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.
Southern Louisiana music, off the radio is this week’s Phantom Dancer feature. You’ll hear Cajun and New Orleans jazz from 1950s and 60 radio.
It is so good to be back in the studio to create a fresh non-stop mix of swing and jazz from live 1920s-60s radio and TV hosted for you. My name,s Greg Poppleton, Greg Poppleton. I’ve been mixing The Phantom Dancer for you since June 1985 and this week is the first live mix since the latest Sydney Covid lockdown starting June this year.
LISTEN to this Phantom Dancer mix (online after 2pm AEST, Tuesday 28 September) and two years of Phantom Dancer mixes online at, at https://2ser.com/phantom-dancer/
This week, two musics from Sothern Louisiana…
CAJUN
Cajun music is relatively catchy with an infectious beat and a lot of forward drive, placing the accordion at the center. Besides the voices, only two melodic instruments are heard, the accordion and fiddle, but usually in the background can also be heard the high, clear tones of a metal triangle.
The harmonies of Cajun music are simple and the melodic range is just one octave, rising a fifth above the tonic and descending a fourth below. Because the Cajun accordion is a diatonic instrument (do-re-mi or natural major scale) it can only play tunes in a few keys. For example, a “C” accordion is tuned such that the entire C scale is available on the ten buttons (over two octaves) and it can play a tune in the key of C with all the notes of the C scale available (C-D-E-F-G-A-B). A “C” accordion can also play a few Cajun songs in the key of F however the Bb note will be missing. Also it can play in the key of D with a bluesy sound since the F natural note becomes a flat third or minor third in the key of D. However a skilled accordion player can play in these other keys and still make good music whereby the notes missing (because of the limitations of the diatonic tuning) are not needed by the melody.
Since an instrument must match the singer’s range, much Cajun singing is sung in the singer’s upper range. The accordionist gives the vocal melody greater energy by repeating most notes.
Dancehall Cajun, which we’ll hear today from a 1966 KEUN Mamou La recording of thier live ‘Fais-do-do’ radio show, is often known in South Louisiana as ‘Fais do-do’ music because it is commonly played at fais do-dos; this in turn comes from the local practice of couples bringing their children with them to the dance hall.
As bands moved from house dances to large halls, electrical amplification of instruments was introduced so as to cut through the noise of the crowd.
Typically in dancehall Cajun performances, the melody is played by the accordion followed by a bridge, a vocal verse, a leading line by the steel guitar, a leading line by the fiddle, then a leading line by the accordion player again followed by a bridge. This is followed by the next vocal verse, and so on. Lawrence Walker, Aldus Roger, Nathan Abshire, Iry LeJeune, and Sidney Brown are examples of this musical period.
JAZZ
Probably the single most famous style of music to originate in the city was New Orleans jazz, also known as Dixieland. It came into being around 1900. Many with memories of the time say that the most important figure in the formation of the music was Papa Jack Laine who enlisted hundreds of musicians from all of the city’s diverse ethnic groups and social status. Most of these musicians became instrumental in forming jazz music including Buddy Bolden, Bunk Johnson and the members of Original Dixieland Jazz Band.
One of early rural blues, ragtime, and marching band music were combined with collective improvisation to create this new style of music. At first, the music was known by various names such as “hot music”, “hot ragtime” and “ratty music”; the term “jazz” (early on often spelled “jass”) did not become common until the 1910s. The early style was exemplified by the bands of such musicians as Freddie Keppard, Jelly Roll Morton, “King” Joe Oliver, Kid Ory. The next generation took the young art form into more daring and sophisticated directions, with such creative musical virtuosos as Louis Armstrong, Sidney Bechet, and Red Allen.
New Orleans was a regional Tin Pan Alley music composing and publishing center through the 1920s, and was also an important center of ragtime.
Louis Prima demonstrated the versatility of the New Orleans tradition, taking a style rooted in traditional New Orleans jazz into swinging hot music popular into the rock and roll era. He is buried in New Orleans.
Contemporary jazz has had a following in New Orleans with musicians such as Alvin Batiste and Ellis Marsalis. Some younger jazz virtuosos such as Wynton Marsalis and Nicholas Payton experiment with the avant garde while refusing to disregard the traditions of early jazz.
Your Hit Parade is this week’s Phantom Dancer feature of the week.
The Phantom Dancer has been produced and presented by 1920s-30s singer and actor Greg Poppleton since 1985. It can be heard online from 12:04pm AEST Tuesday 9 June at https://2ser.com/phantom-dancer/
The finyl hour is vinyl.
YOUR HIT PARADE
Your Hit Parade wass a US radio and TV music program broadcast 1935 – 1953 on radio and seen on TV between 1950 – 59. During the show’s 24-year run it had 19 orchestra leaders and 52 singers or groups.
Every Saturday evening, the program offered the most popular and bestselling songs of the week. The earliest format involved a presentation of the top 15 songs. Later, a countdown with fanfares led to the top three finalists, with the number one song for the finale. Occasional performances of standards and other favorite songs from the past were known as ‘Lucky Strike Extras.’
Listeners were informed that the “Your Hit Parade survey checks the best sellers on sheet music and phonograph records, the songs most heard on the air and most played on the automatic coin machines, an accurate, authentic tabulation of America’s taste in popular music.” However, the exact procedure of this ‘authentic tabulation’ remained a secret.
ALAN JAY LERNER
Your Hit Parade began on NBC 20 April 1935, as a 60-minute program with 15 songs played in a random format. Initially, the songs were more important than the singers, so a stable of vocalists went uncredited and were paid only $100 per episode, equal to $1900 today. In 1936-37, it was carried on both NBC and CBS. Script continuity in the late 1930s and early 1940s was written by Alan Jay Lerner before he found fame as a lyricist. The first number one song on the first episode was ‘Soon’ by Bing Crosby.
SINATRA
Some years passed before the countdown format was introduced, with the number of songs varying from seven to 15. Vocalists in the 1930s included Buddy Clark, Lanny Ross, Kay Thompson and Bea Wain (1939–1944), who was married to the show’s announcer, French-born André Baruch. Frank Sinatra joined the show in 1943, and was fired for messing up the No. 1 song, ‘Don’t Fence Me In’ by interjecting a mumble to the effect that the song had too many words and missing a cue. An AFRS transcription survives of this show. One source says his contract was not renewed due to demanding a raise and the show being moved to the West Coast. He returned to show at a low point in his career (1947-49), when Doris Day was also singing on the show, paying the $2000 (1949 money) weekly studio costs to call in his songs from Los Angeles asthe show was transcribed in New York City.
The first half of a Your Hit Parade TV show in 1958…
LUCKY DAY
Hugely popular on CBS through the WWII years, Your Hit Parade returned to NBC in 1947. The show’s opening theme, from the musical revue George White’s Scandals of 1926, was ‘This Is Your Lucky Day’.
Orchestra leaders over the years included Al Goodman, Lennie Hayton, Abe Lyman, Leo Reisman, Harry Salter, Ray Sinatra, Harry Sosnik, Axel Stordahl, Peter Van Steeden, Mark Warnow and Raymond Scott (1949–1957). The chorus was led by musical director Lyn Murray.
