio Rito Orchestra (voc) Madeline Mahoney	Naval Air Station Banana River FL 12 Aug 1945
Flying Home	Will Bradley Orchestra	Famous Door New York City 21 Feb 1941
Set 6	Harmonists
For You	King Sisters	Radio Transcription Los Angeles 1947
Blues in the Night	Trio (voc) Jimmie Lunceford Orchestra	‘Spotlight Bands’ Jefferson Barracks MI Mutual Network 23 Nov 1945
Just Squeeze Me	King Sisters	Radio Transcription Los Angeles 1947
Heebie Geebie Blues	Boswell Sisters	‘Woodbury Program’ KNX CBS LA 18 Sep 1934
Set 7	Jimmy Dorsey
Contrasts (theme) + Jug Music	Jimmy Dorsey Orchestra	Aircheck 20 Oct 1941
Hit the Note	Jimmy Dorsey Orchestra	Palladium Ballroom KNX CBS LA 5 Sep 1943
Dixieland Detour	Jimmy Dorsey Orchestra	Meadowbrook Ballroom Cedar Grove NJ WABC CBS NY 5 Oct 1939
Saturday Night	Jimmy Dorsey Orchestra (voc) Patti Thomas	‘Spotlight Bands’ 11 Feb 1945
Set 8	Bop 1949
Tiny’s Blues	Chubby Jackson Orchestra	‘Symphony Sid Show’ Royal Roost WMCA NYC 5 Mar 1949
I’m Forever Blowing Bubbles	Jackie Kane & Roy Kral	‘Symphony Sid Show’ Royal Roost WMCA NYC 1949
Father Knickerbocker	Chubby Jackson Orchestra	‘Symphony Sid Show’ Royal Roost WMCA NYC 5 Mar 1949

Spike Jones – Phantom Dancer 7 Jun 2022

Spike Jones is this week’s Phantom Dancer feature artist. He was a US drummer, percussionist and bandleader specializing in spoof arrangements of popular songs and classical music. Ballads receiving the Jones treatment were punctuated with gunshots, whistles, cowbells, hiccups, burps and outlandish and comedic vocals. He toured the United States and Canada as “The Musical Depreciation Revue”.

The Phantom Dancer is your weekly non-stop mix of swing and jazz from live 1920s-60s radio and TV every week.

LISTEN to this week’s Phantom Dancer mix (online after 2pm AEST, Tuesday 7 June) and two years of Phantom Dancer mixes online at, at https://2ser.com/phantom-dancer/

POTS, PANS & DRUMS

At the age of 11 Spike Jones got his first set of drums. As a teenager he played in bands that he formed himself. His first band was called Spike Jones and his Five Tacks. A railroad restaurant chef taught him how to use pots and pans, forks, knives and spoons as musical instruments. Jones frequently played in theater pit orchestras. In the 1930s, he joined the Victor Young orchestra and got many offers to appear on radio shows, including Al Jolson‘s Lifebuoy Program, Burns and Allen and Bing Crosby‘s Kraft Music Hall.

From 1937 to 1942, Jones was the percussionist for the John Scott Trotter Orchestra,which played on Bing Crosby’s first recording of “White Christmas“.

He was part of a backing band for songwriter Cindy Walker during her early recording career with Decca Records and Standard Transcriptions. Her song “We’re Gonna Stomp Them City Slickers Down” provided the inspiration for the name of Jones’s future band.

PARODIES

Jones became bored playing the same music each night with the orchestras. Spike Jones found other like-minded musicians and they began playing parodies of standard songs for their own entertainment.

The musicians wanted their wives to share their enjoyment, so they recorded their weekly performances. One of the recordings made its way into the hands of an RCA Victor executive, who offered the musicians a recording contract.

One of the City Slickers’ early recordings for the label was a Del Porter arrangement of “Der Fuehrer’s Face“. The record’s success inspired Jones to become the band’s leader. He initially thought the popularity the record brought them would fade. However, audiences kept asking for more, so Jones started working on more comic arrangements.

