Lenny Herman and 1950s Lounge Music – Phantom Dancer 4 Oct 2022

Lenny Herman accordionist and xylophonist led what was dubbed ‘The Mightiest Little Band in the Land’ in the 1940s and 50s. For fans of 1950s Lounge Music albums, here’s one of those bent easy listening orchestras live on 1948 and 1957 radio as 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 4 October) and two years of Phantom Dancer mixes online at, at https://2ser.com/phantom-dancer/

LENNY

Lenny was a ‘best-seller on stereophonic tape’ (he released songs on reel-to-reel tape) and a band with bright party-like LP album covers from the 1950s beloved of record bin hunters with a penchant for the staidly wacky.

The Lenny Herman Quintet that you’ll hear on this week’s Phantom Dancer airchecks:

Lenny Herman – Accordion, Vibraphone, And Vocals
Alan Shurr – Tenor Saxophone, Clarinet, Bass Clarinet, And Vocals
Charles Shaw – Piano, Celeste, And Organ
Earl “Gumpy” Comfort – Violin, String Bass, And Vocals
Stan Scott – Drums

Lenny Herman’s legacy has been dumped on from great heights by contemporary music reviewers such as Eugene Chadbourne who wrote in All-Music:

“Lenny Herman is sometimes described as a jazz bandleader of the ’40s and ’50s, yet his band bus was really more of a bandwagon, using the latter word in terms of a fad or flavor of the day.

He got in early on [sic], covering “Daddy’s Little Girl” in 1947, and not with the shroud that might have really been appropriate with this anthem of treacle. Alternate publications of the sheet music for this song featured photographs of artists who recorded it; the version with the Lennie Herman Quintet describes the group as “Latin-American.” Despite this stylistic designation the small combo was also featured on a recording of “Grandfather’s Clock” the year before.

Herman also took charge of much larger groups, building a reputation as a big-band leader that eventually eclipsed that of the quintet, if a word as mighty as “eclipsed” can be used to describe something more like a radar blip than a super nova.

He recorded orchestra sides such as “When You Fall in Love” for Decca and a nifty red vinyl 45 entitled “Mightiest Lil’ Band in the Land.” During the early ’50s Herman was on the front line of the new trends in commercial children’s music, waving a diaper like a flag of surrender.

He used the quintet to cut “Percy the Pale Faced Polar Bear” in 1951 and eventually had enough tracks for tots and tykes to tote up the early-’60s Family Album LP, also featuring singer Ginny Gibson. The 1957 Dance Party showcases Herman’s talents on both accordion and xylophone, the set list consisting mostly of Tin Pan Alley hits.”

The reviewer, Eugene Chadbourne, and his Electric Rake…

HERMAN

Lenny gets a fairer review in musicbio.org:

“Although generally uncelebrated during his career being a band head, Lenny Herman made a substantial contribution towards the dance band music of NY, USA, from the first 50s onwards.

Located in hotels like the Astor, Edison, Roosevelt, Waldorf-Astoria and New Yorker, his small band, frequently dubbed ‘The Mightiest Small Music group In The Property’, etched an absolute impression over the night time dancers of these establishments with music such as for example ‘No Foolin’’.

Led by Herman’s accordion playing, the music group, which hardly ever numbered a lot more than ten and sometimes significantly less than eight, also discovered engagements additional afield in Philadelphia (the Warwick Resort), Atlantic Town (the Straymore Resort), Virginia Seaside (the Cavalier Resort) and Dallas (the Baker Resort).

With the middle-60s the music group had moved completely towards the Lake Tahoe region, where the right now five or six solid ensemble gained its living playing to combined audiences in the resort hotels.”

So now enjoy Lenny Herman on this week’s Phantom Dancer in airchecks from 1948 and 1957…