Dozens of singers appeared on the radio program, including “Wee” Bonnie Baker, Dorothy Collins, Beryl Davis, Gogo DeLys, Joan Edwards (1941–1946), Georgia Gibbs, Dick Haymes, Snooky Lanson, Gisèle MacKenzie, Johnny Mercer, Andy Russell, Dinah Shore, Ginny Simms, Lawrence Tibbett, Martha Tilton, Eileen Wilson, Barry Wood, and occasional guest vocalists. The show featured two tobacco auctioneers, Lee Aubrey “Speed” Riggs of Goldsboro, North Carolina and F.E. Boone of Lexington, Kentucky.
On this week’s Phantom Dancer you’ll hear Tommy Leonetti (singer of ‘My City of Sydney’) singing the Number 1 Song, ‘Dream, Dream, Dream’, on a 1958 Your Hit Parade. (It’s at the end of this clip)
1950s RADIO SERIES
From the summer of 1950 to the start of summer of 1951 (the first year of the Hit Parade television show), the stars of the TV show—Eileen Wilson, Snooky Lanson, and Dorothy Collins—also starred on the Hit Parade radio show. (Wilson had sung on the radio show since 1948.) Beginning in the fall of 1950, the radio show and the TV show both aired on Saturdays; the radio program was heard from 9:00-9:30 p.m., Eastern time, and the TV show was seen from 10:30-11:00 p.m., Eastern time. Both shows featured the Lucky Strike Orchestra, led by Raymond Scott.
In late 1951, the radio show moved to Thursday nights, and its personnel and format were changed. The show, still sponsored by Lucky Strike, now starred Guy Lombardo and his Royal Canadians. Vocalists from Lombardo’s orchestra sang on the new version of the radio show, which also featured a guest female vocalist each week; the guest vocalist was called the “Lucky Star of the Week.” Guy Lombardo was host of the show until January 16, 1953, when the Hit Parade radio program aired for the last time.
1950s TV SERIES
André Baruch continued as the announcer when the program arrived on NBC television in summer 1950 (Del Sharbutt succeeded him in the 1957-58 season), written by William H. Nichols, and produced, in its first years, by both Dan Lounsbery and Ted Fetter. Norman Jewison and Clark Jones (nominated for a 1955 Emmy Award) directed with associate director Bill Colleran. Tony Charmoli won a 1956 Emmy for his choreography, and the show’s other dance directors were Tom Hansen (1957–58), Peter Gennaro (1958–59) and Ernie Flatt (uncredited). Paul Barnes won an Emmy in 1957 for his art direction. In 1953, the show won a Peabody Award ‘for consistent good taste, technical perfection and unerring choice of performers.’ Here’s Dorothy Collins receiving her Peabody Award…
The seven top-rated songs of the week were presented in elaborate TV production numbers requiring constant set and costume changes. However, because the top songs sometimes stayed on the charts for many weeks, it was necessary to continually find ways of devising a new and different production number of the same song week after week. After the show was revamped in September 1957, the top songs were reduced to five, while extras were increased.
On the TV series, vocalists Dorothy Collins (1950–1957, 1958–59), Russell Arms (1952–1957), Snooky Lanson (1950–1957) and Gisèle MacKenzie (1953–1957) were top-billed during the show’s peak years. During this time, MacKenzie had her own hit record in 1955 with ‘Hard to Get’ which climbed to the #5 ranking in June 1955 and stayed on the charts for 16 weeks. She also starred in her own NBC variety program, The Gisele MacKenzie Show from 1957–1958, a series produced by her mentor, Jack Benny. Russell Arms also enjoyed a hit record during his stint on the show – ‘Cinco Robles (Five Oaks)’.
The line-up of the show’s other singers included Eileen Wilson (1950–1952), Sue Bennett (1951–52), June Valli (1952–53), Alan Copeland (1957–58), Jill Corey (1957–58), Johnny Desmond (1958–59), Virginia Gibson (1957–58), and Tommy Leonetti (1957–58). All were performers of standards, show tunes or big band numbers. Featured prominently were the Hit Parade dancers and the Hit Paraders, the program’s choral singers, who sang the opening commercial jingle (composed by Raymond Scott):
BOB FOSSE
During the 1950-1951 season Bob Fosse – dancer, musical-theatre choreographer, actor and theatre and film director – appeared as a guest dancer on several episodes, with partner Mary Ann Niles. From 1950 until 1957, the orchestra was led by well-known bandleader and musician Raymond Scott (who married Dorothy Collins in 1952); the show’s other music supervisors were Dick Jacobs (1957–58) and Harry Sosnik (1958–59). During the 1957-58 season, sponsor American Tobacco pitched Hit Parade filter cigarettes instead of Lucky Strikes. Alternate sponsors included Avco Manufacturing’s Crosley division (1951–54), Richard Hudnut hair care products (1954–57), and The Toni Company (1957–58).
See Bob Fosse with his wife Mary Ann Niles dance on Your Hit Parade in 1952…
The show faded with the rise of rock and roll when the performance became more important than the song. It is said that big band singer Snooky Lanson’s weekly attempts to perform Elvis Presley’s ‘Hound Dog’ hit in 1956 hastened the end of the series. The series went from NBC (where it became the first TV show to contain the living color peacock) to CBS in 1958 and expired the following year. While Your Hit Parade was unable to deal with dull, uninspired rock songs, the show’s imaginative production concepts had an obvious influence on the wave of music videos that began in the decade that followed.
Here’s Snooky Lanson on a 1956 ‘Your Hit Parade’ singing ‘Heartbreak Hotel’…
1970s – 80s
CBS also brought it back for a brief summer revival in 1974. That version featured Kelly Garrett, Sheralee and Chuck Woolery. The 1974 version of Your Hit Parade also featured hit songs from a designated week in the 1940s or 1950s. Milton DeLugg conducted the orchestra and Chuck Barris packaged this series.
During the early 1980s, André Baruch and Bea Wain hosted a syndicated radio version of Your Hit Parade, reconstructing the list of hits of selected weeks in the 1940s and playing the original recordings.
The show’s familiar closing theme was ‘So Long for A While’.
VIDEO OF THE WEEK
1952 TV. Dorothy Collins, Snooky Lanson, Eileen Wilson, Raymond Scott and the Lucky Strike Orchestra. Aired 1 March 1952. Bob Fosse was a featured dancer. Enjoy!
9 JUNE PLAY LIST
Play List – The Phantom Dancer
107.3 2SER-FM Sydney, Live Stream, Digital Radio Community Radio Network Show CRN #440
Your feature artists on this week’s Greg Poppleton Phantom Dancer are all (but one) broadcasting from San Francisco in the 1950s. They are Jimmy Dorsey (in a radio transcription), Muggsy Spanier, Kid Ory and Turk Murphy – all part of the Dixieland revival that went worldwide from the late 1930s into the 1960s (in Australia).
The Phantom Dancer, your non-stop 2 hour mix of swing and jazz from live 1920s-60s radio, is produced and presented by 1920s-30s singer and actor Greg Poppleton can be heard online from 12:04pm AEST Tuesday 21 April at https://2ser.com/phantom-dancer/
The last hour is all vinyl.
DIXIELAND REVIVAL
Was a movement of the late 1930s to the 1950s (in the US) reviving earlier improvisational jazz. It was a reaction to the arranged music of swing orchestras. The traditional front lines consisting of trumpets, trombones, and clarinets, and ensemble improvisation over a two-beat rhythm.