RADIO

After appearing as the house band on The Bob Burns Show, Spike got his own radio show on NBC, The Chase and Sanborn Program, as Edgar Bergen‘s summer replacement in 1945.

The guest list for Jones’s 1947–49 CBS program for Coca-Cola (originally The Spotlight Revue, retitled The Spike Jones Show for its final season) included Frankie Laine, Mel Torme, Peter Lorre, Don Ameche and Burl Ives.

Frank Sinatra appeared on the show in October 1948, and Lassie in May 1949.

In 1942, the Jones gang worked on numerous Soundies, musical shorts similar to later music videos which were shown on coin-operated projectors in small nightclubs, arcades, malt shops, and taverns.

The band appeared on camera under their own name in four of the Soundies including “Pass the Biscuits, Mirandy”…

TV & MOVIES

Jones saw the potential of television and filmed two half-hour pilot films, Foreign Legion and Wild Bill Hiccup, in the summer of 1950. Veteran comedy director Eddie Cline worked on both, but neither was successful.

The band fared much better on live television, where their spontaneous antics and crazy visual gags guaranteed the viewers a good time. Spike usually dressed in a suit with an enormous check pattern and was seen leaping around playing a washboard, cowbells, a suite of klaxons and foghorns, then xylophone, then shooting a pistol.

The band starred in variety shows, such as The Colgate Comedy Hour (1951, 1955) and their All Star Revue (1952) before being given his own slot by NBC, The Spike Jones Show, which aired early in 1954, and Club Oasis on NBC, in the summer of 1958; and by CBS, as The Spike Jones Show, in the summers of 1957, 1960, and 1961.

Spike Jones and his City Slickers also appeared on NBC‘s The Ford Show, Starring Tennessee Ernie Ford in the episode which aired on November 15, 1956.

In 1940, Spike Jones had an uncredited bandleading part in the Dead End Kids film Give Us Wings, appearing on camera for about four seconds.

As the band’s fame grew, Hollywood producers hired the Slickers as a specialty act for feature films, including Thank Your Lucky Stars (1943), Meet the People (1944), Bring on the Girls (1945), Breakfast in Hollywood (1946) and Variety Girl (1947). Jones was set to team with Abbott and Costello for a 1954 Universal Pictures comedy, but when Lou Costello withdrew for medical reasons, Universal replaced the comedy team with look-alikes Hugh O’Brian and Buddy Hackett, and promoted Jones to the leading role. The finished film, Fireman Save My Child, turned out to be Spike Jones’s only top-billed theatrical movie