The term “Dixieland” was applied to early jazz by traditional jazz revivalists, starting in the 1940s and 1950s. The name is a reference to the “Old South”, specifically anything south of the Mason-Dixon line. The term encompasses earlier brass band marches, French Quadrilles, biguine, ragtime, and blues with collective, polyphonic improvisation. While instrumentation and size of bands varied, the “standard” band consisted of of a “front line” of trumpet (or cornet), trombone, and clarinet, with a “rhythm section” of at least two of the following instruments: guitar or banjo, string bass or tuba, piano, and drums. Louis Armstrong’s All-Stars was the band most popularly identified with Dixieland during the 1940s, although Armstrong’s own influence during the 1920s was to move the music beyond the traditional New Orleans style.
The definitive Dixieland sound is created when one instrument (usually the trumpet) plays the melody or a recognizable paraphrase or variation on it and the other instruments of the “front line” improvise around that melody. This creates a more polyphonic sound than the arranged ensemble playing of the big band sound or the straight “head” melodies of bebop.
During the 1930s and 1940s, the earlier group-improvisation style fell out of favor with the majority of younger black players, while some older players of both races continued on in the older style. Though younger musicians developed new forms, many beboppers revered Armstrong and quoted fragments of his recorded music in their own improvisations.
The Dixieland revival in the late 1940s and 1950s brought many semi-retired musicians a measure of fame late in their lives as well as bringing retired musicians back onto the jazz circuit after years of not playing (e.g., Kid Ory and Red Nichols). Many Dixieland groups of the revival era consciously imitated the recordings and bands of decades earlier. Other musicians continued to create innovative performances and new tunes. For example, in the 1950s a style called “Progressive Dixieland” sought to blend polyphonic improvisation with bebop-style rhythm. Spike Jones and His New Band and Steve Lacy played with such bands. This style is sometimes called “Dixie-bop”. Lacy went on to apply that approach to the music of Thelonious Monk, Charles Mingus, Duke Ellington, and Herbie Nichols.
Muggsy Spanier
CHICAGO STYLE
“Chicago style” is often applied to the sound of Chicagoans such as Jimmy McPartland, Eddie Condon, Muggsy Spanier, and Bud Freeman. The rhythm sections of these bands substitute the string bass for the tuba and the guitar for the banjo. Musically, the Chicagoans play in more of a swing-style 4-to-the-bar manner. The New Orleanian preference for an ensemble sound is deemphasized in favor of solos. Chicago-style Dixieland also differs from its southern origin by being faster paced, resembling the hustle-bustle of city life. Chicago-style bands play a wide variety of tunes, including most of those of the more traditional bands plus many of the Great American Songbook selections from the 1930s by George Gershwin, Jerome Kern, Cole Porter, and Irving Berlin. Non-Chicagoans such as Pee Wee Russell and Bobby Hackett are often thought of as playing in this style. This modernized style came to be called Nicksieland, after Nick’s Greenwich Village night club, where it was popular, though the term was not limited to that club.
Turk Murphy at Club Hangover
WEST COAST REVIVAL
The “West Coast revival” is a movement that was begun in the late 1930s by Lu Watters and his Yerba Buena Jazz Band in San Francisco and extended by trombonist Turk Murphy. It started out as a backlash to the Chicago style, which is closer in development towards swing. The repertoire of these bands is based on the music of Joe “King” Oliver, Jelly Roll Morton, Louis Armstrong, and W.C. Handy. Bands playing in the West Coast style use banjo and tuba in the rhythm sections, which play in a two-to-the-bar rhythmic style.
Much performed traditional Dixieland tunes include: “When the Saints Go Marching In”, “Muskrat Ramble”, “Struttin’ with Some Barbecue”, “Tiger Rag”, “Dippermouth Blues”, “Milenberg Joys”, “Basin Street Blues”, “Tin Roof Blues”, “At the Jazz Band Ball”, “Panama”, “I Found a New Baby”, “Royal Garden Blues” and many others. All of these tunes were widely played by jazz bands of the pre-WWII era, especially Louis Armstrong. They came to be grouped as Dixieland standards beginning in the 1950s.
Your Phantom Dancer Video of the Week is ‘Yes Suh!’ 26/Jul/32 NYC., THE RHYTHMAKERS: Red Allen (t) Jimmy Lord (cl) Pee Wee Russell (ts) Fats Waller (p,v) Eddie Condon (bj) Jack Bland (g) Pops Foster (b) Zutty Singleton (d) Billy Banks(v). Enjoy!
21 APRIL PLAY LIST
Play List – The Phantom Dancer
107.3 2SER-FM Sydney, Live Stream, Digital Radio Community Radio Network Show CRN #433
This week’s 11 February Phantom Dancer mix of swing of jazz from live 1920s-60s radio, on radio and online, has Fletcher Henderson from 1940s-50s radio as feature artist.
Fletcher Henderson studied chemistry and maths. When he turned to music he changed jazz forever, introducing swing arrangements in the 1920s, bringing Louis Armstrong to NYC and making music literacy popular. Hear him on 1935-50 radio on this week’s Phantom Dancer with Greg Poppleton.
A gifted pianist from the age of 6, whose father made him practice for hours every day, Fletcher Henderson, studied chemistry and mathematics and worked in a laboratory before turning to music.
Henderson, along with Don Redman, established the formula for swing music. The two broke the orchestra into sections (woodwind section, brass section, rhythm section). These sections worked together to create a unique sound. Sometimes, the sections would play in call-and-response style. At other times one section would play supporting riffs behind the other. Swing, its popularity spanning over a decade, was the most fashionable form of jazz ever in the United States.
The immaculately dressed Fletcher Henderson Orchestra in 1936, while Henderson was also arranging for Benny Goodman
ARMSTRONG
Henderson was also responsible for bringing Louis Armstrong from Chicago to New York in October 1924, thus flipping the focal point of jazz in the history of the United States. Armstrong left the band in November 1925 and returned to Chicago.
Henderson also played a key role in bringing improvisatory jazz styles from New Orleans and other areas of the country to New York, where they merged with a dance-band tradition that relied heavily on arrangements written out in musical notation.
Fletcher Henderson Orch. in 1925 with Louis Armstrong
HOW’S STUDYING?
Henderson differed from other musicians in his time. He made the idea of playing jazz popular to ambitious, young, black musicians. He made it financially stable and a way to seize cultural power during the time.
Henderson cared for the appearance of the band. He was all for making an impact on the era. Henderson would see to it that each member had a clean-shaven face, a tuxedo, and polished shoes. It was recorded that he would do this before every performance, especially ones in predominantly white communities.
Henderson created a band that was capable of playing dance music and complex arrangements. Louis Metcalf said, “The sight of Fletcher Henderson’s men playing behind music stands brought on a learning-to-read-music kick in Harlem which hadn’t cared before it. There were two years of real concentration. Everybody greeted you with ‘How’s studying?’
Here is The Phantom Dancer Video of the Week, the Fletcher Henderson Ork playing ‘You Go To My Head’ live over WLS NBC Blue, Grand Terrace Ballroom, Chicago, in 1938. Enjoy!
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!
11 FEBRUARY PLAY LIST
Play List – The Phantom Dancer
107.3 2SER-FM Sydney, Live Stream, Digital Radio Community Radio Network Show CRN #423
107.3 2SER Tuesday 11 February 2020 After the 2SER 12 noon news, 12:04 – 2:00pm (+11 hours GMT)
National Program:
ArtsoundFM Canberra Sunday 10 – 11pm
Edge FM Bega Monday 3 – 4pm
7MID Oatlands Tuesday 8 – 9pm
2ARM Armidale Friday 12 – 1pm
3MGB Mallacoota Sunday 5 – 6am
and early morning on 23 other stations.
Set 1
So-A-Tone
Sleep (theme) + On Your Toes
Fred Waring Orchestra (voc) Chorus + Johnny Davis
‘Fred Waring Show’
WABC CBS NYC
14 Apr 1936
Deep Forest (theme) + Limehouse Blues
Earl Hines Orchestra
Grand Terrance Cafe
WMAQ NBC Red Chicago
3 Aug 1938
Ad + The Broken Record + Rhapsody in Blue (theme)
Paul Whiteman Orchestra (voc and piano) Ramona
‘Paul Whiteman’s Musical Varieties’
WJZ NBC Blue NYC
12 Jan 1936
Set 2
1960s Radio
Open + There’ll Never Be Another You
Billy Taylor and Wes Montgomery
‘The Navy Swings’
Radio Transcription
Hollywood
1964
I’ve Got a Crush on You
Jerry Gray and his Band of Today (voc) Bobby Clark
Palladium Ballrom
KFI NBC LA
20 Jan 1961
One Note Samba
Bola Sete
‘The Navy Swings’
Radio Transcription
Hollywood
1965
Set 3
Dixieland on Radio
Blues in Bb
Opie Cates
‘Jubilee’
AFRS Hollywood
10 Jan 1948
Mamie’s Blues
Louis Armstrong
‘This is Jazz’
WOR Mutual NY
26 Apr 1947
I’ve Got The World on a String + Close
Hazel Scott
‘Jazz Club USA’
VOA Washington DC
1951
Set 4
Fletcher Henderson
Jeep Rhythm
Fletcher Henderson Orchestra
‘Jubilee’
AFRS Hollywood
1944
Alexander’s Ragtime Band
Fletcher Henderson arr. Benny Goodman Orchestra
‘Magic Key’
WLS NBC Blue Chicago
29 Dec 1935
Christopher Columbus (theme) + Royal Garden Blues
Fletcher Henderson Orchestra
Cafe Society Downtown
WMGM New York
9 Dec 1950
Set 5
Dorsey Brothers 1955
I’m Getting Sentimental Over You + Sentimental Baby
Dorsey Brothers Orchestra (voc) Lynn Roberts
‘All-Star Parade of Bands’
Magnolia Room
Hotel Claridge
WMC NBC Memphis
19 Jun 1955
Open + My Brother is the Leader of the Band
Dorsey Brothers Orchestra
‘Stage Show’
CBS TV New York City
1 Jan 1955
Capital Idea + Close
Dorsey Brothers Orchestra
‘All-Star Parade of Bands’
Magnolia Room
Hotel Claridge
WMC NBC Memphis
19 Jun 1955
Set 6
1937 Benny Goodman Orchestra
Let’s Dance (theme) + Naughty Waltz
Benny Goodman Orchestra
Madhattan Room
Hotel Pennsylvania
WABC CBS NY
6 Nov 1937
Satan Takes a Holiday
Benny Goodman Orchestra
‘Camel Caravan’
WABC CBS NY
17 Aug 1937
Popcorn Man
Benny Goodman Orchestra (voc) Martha Tilton
Madhattan Room
Hotel Pennsylvania
WABC CBS NY
6 Nov 1937
Sing, Sing, Sing
Benny Goodman Orchestra
‘Camel Caravan’
WABC CBS NY
10 Aug 1937
Set 7
Fats Waller
Your Feets Too Big
Fats Waller
‘Command Performance USA’
AFRS Hollywood
1943
I’m Gonna Sit Right Down and Write Myself a Letter + Christopher Columbus
Fats Waller
‘The Magic Key’
WJZ NBC Blue NY
24 May 1936
The Joint is Jumpin’ + Summertime + Stompin’ at the Savoy
Fats Waller
‘This Is New York’
WABC CBS NY
11 Dec 1938
Set 8
Stan Kenton
Limelight
Stan Kenton Orchestra
‘Concert in Miniature’
Moonlight Gardens
Coney Island
NBC Cincinnati OH
26 Aug 1952
Painted Rhythm
Stan Kenton Orchestra
Palladium Ballroom
KNX CBS LA
27 Nov 1945
Bags and Barrage
Stan Kenton Orchestra
‘Concert in Miniature’
NBC Fort Sheridan IL
2 Sep 1952
This week’s Greg Poppleton Phantom Dancer feature is a set of famous cardboard records from 1931. These are Hit of the Week cardboard records.
ONLINE
The Phantom Dancer will be online right after the 6 August 107.3 2SER Sydney live mix at 2ser.com.
Hear the show live every Tuesday 12:04-2pm and Saturday 5 – 5:55pm on 107.3 2SER Sydney
ONE SIDED
Hit of the Week was a US record label founded in 1930 that sold low-priced records made of resin coated cardboard rather than the usual shellac.
After August 1931 they were extended play discs advertised with ‘up to twice the playing time of the average record’.
They also used two long outdated industry practices not used since before 1910:
1. some of the records had the songs announced or contained advertising about ‘Hit of the Week’ records. (The company that brought out Hit of the Week records also produced low cost advertising discs).
2. All of the records were recorded on one side only.
The playing side of the cardboard records was coated with Durium, a lightweight synthetic resin. The unrecorded side was uncoated and the unprotected cardboard absorbed moisture from the air. Therefore the discs have a propensity to curl. They now often require the use of a clip or weight around the turntable spindle to keep them flat during play.
Apart from some low-frequency rumble due to their texture, Hit of the Week audio fidelity was equal to or better than most ordinary shellac records., as you’ll hear in Set 4 of this week’s Phantom Dancer.
A few releases had the performer’s portrait printed on the uncoated paper side, or were imprinted there with advertising matter. They were issued in flimsy rice paper sleeves, few of which have survived.
A new issue featuring a current hit song was released every week. They were sold at newsstands. Previous issues could be obtained by mail order. Retailing for 15 cents each, later raised to 20 cents, Hit of the Week records were by far the lowest-priced records in the US at that time.
BOOM AND BUST
The first regular issue was released in February 1930.
By mid 1930, up to half a million copies of each week’s issue were produced. But sales quickly slumped as the Depression worsened.
In March 1931 the company went into receivership and in May it was purchased by the Erwin, Wasey & Company advertising agency. They debuted a new format debuted in August, featuring two songs or dance tunes on each single-sided disc and a total playing time of about five minutes, but the label remained unprofitable.
The final Hit of the Week issue was released in June 1932.
After the demise of the label, some limited use was made of smaller (often only four inches in diameter) records made of the same material, mostly for giveaway advertising novelties. Specimens of one of the most common advertising records, which invited the recipient to come see the new 1932 Chevrolet automobile, are usually found with a mailing label and postage on the uncoated back side.
Musicians who recorded for Hit of the Week included Gene Austin, Duke Ellington (under the pseudonym “Harlem Hot Chocolates”), Ben Pollack, Eddie Cantor (on a special 25 cent “Durium De Luxe” issue), Morton Downey, and Rudy Vallée. Most of the arrangements were performed by studio musicians in New York, led by Adrian Schubert, Bert Hirsch, Vincent Lopez, Don Voorhees and Phil Spitalny.