7 JUNE PLAY LIST

Play List – The Phantom Dancer 107.3 2SER-FM Sydney LISTEN ONLINECommunity Radio Network Show CRN #548
107.3 2SER Tuesday7 June 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	Buddy Moreno
You’re the Top (theme) + Who Cares?	Buddy Moreno (voc) Len Cleary Quartet	‘Top Tunes’ WBBM CBS Chicago 1950
Miserlou + Take the A Train	Len Cleary Quartet	‘Top Tunes’ WBBM CBS Chicago 1950
Careless	Buddy Moreno (voc) Len Cleary Quartet	‘Top Tunes’ WBBM CBS Chicago 1950
The Glory of Love + Close	Buddy Moreno (voc) Len Cleary Quartet	‘Top Tunes’ WBBM CBS Chicago 1950
Set 2	Dixie Swing from ‘The Voice of Labour’ WCFL Chicago
Open + Chinatown My Chinatown	Jack Kelly’s Swing Ensemble	WCFL Chicago 1942
My Melancholy Baby	Jack Kelly’s Swing Ensemble	WCFL Chicago 1942
Exactly Like You	Jack Kelly’s Swing Ensemble	WCFL Chicago 1942
Tangerine + Runnin’ Wild + Theme	Jack Kelly’s Swing Ensemble	WCFL Chicago 1942
Set 3	Count Basie
Open + Blue Room	Coleman Hawkins	London House WBBM CBS Chicago 19 Jun 1963
All the Things You Are	Coleman Hawkins	London House WBBM CBS Chicago 19 Jun 1963
Set 4	Spike Jones
Clink, Clink Another Drink	Spike Jones and his City Slickers (voc) Del Porter and the Boys in the Backroom. Hiccups by Mel Blanc.	Comm Rec Los Angeles 12 Jan 1942
Der Fuehrers Face	Spike Jones and his City Slickers (voc) Carl Grayson (birdophone) Willie Spicer	Comm Rec Los Angeles Sep 1942
Cocktails for Two	Spike Jones and his City Slickers (voc) Carl Grayson	Comm Rec Los Angeles 29 Nov 1944
Our Hour	Spike Jones and his City Slickers (voc) The Sportsmen Quartet (Bill Days, Max Smith, Marty Sperzel and Gurney Bell)	Comm Rec Los Angeles 1947
Set 5	Selling Coffee
Open + I’m Breezin’ Along with the Breeze	Skip Farrell (voc) The Manor House Quintet	‘Manor House Party’ WMAQ CBS Chicago 20 Jan 1948
Now is the Hour + Pennies From Heaven	Skip Farrell (voc) The Manor House Quintet	‘Manor House Party’ WMAQ CBS Chicago 20 Jan 1948
When Day is Done	The Manor House Quintet	‘Manor House Party’ WMAQ CBS Chicago 20 Jan 1948
My How the Time Goes By + I Just Kissed Your Picture Goodnight + Close	Skip Farrell (voc) The Manor House Quintet	‘Manor House Party’ WMAQ CBS Chicago 20 Jan 1948
Set 6	Martha Tilton
If It’s The Last Thing I Do	Martha Tilton (voc) Benny Goodman Orchestra	‘Camel Caravan’ WABC CBS NY 16 Nov 1937
Gotta Get Some Shuteye	Martha Tilton (voc) Benny Goodman Orchestra	‘Camel Caravan’ WABC CBS NY 7 Feb 1939
Hurry Home	Martha Tilton (voc) Benny Goodman Orchestra	‘Camel Caravan’ WABC CBS NY 3 Jan 1939
A Home in the Clouds	Martha Tilton (voc) Benny Goodman Orchestra	‘Camel Caravan’ WABC CBS NY 14 Feb 1939
Set 7	Tommy Dorsey
I’m Getting Sentimental Over You (theme) + You’re Driving me Crazy	Tommy Dorsey Orchestra (voc) The Sentimentalists	‘Spotlight Bands’ Blue Network 29 Jan 1945
Hawaiian War Chan	Tommy Dorsey Orchestra (d) Buddy Rich	Palladium Ballroom KNX CBS LA 26 Nov 1944
Song of India	Tommy Dorsey Orchestra	‘Spotlight Bands’ Blue Network 12 Feb 1945
Losers Weepers	Tommy Dorsey Orchestra	‘For the Record’ WEAF NBC NY 17 Apr 1944
Set 8	Dave Brubeck
Perfume Counter	Dave Brubeck	‘Symphony Sid Show’ WJZ ABC NYC Dec 1953
Intro + The Duke	Dave Brubeck	Basin Street WCBS CBS NYC Feb 1956
Love Walked In	Dave Brubeck	Basin Street WCBS CBS NYC Feb 1956

Lionel Hampton – Phantom Dancer 31 May 2022

Lionel Hampton, this week’s Phantom Dancer feature artist, was an American jazz vibraphonist, pianist, percussionist, and bandleader. He worked with jazz musicians from Teddy Wilson, Benny Goodman and Buddy Rich, to Charlie Parker, Charles Mingus, and Quincy Jones. In 1992, he was inducted into the Alabama Jazz Hall of Fame. Lionel Hampton was awarded the National Medal of Arts in 1996.

The Phantom Dancer is your weekly non-stop mix of swing and jazz from live 1920s-60s radio and TV every week.

LISTEN to this week’s Phantom Dancer mix (online after 2pm AEST, Tuesday 31 May) and two years of Phantom Dancer mixes online at, at https://2ser.com/phantom-dancer/

DRUMS

Lionel Hampton began his career playing drums for the Chicago Defender Newsboys’ Band (led by Major N. Clark Smith) while still a teenager in Chicago.

He moved to California in 1927 or 1928, playing drums for the Dixieland Blues-Blowers.

While he lived in Chicago, Hampton saw Louis Armstrong at the Vendome, remembering that the entire audience went crazy after his first solo.

He made his recording debut with The Quality Serenaders led by Paul Howard (which you’ll hear on this week’s Phantom Dancer), then left for Culver City and drummed for the Les Hite band at Sebastian’s Cotton Club.

One of his trademarks as a drummer was his ability to do stunts with multiple pairs of sticks such as twirling and juggling without missing a beat.

VIBRAPHONE

During this period, he began practicing on the vibraphone.

In 1930 Louis Armstrong came to California and hired the Les Hite band for performances and recordings. Armstrong was impressed with Hampton’s playing after Hampton reproduced Armstrong’s solo on the vibraphone and asked him to play behind him like that during vocal choruses.

So began his career as a vibraphonist, popularizing the use of the instrument in the process. Invented ten years earlier, the vibraphone is essentially a xylophone with metal bars, a sustain pedal, and resonators equipped with electric-powered fans that add tremolo.

While working with the Les Hite band, Hampton also occasionally did some performing with Nat Shilkret and his orchestra. During the early 1930s, he studied music at the University of Southern California. In 1934 he led his own orchestra, and then appeared in the Bing Crosby film Pennies From Heaven (1936) alongside Louis Armstrong (wearing a mask in a scene while playing drums).

In November 1936, the Benny Goodman Orchestra came to Los Angeles to play the Palomar Ballroom. When John Hammond brought Goodman to see Hampton perform, Goodman invited him to join his trio, which soon became the Benny Goodman Quartet with Teddy Wilson and Gene Krupa completing the lineup.

The Trio and Quartet (which you’ll hear on this week’s Phantom Dancer) were among the first racially integrated jazz groups to perform before audiences and were a leading small-group of the day.

ORCHESTRA

In 1940 Hampton left the Goodman organization under amicable circumstances to form his own big band which you’ll hear in this week’s Phantom Dancer from two 1944 airchecks.

Hampton’s orchestra developed a high-profile during the 1940s and early 1950s.

His third recording with them in 1942 produced the version of “Flying Home”, featuring a solo by Illinois Jacquet that anticipated rhythm & blues.

Hampton was a featured artist at numerous Cavalcade of Jazz concerts held at Wrigley Field in Los Angeles and produced by Leon Hefflin Sr.

The sixth Cavalcade of Jazz, June 25, 1950, precipitated the closest thing to a riot in the show’s eventful history. Lionel and his band paraded around the ball park’s infield playing ‘Flying High’. The huge crowd, around 14,000 went berserk, tossed cushions, coats, hats, programs, and just about anything else they could lay hands on and swarmed on the field.

Around 1945 or 1946, he handed a pair of vibraphone mallets to then-five year old Roy Ayers. Roy Ayres, composer and vibraphonist was seminal in the development of ‘acid jazz’ and is the Godfather of Neo Soul.

CHARITY

Hampton was deeply involved in the construction of various public housing projects, and founded the Lionel Hampton Development Corporation. Construction began with the Lionel Hampton Houses in Harlem, New York, in the 1960s, with the help of then Republican governor Nelson Rockefeller.

Hampton’s wife, Gladys Hampton, also was involved in construction of a housing project in her name, the Gladys Hampton Houses. Gladys died in 1971. In the 1980s, Hampton built another housing project called Hampton Hills in Newark, New Jersey.