Jazz solos by instrumental stars including Bunny Berrigan, Joe Venuti and Eddie Lang enlivened some recordings.
Two of the recordings on this week’s Phantom Dancer are tailed with football songs, trying to appeal to the young, male university market.
The vocalists who recorded with the studio bands included several popular radio singers of the day including Ralph Kirbery and Helen Rowland.
In the UK, a similar series was issued on the Durium label with songs by Al Bowlly and more.
VIDEO
This week’s Phantom Dancer video of the week is from the late 1940s, an unidentified woman reading to paper tape. Enjoy her story!
6 AUGUST PLAY LIST
Play List – The Phantom Dancer
107.3 2SER-FM Sydney, Live Stream, Digital Radio Community Radio Network Show CRN #397
107.3 2SER Tuesday 6 August 2019 After the 2SER 12 noon news, 12:04 – 2:00pm (+10 hours GMT)
National Program:
Edge FM Bega Monday 3 – 4pm
7MID Oatlands Tuesday 8 – 9pm
2ARM Armidale Friday 12 – 1pm
3MGB Mallacoota Sunday 5 – 6am
1ART ArtSoundFM Canberra Sunday 7 – 8pm
7LTN CityPark FM Launceston Sunday 5 – 6am
and early morning on 23 other stations.
Set 1
1945 – 46 Radio Spotlight Bands
Nightmare (theme) + Bedford Drive
Artie Shaw Orchestra
‘Spotlight Bands’
Santa Ana AFB Ca
Mutual Network
3 Oct 1945
Chickery Chick
Gene Krupa Orchestra (voc) Anita O’Day
‘Spotlight Bands’
AFRS Re-broadcast
1946
This Love of Mine + Close
Tommy Dorsey Orchestra (voc) Frank Sinatra
‘Spotlight Bands’
Blue Network
17 Jan 1942
Set 2
Cocoanut Grove 1932-34 Radio
Theme + You’re Blase + Sophisticated Lady
Vincent Valsanti aka Ted Fio Rito Orchestra
‘Cocoanut Grove’
TRANSCO Radio Transcription
Hollywood
1934
The Vamp
Phil Harris Orchestra
‘Cocoanut Grove’
TRANSCO Radio Transcription
Hollywood
1933
Gooby Gear + Music in the Moonlight (theme)
Jimmie Grier Orchestra (voc) Donald Novis
‘Cocoanut Grove’
TRANSCO Radio Transcription
Hollywood
1932
Set 3
1941 Chamber Music Society of Lower Basin Street
Open + Magic Carpet
Paul Lavalle’s Woodwind 10
‘Chamber Music Society of Lower Basin Street’
WJZ NBC NY
14 Aug 1941
Flow Gently Sweet Afton
Diane Courtney
‘Chamber Music Society of Lower Basin Street’
WJZ NBC NY
14 Aug 1941
Twirl Away
Lumel Morgan Trio
‘Chamber Music Society of Lower Basin Street’
WJZ NBC NY
14 Aug 1941
Home Town Blues
Henry Levine’s Dixieland Octet
‘Chamber Music Society of Lower Basin Street’
WJZ NBC NY
14 Aug 1941
Set 4
Hit of the Week Records
Me + Football Song
Sam Lanin Orchestra with vocals
Hit of the Week Record
1931
Love Letters in the Sand + Football Song
Sam Lanin Orchestra with vocals
Hit of the Week Record
1931
Pardon Me, Pretty Baby
Sam Lanin Orchestra (voc) Paul Small
Hit of the Week Record
13 Aug 1931
Set 5
Louis Armstrong Big Swing Band on 1940s Radio
Open + I Never Knew
Louis Armstrong Orchestra
‘Spotlight Bands’
Blue Network
Dalls TX
17 Aug 1943
I’ve Got Plenty of Nothing
Louis Armstrong Orchestra (voc) Ada Brown
‘Jubilee’
AFRS NYC
1943
Lazy River
Louis Armstrong Orchestra
‘Spotlight Bands’
Blue Network
Dalls TX
17 Aug 1943
It Had To Be You + Close
Louis Armstrong Orchestra
‘Spotlight Bands’
Tuskagee Alabama
AFRS Re-broadcast
5 Oct 1944
Set 6
Trad Bands on 1940s Radio
Open + Medley
Bud Freeman Summa cum Laude Orchestra
Panther Room
Hotel Sherman
WMAQ NBC Red Chicago
20 May 1940
That’s a Plenty + Relaxin’ at the Trouro
Muggsy Spanier
Home Recording
Blue Note
WMAQ NBC Chicago
18 Oct 1953
Big Butter and Egg Man
Miff Mole and the Nixieland 6
‘For The Record’
WEAF NBC NYC
30 Oct 1944
Set 7
Chuck Foster 1938-40 Radio Transcriptions
Oh, You Beautiful Doll (theme)
Chuck Foster Orchestra (voc) CF
Radio Transcription
1940
I Found My Yellow Basket
Chuck Foster Orchestra (voc) Dorothy Brandon, CF and The 3 Ds
Radio Transcription
1938
Listen to My Heart
Chuck Foster Orchestra (voc) Dorothy Brandon
Radio Transcription
1940
How Srrange
Chuck Foster Orchestra (voc) Dorothy Brandon
Radio Transcription
1939
Set 8
Early Charlie Parker on 1940 and 45 Radio
Honeysuckle Rose
Jay McShann Orchestra (alto sax Charlie Parker)
Radio Transcription
KFBI Witchita Kansas
2 Dec 1940
Floogie Boo + St Louis Blues
Cootie Williams Orchestra (with Charlie Parker)
‘One Night Stand’
Savoy Ballroom
Harlem
AFRS Re-broadcast
12 Feb 1945
I Found a New Baby
Jay McShann Orchestra (alto sax Charlie Parker)
Radio Transcription
KFBI Witchita Kansas
30 Nov 1940
The first woman to play swing harp was Adele Girard. We hear her and 1950s jazz harpist Betty Glamann as the Phantom Dancer feature artists on this week’s Phantom Dancer radio mix.
There’s also a set of Harry ‘The Hipster’ Gibson from 1944 Muzak and radio recordings, a set of 1930s Ella Fitzgerald radio, and two hours of non-stop swing and jazz mixed live by me from 1920s-60s radio recordings and vinyl.
PHANTOM DANCER
Hear this week’s Phantom Dancer (after 5 Feb) and past Phantom Dancers at 2ser.com.
Hear the show live every Tuesday 12:04-2pm on 107.3 2SER Sydney
BETTY GLAMANN
Betty Glamann Voorhees was a jazz and classical harpist who began learning harp at age ten. She graduated from a music conservatory and for three years was harpist for the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra.
She then played with Spike Jones in 1948 and founded the Smith-Glamann Quintet in 1955. That same year Duke Ellington wrote music for her and had her in his orchestra, as did Marian McPartland and then Oscar Pettiford in whose band we hear her in 1957 radio broadcasts. She recorded on the Kenny Dorham album Jazz Contrasts in 1957 and was involved in a Michel Legrand recording session with John Coltrane and Miles Davis. She played with Eddie Costa in 1958 and with the Modern Jazz Quartet in 1960. She recorded one album under her own name, Swinging on a Harp and was in the Steve Allen Show TV orchestra.
ADELE GIRARD
Adele Beatrice Girard was the first woman to play jazz harp. Only Casper Reardon had played jazz harp before her.
She began learning harp at age fourteen but her first professional music job was as a singer for the Harry Sosnik orchestra in Chicago in 1933. She was nineteen. When Sosnik learned she could play harp, he bought her one. She performed with the Dick Stabile orchestra in New York City in 1935 and in 1936 with the Three Ts, the Teagarden brothers (Jack and Charles) and Frankie Trumbauer at the Hickory House in New York City. She replaced harpist Casper Reardon, who had been hired for a Broadway show.
When the Ts toured, Girard worried that she would be unable to continue payments on her first harp. She asked the proprietor of the Hickory House to keep her on, and he introduced her to Joe Marsala. In 1937 she wed Marsala and became a member of his jazz band. which included Eddie Condon and Buddy Rich. The Marsalas worked in the house band at Hickory House for ten years.
Girard had perfect pitch and could improvise any tune on the spot. Among her fans were James Bond author Ian Fleming and Harpo Marx, who asked her for lessons.
VIDEO
This week’s Phantom Dancer video of the week is a 1940s soundie of ‘Harp Boogie’ by Adele Girard with her Trio. Enjoy!
5 FEBRUARY PLAY LIST
Play List – The Phantom Dancer
107.3 2SER-FM Sydney, Live Stream, Digital Radio Community Radio Network Show CRN #373
107.3 2SER Tuesday 5 February 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
1946-50 Radio Swing Bands
Theme + Let’s Dance
Ray Anthony Orchestra
‘One Night Stand’
Cafe Rouge
Hotel Statler NYC
AFRS Re-broadcast
12 Dec 1950
Seems Like Old Times
Bobby Sherwood Orchestra (voc) Bobby Sherwood
‘One Night Stand’
Avadon Ballroom LA
AFRS Re-broadcast
3 Jul 1946
Out of Nowhere
Gene Krupa Orchestra (ts) Charlie Ventura
‘One Night Stand’
Meadowbrook Gardens
Culver City Ca
AFRS Re-broadcast
31 Mar 1946
Set 2
Sarah Vaughan
Open + I Get a Kick Out of You
Sarah Vaughan
‘Stars in Jazz’
WNBC NBC NY
26 Mar 1953
Open + The Nearness of You
Sarah Vaughan
‘All Star Parade of Jazz’
Zardi’s
KFI NBC LA
21 May 1956
You’re Mine You
Sarah Vaughan
‘Stars in Jazz’
WNBC NBC NY
1 Apr 1953
Set 3
Club Hangover 1954
Deep Forest (theme) + St Louis Blues
Earl Hines and his Esquire All-Stars
Club Hangover
KCBS San Francisco
30 Jan 1954
Between The Devil and the Deep Blue Sea
Ralph Sutton Quartet
Club Hangover
KCBS San Francisco
7 Sep 1954
St Louis Blues + Relaxin’ At The Touro (Close)
Muggsy Spanier
Club Hangover
KCBS San Francisco
27 Nov 1954
Set 4
Hawaiian Music
Moana Loa + Royal Hawaiian Hotel Theme + Lehi Lehi Oe + Close
Keeamoku Louis
Royal Hawaiian Hotel
Radio Transcription
Honolulu Hawaii
1934
Kila Kila Holiakala + Close
Johnny Pineapple
Polynesian Village
Edgewater Beach Hotel
WGN Chicago
31 Dec 1957
Hawaiian War Chant
Harry Owens Orchestra
‘Songs of the Islands’
AFRS Hollywood
1944
One O’Clock Jump + Kansas City Stride
Count Basie Orchestra
‘Jubilee’
AFRS Hollywood
27 May 1944
Set 5
1930s Ella Fitzgerald
You Ya Hunchin’ + The Starlit Hour
Ella Fitzgerald Orchestra (voc) EF
Savoy Ballroom
WEAF NBC Red NY
26 Feb 1940
Rhythm and Romance
Chick Webb Orchestra (voc) Ella Fitzgerald
Comm Rec
New York City
1936
Is There Somebody Else?
Ella Fitzgerald Orchestra (voc) EF
Savoy Ballroom
WEAF NBC Red NY
4 Mar 1940
Chewin’ Gum
Chick Webb Orchestra (voc) Ella Fitzgerald
Southland Cafe
WNAC NBC Red Boston
4 May 1939
Set 6
Shep Fields Rippling Rhythm 1939-40
Caravan
Shep Fields and his Rippling Rhythm Orchestra
Radio Transcription
New York City
1939
It Never Entered My Mind
Shep Fields and his Rippling Rhythm Orchestra (voc) Hal Derwin
Radio Transcription
New York City
1940
One Never Knows, Does One?
Shep Fields and his Rippling Rhythm Orchestra (voc) Robert Goday
Radio Transcription
New York City
1939
English Country Garden
Shep Fields and his Rippling Rhythm Orchestra
Radio Transcription
New York City
1940
Set 7
Swing Harp
Lover
Joe Marsala Orchestra (harp) Adele Girard
Log Cabin Farm
Armouk NY
WEAF NBC NY
30 Oct 1942
The Gentle Art of Love (theme) + Nica’s Tempo
Oscar Pettiford Band (harp) Betty Glamann
Birdland
WABC ABC NY
26 May 1957
Solid Geometry For Squares
Joe Marsala Orchestra (harp) Adele Girard
Log Cabin Farm
Armouk NY
WEAF NBC NY
23 Oct 1942
I Remember Clifford + Not So Sleepy
Oscar Pettiford Band (harp) Betty Glamann
‘One Night Stand’
Birdland
AFRTS Re-broadcast
Jun 1957
Set 8
Harry ‘The Hipster’ Gibson 1944
Handsome Harry The Hipster
Harry ‘The Hipster’ Gibson
Comm Rec
New York City
21 Apr 1944
Candlelight + In a Mist
Harry ‘The Hipster’ Gibson
‘Eddie Condon Jazz Concert’
WJZ Blue NY
10 Jul 1944
This is the first week of the annual 2SER Supporter Drive.
The Phantom Dancer with Greg Poppleton is your non-stop mix of swing and jazz from live 1920s-60s radio and TV every week. It’s been on 2SER since 1985, thanks to your financial support in 33 subscriber drives.
And over those years, Greg Poppleton and The Phantom Dancer have inspired musicians, painters, film, TV and theatre creatives.
On-air Tuesdays 12:04-2:00pm AEST (+11 GMT) and online
COMMUNITY
2SER is community radio with a wide range of specialist music, like The Phantom Dancer, plus independent news and current affairs unavailable on any other station.
2SER runs on your financial support. Give any amount you want this year and you’ll be in the running for some great prizes in the daily prize draw.
Standard annual subscriptions are:
$40 concession
$80 standard
$160 passionate
$600 life member
Support 2SER now.
Any money amount enters you into the daily prize draw.
FAVOURITE
Over the next fortnight, I’ll be sharing with you some of my favourite 2ser Phantom Dancer musical moments mixed from shows recorded ten years ago.