In this final clip from the late 1940s, note the fender bass…

31 MAY PLAY LIST

Play List – The Phantom Dancer 107.3 2SER-FM Sydney LISTEN ONLINECommunity Radio Network Show CRN #547
107.3 2SER Tuesday 31 May 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	1940s-50s Swing Radio
Theme + Who’s Sorry Now	Ray Anthony Orchestra	‘One Night Stand’ Cafe Rouge Hotel Statler NYC AFRS Re-broadcast 1952
Blue Lou	Ella Fitzgerald Orchestra	Savoy Ballroom WEAF NBC Red NY 22 Jan 1940
Blue Moon + The Whistler	Bob Crosby Orchestra	‘One Night Stand’ Palladium Ballroom Hollywood AFRS Re-broadcast 3 Oct 1946
Set 2	Rudy Vallee
Open + Sweet Music Version 1	Rudy Vallee (voc) his Connecticut Yankees	‘The Fleischman Yeast Hour’ WEAF NBC Red NY 13 Dec 1934
Your Time is My Time (theme) + Fun To Be Fooled + That Woman of Mine + Close	Rudy Vallee (voc) Frank deVol Orchestra	‘Drene Program’ KFI NBC LA 11 Jan 1945
Sweet Music Version 2 + Close	Rudy Vallee (voc) his Connecticut Yankees	‘The Fleischman Yeast Hour’ WEAF NBC Red NY 13 Dec 1934
Set 3	Count Basie
One O’Clock Jump (theme) + April in Paris	Count Basie Orchestra	‘All-Star Parade of Bands’ Birdland WRCA NBC NYC 1956
Big Red	Count Basie Orchestra	‘All-Star Parade of Bands’ Birdland WRCA NBC NYC 1956
Two for the Blues	Count Basie Orchestra	‘All-Star Parade of Bands’ Birdland WRCA NBC NYC 1956
Set 4	Lionel Hampton
Quality Shout	Paul Howard’s Quality Serenaders (d) Lionel Hampton	Comm Rec Los Angeles 29 Apr 1929
Liza	Benny Goodman Quartet (vibes) Lionel Hampton	‘Camel Caravan’ KNX CBS LA 17 Aug 1937
Lady Be Good	Lionel Hampton Orchestra (d) Lionel Hampton	‘Jubilee’ AFRS Hollywood 16 Oct 1944
Moonglow + Swanee River	Lionel Hampton Orchestra (vibes) Lionel Hampton	‘One Night Stand’ Trianon Ballroom Southgate Ca AFRS Re-broadcast 16 Jun 1944
Set 5	Philco Orchestra
Let a Little Pleasure Interfere with Business	Philco Orchestra (tp) Bob Effros	Radio Transcription WABC CBS NYC 1930
Boy! Oh! Boy! I’ve Got it Bad	Philco Orchestra (tp) Bob Effros (voc) Boswell Sisters	Radio Transcription WABC CBS NYC 1931
I Don’t Mind Walking in the Rain	Philco Orchestra (tp) Bob Effros	Radio Transcription WABC CBS NYC 1930
Set 6	Trad Jazz Radio
Beale Street Blues	Jimmy Dorsey ‘Dorseyland’ Band	Radio Transcription 1950
St Louis Blues	Eddie Condon	‘Town Hall Jazz Concert’ WJZ Blue NYC 27 Jan 1945
Hindustan	Bob Crosby Bobcats	‘Camel Caravan’ WABC CBS NYC 4 Jul 1939
Someday + Tiger Rag	Louis Armstrong	Wintergarden Theatre WNBC NBC NYC 19 Jun 1947
Set 7	Chuck Foster
Broadcast	Art Kassels and his Kassels-in-the-Air Orchestra (voc) Gloria Hart and Bob Johnson	‘Treasury Bandstand’ WWL CBS New Orleans 13 Jun 1950
Set 8	Artie Shaw
Nightmare (theme) + Sobbin’ Blues	Artie Shaw Orchestra	Blue Room Hotel Lincoln WEAF NBC Red NY 25 Nov 1938
Any Old Time	Artie Shaw Orchestra (voc) Helen Forrest	Birdland WABC ABC NYC 18 Jan 1939
Thanks for Everything + Copenhagen + Close	Artie Shaw Orchestra	Blue Room Hotel Lincoln WEAF NBC Red NY 30 Dec 1938