I’ve got some of my kids on-air moments to share with you, moments from when they were aged 4 and 6. And I’ve got some of your great listener stories to share with you, too!
Check out more 2SER listener stories on the 2SER home page, or read quotes from our listeners on this page.
You can hear lots of past Phantom Dancers, too, at 2ser.com.
LOVE
At 2SER, we’re really lucky to air such a wide range of specialist music shows, in depth news programs, and plenty of local and alternative stories from our community every day.
Listeners like yourself truly shape that content, sending us comments, letting us know about your events and businesses, and giving us all feedback too. And of course, being able to send all this into your earlobes wouldn’t be possible without your support!
STORIES
“I love your radio show! ” Harri
“Will keep listening for sure. I really love your show” Michelle, Melbourne
“Love your program. We tape it each week” Trish
“Your program is wonderful,” Tim
“Loving it! ” Nathan
“Knocked out by your show. We’ll be regular listeners from now on” Trevor & Betty
“Your show rocks!” Sonja
“Love your show” Tara
GIVE
Support 2SER now
You can also call in your support 61 2 9514 9500
VIDEO
Inside the Phantom Dancer 2SER study filmed just last month…
16 OCTOBER PLAY LIST
Play List – The Phantom Dancer
107.3 2SER-FM Sydney, Live Stream, Digital Radio Community Radio Network Show CRN #337
107.3 2SER Tuesday 16 October 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.
‘I Can’t Give You Anything But Love’ was a 1928 hit for composer Jimmy McHugh and lyricist Dorothy Fields. This week’s Phantom Dancer, presented by authentic 1920s-30s singer Greg Poppleton, features an ‘I Can’t Give You Anything But Love’-a-thon.
SHOW
The Phantom Dancer is your non-stop mix of swing and jazz from live 1929 – 65 radio.
You can hear lots of past Phantom Dancers, too, at 2ser.com.
PLAYLIST
A countdown of Australian Jazz from recordings made in 1930, 1940, 1950 and 1960, the ‘I Can’t Give You Anything But Love’ feature feature and a whole mix of swing and jazz from live 1920s-50s radio. Read the full play list below.
And remember the ALL VINYL FINYL HOUR.
Lyricist Dorothy Fields
I
‘I Can’t Give You Anything But Love’is now a jazz standard. Music by Jimmy McHugh, lyrics by Dorothy Fields. Introduced in Januray 1928 by Adelaide Hall at Les Ambassadeurs Club in New York for Lew Leslie’s Blackbird Revue.
CAN’T
The revue opened later in 1928 on Broadway and was a hit with 518 performances.
GIVE
‘I Can’t Give You Anything But Love, Baby’ is 24th in the 100-most recorded songs from 1890 to 1954.
YOU
Producer Lew Leslie wanted a hit tune for his Blackbirds revue. McHugh and Fields had already written the revue’s score. They were scratching their heads about coming up with a hit song.
ANYTHING
The story goes that Fields and McHugh were strolling along Fifth Avenue in New York City when they saw a young couple window-shopping at Tiffany’s. They heard the man say to his girlfriend, “Gee, honey I’d like to get you a sparkler like that, but right now, I can’t give you nothin’ but love!”
BUT
On hearing this, Fields and McHugh, came up with lyrics and music for Lew Leslie’s requested hit within an hour while as they sat on a train.
LOVE
Fats Waller’s son reported that his composer, piano playing father would always angrily switch off the song when he heard it on the radio. Waller believed that he had sold the melody to McHugh in 1926.
Sweet Sue digital download album, including ‘I Can’t Give You Anything But Love, at Bandcamp
9 OCTOBER PLAY LIST
Play List – The Phantom Dancer
107.3 2SER-FM Sydney, Live Stream, Digital Radio Community Radio Network Show CRN #336
107.3 2SER Tuesday 9 October 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
Spotlight Bands 1945-46 Radio
Open + Cool Breeze
Buddy Rich Orchestra
‘Spotlight Bands’
Phoenixville PA
AFRS Re-broadcast
24 Dec 1945
I’ll Never Be The Same
Charlie Venyura (ts) Gene Krupa Orchestra
‘Spotlight Bands’
Palladium Ballroom
Hollywood
AFRS Re-broadcast
1946
Dark Eyes + Close
George Olsen Music (voc) Judith Blair, Sherman Hayes and Chorus
‘Spotlight Bands’
Waukegan, Ill.
Blue Network
17 Mar 1945
Set 2
Your Hit Parade
Open + So Long As You’re Not In Love With Anyone Else + Brazil
Mark Warnow Orchestra (voc) Barry Woods and The Hit Paraders
‘Your Hit Parade’
AFRS Re-broadcast
23 Jan 1943
I’m Gonna Love That Guy
Mark Warnow Orchestra (voc) The Hit Paraders
‘Your Hit Parade’
AFRS Re-broadcast
29 Sep 1945
I’ve Got a Pocketful of Dreams + Close
Al Goodman Orchestra
‘Your Hit Parade’
WABC CBS NY
22 Oct 1938
Set 3
Stan Kenton 1952 Radio
Artistry in Rhythm + Francesca
Stan Kenton Orchestra
‘Concert in Miniature’
CBC Canada / NBC
Palace Pier
Toronto ON
3 Jun 1952
Opus in Pastels
Stan Kenton Orchestra
‘Concert in Miniature’
Devine’s Million Dollar Ballroom
WTMJ NBC Milwaukee WI
10 Jun 1952
Jump For Joe + Close
Stan Kenton Orchestra
‘Concert in Miniature’
Club Harlem
KYW NBC Philadelphia
30 May 1952
Set 4
Miles Davis 1950s Radio
Move
Miles Davis
Birdland
WJZ ABC NY
16 May 1953
Deep Sea Blues
Herbie Fields & Miles Davis
Comm Rec
New York City
24 Apr 1945
Nature Boys + Anthropology
Miles Davis
‘ABC Dancing Party’
Birdland
WABC ABC NY
30 Oct 1957
Set 5
Australian Jazz Through the Decades
I’m Sailing on a Sunbeam
Des Tooley (voc) Frank Coughlan (tb) Beryl Newell (piano)
Comm Rec
Sydney
Mar 1930
Cuckoo in the Clock
Trocadero Dance Orchestra (voc) Olive Lester
Comm Rec
Sydney
10 Jan 1940
Katzenjammers Ball
Jack Allen’s Original Katzenjammerd
Comm Rec
Sydney
23 Feb 1950
Dream Lover
Graeme Bell (voc) Kerrie Neilson
Comm Rec
Sylvania Hotel
Sydneu
Jan 1960
Set 6
I Can’t Give You Anything But Love
I Can’t Give You Anything But Love
Joe Turner (voc) Joe Sullivan and his Cafe Society Orchestra
Comm Rec
New York City
9 Feb 1940
I Can’t Give You Anything But Love + Close
Louis Armstrong Orchestra (voc) LA
‘Jubilee’
AFRS NYC
1943
I Can’t Give You Anything But Love
POrt Jackson Jazz Band (voc) Marie Harriot
Comm Rec
Sydney
25 Jun 1947
I Can’t Give You Anything But Love
Claude Thornhill Orchestra (voc) Gene Williams
‘One Night Stand’
Steel Pier
Atlantic City NJ
AFRS Re-broadcast
24 Aug 1956
Set 7
1940s Radio ‘Jubilee’ Swing Bands
Jeep Rhythm
Fletcher Henderson Orchestra
‘Jubilee’
AFRS Hollywood
1944
Vine Street Boogie
Jay McShann Orchestra
‘Jubilee’
AFRS Hollywood
1944
Benny’s Original
Benny Carter Orchestra
‘Jubilee’
AFRS NYC
1943
Cuban Jam
Charlie Barnet Orchestra
‘Jubilee’
AFRS Hollywood
1945
Set 8
1940s-1950s Mod Radio
C-Jam Blues/div>
Stan Hasselgard
AFRS Hollywood
1948
Koko + Hot House
Barry Ulanov’s All-Stars
‘Bands for Bonds’
WOR Mutual NY
9 Mar 1947
Bebop Boogie
Lester Young
‘Symphony Sid Show’
Royal roost
WMCA NY
4 Dec 1948
Lester Young started playing jazz in the family band. He became one of the most influential tenor saxophonists in jazz. He also coined a lot of hipster words. Lester Young is this week’s Phantom Dancer feature artist.
SHOW
The Phantom Dancer is a non-stop mix of swing and jazz from live 1920s-60s radio.
Mixed live-to-air by Greg Poppleton on radio 2SER 107.3 Sydney since 1985.
The Phantom Dancer is re-broadcast on 23 radio stations of the Community Radio Network and online at 2ser.com.
And 2ser.com is where you can hear lots of past Phantom Dancers, too.
PLAYLIST
The Lester Young feature and a whole mix of swing and jazz from live 1930s-50s radio. Read the full play list below. ALL VINYL FINYL HOUR.
LESTER YOUNG
Known as ‘Prez’, Lester Young was one of the most influential tenor saxophonists in jazz.
Reams have been written about Lester Young’s cool, fluid style so I won’t wax lyrical about that here.
Better you hear it first hand from live 1950s broadcast recordings on this week’s Phantom Dancer.
HIPSTER
Less known about Lester Young, is that he coined or popularised a lot of the hipster jargon that came to be associated with jazz.
‘Bread’ for money is a Lester Young original. ‘Bread’ became a Lester Young feature song in the 1956 Count Basie Orchestra. He’d ask, “How does the bread smell?” to mean what does the gig pay? He popularised the word ‘cool’, meaning ‘in vogue’.
FAMILY
Lester came from a musical family. His father was a band leader and Lester commenced his music career touring with the family band. His brother, Lee, was a drummer. In earler Phantom Dancers you would have heard the Lee and Lester Young band broadcasting from Los Angeles over KHJ.
CLARINET
Lester occasionally doubled on clarinet in the 1930s Walter Page Blue Devils Band and in the Count Basie Orchestra. It was stolen in 1939 and he didn’t pick up a licorice stick again until jazz promoter Norman Granz bought one for him in 1957.
INFLUENCE
Young wasn’t influenced by an earlier tenor sax player, but by Frankie Trambauer from Paul Whiteman’s Orchestra. FT played C-Melody Sax, the main sax played in the 1920s and pitched between alto and tenor.
BLUES
DB Blues is a Lester Young original you’ll hear on this week’s Phantom Dancer from a 1945 ‘Jubilee’ Armed Forces Radio broadcast.
Drafted into the army in 1944, Young was caught with marijuana and alcohol and dishonourably discharged. He was held in a DB ‘dentention barracks’ for one trauma filled year.
SOLO
Alcoholism, with symptoms of malnutriton and liver disease, affected his playing in the 1940s and 1950s, but there were also many moments of brilliance.
The most famous, which you can find online in an earlier Phantom Dancer, is his economic and emotive solo on ‘Fine and Mellow’, backing Billie Holliday in an all-star band on the CBS TV special, ‘The Sound of Jazz’.
VIDEO
Lester Young and that famous Lester Young solo on ‘The Sound of Jazz’, CBS TV, in 1957.
18 SEPTEMBER PLAY LIST
Play List – The Phantom Dancer
107.3 2SER-FM Sydney, Live Stream, Digital Radio Community Radio Network Show CRN #332
107.3 2SER Tuesday 18 September 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
Gus Arnheim 1931 Radio
Sweet and Lovely (theme) + You Don’t Need Glasses To See I’m In Love
Gus Arnheim Orchestra
‘Cocoanut Grove’
Radio Transcription
Los Angeles
1931
It’s The Girl
Gus Arnheim Orchestra
‘Cocoanut Grove’
Radio Transcription
Los Angeles
1931
I Got The Ritz From The One I Love + Sweet and Lovely (theme)
Gus Arnheim Orchestra (voc) Loyce Whiteman
‘Cocoanut Grove’
Radio Transcription
Los Angeles
1931
Set 2
Modern Singers on 1950s Radio
Open + Blue Velvet
Arthur Prysock
‘Stars in Jazz’
Birdland
WRCA NBC NY
9 Sep 1952
Open + Tenderly + The Nearness of You
Sarah Vaughan
‘All-Star Parade of Bands’
Zardi’s
KFI NBC LA
21 May 1956
Happy Birthday + Send My Baby Back To Me + Close
Billy Eckstine
‘All-Star Parade of Bands’
Birdland
WRCA NBC NY
8 Jul 1953
Set 3
Club Hangover 1954
Relaxin’ at the Trouro + Senstation Rag
Muggsy Spanier
Club Hangover
KCBS San Francisco
27 Nov 1954
Flying Home
Earl Hines
Club Hangover
KCBS San Francisco
30 Jan 1954
Dardenella + Checkin’ With Chuck (theme)
Ralph Sutton
Club Hangover
KCBS San Francisco
24 Jul 1954
Set 4
Lester Young
DB Blues
Lester Young
‘Jubilee’
AFRS Hollywood
22 Apr 1956
Call Me Darling
Count Basie Orchestra, Lester Young (ts) Thelma Capenter (voc)
V-Disc
New York City
27 May 1944
Polkadots and Moonbeams
Lester Young
‘Bandstand USA’
Cafe Bohemia
WOR Mutual NY
22 Dec 1956
Set 5
Headline Women Singers on 1940s Radio
The Starlit Hour
Ella Fitzgerald Orchestra (voc) EF
Savoy Ballroom
WEAF NBC Red NY
26 Feb 1940
Honeysuckle Rose
Lena Horne (voc) Fletcher Henderson Orchestra
‘Jubilee’
AFRS Hollywood
1944
Aintcha Ever Comin’ Back?
Peggy Lee (voc) Paul Weston Orchestra
‘Peggy Lee Show’
KNX CBS LA
1947
It Had To Be You + Close
Mildred Bailey (voc) Paul Baron Orchestra
‘Music Till Midnight’
WABC CBS NY
1944
Set 6
Cotton Club
Oh, Babe! Maybe Someday
Duke Ellington Orchestra (voc) Ivie Anderson
Cotton Club
WCBS CBS NY
24 Mar 1938
I’m Slappin’ on Seventh Avenue + Lost In Meditation
Duke Ellington Orchestra (voc) Ivie Anderson
Cotton Club
WCBS CBS NY
22 May 1938
The Gal From Joe’s + Riding on a Blue Note
Duke Ellington Orchestra
Cotton Club
WCBS CBS NY
1 May 1938
East St Louis Toodle-oo + Jig Walk + In a Sentimental Mood
Actor - Singer - Voiceover 