4 OCTOBER PLAY LIST

Play List – The Phantom Dancer 107.3 2SER-FM Sydney LISTEN ONLINE Community Radio Network Show CRN #565
107.3 2SER Tuesday 4 October 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 2RDJ Burwood Wednesday 12 – 1pm 1ART ArtsoundFM Canberra Friday 10 – 11am 2RRR Ryde Friday 11am -12 noon 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	Tex Beneke
Moonlight Serenade (theme) + Uncle Remus	Tex Beneke and the Glenn Miller Orchestra (voc) Tex Beneke, Jenny O’Conner 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	Your Hit Parade
Intro + I’m Gunna Love That Guy + It’s Gotta Be This or That	Joan Edwards	‘Your Hit Parade’ AFRS Re-broadcast 27 Oct 1945
I’ll Buy That Dream	The Hit Paraders	‘Your Hit Parade’ AFRS Re-broadcast 27 Oct 1945
On The Atcheson, Topeka and Santa Fe	Dick Todd	‘Your Hit Parade’ AFRS Re-broadcast 27 Oct 1945
Set 3	Latin Rhythms
My Shawl (theme) + In a Little Spanish Town	Xavier Cugat Orchestra	Roseland Ballroom WABC ABC NY 1958
Rhumba	Xavier Cugat Orchestra	Roseland Ballroom WABC ABC NY 1958
Besume	Xavier Cugat Orchestra	Roseland Ballroom WABC ABC NY 1958
Rhumba	Xavier Cugat Orchestra	Roseland Ballroom WABC ABC NY 1958
Set 4	Lenny Herman
Cecilia	Lenny Herman Quintet	Golden Thread Room Hotel New Yorker WCBS CBS NYC 1957
Kisses Are Better Than Roses	Lenny Herman Quintet (voc) Alan Shurr	Golden Thread Room Hotel New Yorker WCBS CBS NYC 1957
Don’t Forbid Me	Lenny Herman Quintet (voc) The Hermanaires	Golden Thread Room Hotel New Yorker WCBS CBS NYC 1957
Noon Balloon to Rangoon + In Ol’ Kalua (theme)	Lenny Herman Quintet	Hotel Astor WNBC NBC NYC 25 Jun 1948
Set 5	Western Swing
Does My Baby Love Me, Yes Sir!	Jimmie Revard and his Oklahoma Playboys	Comm Rec San Antonio TX 14 Sep 1937
Baby Won’t You Please Come Home	W. Lee O’Daniel (voc) Texas Rose	Comm Rec Dallas TX 15 May 1938
Sam the Old Accordian Man	Adolph Hofner and His Texans	Comm Rec Dallas TX 13 Feb 1940
Get Hot	W. Lee O’Daniel	Comm Rec San Antonio TX 21 Nov 1936
Set 6	Tommy Dorsey
Swing Low Sweet Chariot	Tommy Dorsey Orchestra (voc) Bob Allen	Meadowbrook Ballroom Cedar Grove NJ 11 Feb 1941
I Dream of You	Tommy Dorsey Orchestra (voc) Bob Allen	‘For the Record’ WEAF NBC Red NYC 17 Apr 1944
Always in My Heart	Tommy Dorsey Orchestra (voc) Frank Sinatra	‘Raleigh Show’ Capitol Theatre WJSV CBS Washington DC 18 Aug 1942
Losers Weepers	Tommy Dorsey Orchestra	Palladium Ballroom KNX CBS LA 26 Nov 1940
Set 7	Lester Young
Lullaby of Birdland (theme) + Three Little Words	Lester Young Quintet	Birdland WABC ABC NYC 5 Sep 1956
How High the Moon	Lester Young Jam Session (voc) Ella Fitzgerald	‘Symphony Sid Show’ WMCA NYC 27 Nov 1948
Set 8	Blues & Cool
Empty Bed Blues + Love My Baby + Improvised Blues + Theme	Johnny Otis Orchestra and Jubilee All-Stars (voc) Ivie Anderson + Joe Turner	‘Jubilee’ AFRS Hollywood Oct 1945
I’ll Remember April	Dave Brubeck Quartet	Aircheck Jan 1954

Cabaret of 1920s – 30s Songs

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Enjoy!

Personality Girl, Barbara James, Australian 1940s Radio – Phantom Dancer 16 April 2019

An Australian dance band singer features on this week’s Phantom Dancer with some of her broadcasts from the 1930s and 1940s.

Presented every week by actor, Greg Poppleton, The Phantom Dancer, is your non-stop mix of swing and jazz from live 1920s-60s radio and TV.

It’s recorded live at 107.3 2SER Sydney, Tuesdays 12:04 – 2pm, and sent to 22 radio stations of the Community Radio Network and online.

Hear this week’s Phantom Dancer (after 16 April), and plenty of past Phantom Dancers for your enjoyment, online at radio 2ser.com

In the mix this week, live 1930s-60s radio by Glenn Miller’s Army Air Forces Band, Lee Konitz, Charlie Parker in Boston, a Frank Sinatra aircheck from 1939 (singing his first record release), singer Loyce Whiteman, and Australian dance band singer, Barbara James.

See the full play list below.

BARBARA JAMES

Born in Sydney in 1907 (some sources say 1908), Barbara James was a jazz and swing singer. Her parents were entertainers Will James and Malvena Moore. Her father, Will, taught her to play the saxophone, xylophone and banjo. She also played violin and danced. She was married to musician and band leader, Reg Lewis, who we’ll also here on this week’s Phantom Dancer.

Over her career, James performed and recorded with numerous jazz bands in Australia such as Frank Coughlan’s Trocadero Orchestra, Dick Freeman and his Trocadero Orchestra and Johnny Tozer and his Swing Band.

From 1921, she was contracted by Harry George Musgrove to Musgrove’s Theatres, appearing at theatres in Sydney and Melbourne, including the Tivoli circuit and Trocadero, and on ABC radio.

She first appeared on the Tivoli theatre circuit billed as a ‘child wonder xylophonist’.

This week’s Phantom Dancer presents a selection of her radio broadcasts from 1937-45.

Barbara toured Hong Kong in 1946. From 1949 to 1955, Reg and Barbara Lewis toured Europe and Britain.

In London, they performed in the West End at Café Anglaise and the Windmill Theatre.

London variety shows featuring Reg and Barbara Lewis included, ‘Stars, Songs and Society’ Windmill Theatre London, 1950, ‘Nudes of the East’ 1951, ‘The Talk of the Town’ Tribe Bros Ltd London, 1950-1951 and ‘Midday Music Hall’, 1953.

They appeared on BBC radio and TV.

They had a regular 15 minute vocal and piano show on Sydney radio in the 1960s called, ‘Between You and Me’.

Your Phantom Dancer Video of the Week, a tour through Australian commercial station, 3BA Ballarat, in the 1930s. Enjoy!

16 APRIL PLAY LIST

Play List – The Phantom Dancer 107.3 2SER-FM Sydney, Live Stream, Digital Radio Community Radio Network Show CRN #381 107.3 2SER Tuesday 16 April 2019 After the 2SER 12 noon news, 12:04 – 2:00pm (+10 hours GMT) National Program: ArtSoundFM Canberra Sunday 7 – 8pm and early morning on 23 other stations. Set 1 Swing Bands on 1943-44 Radio Theme + The Carioca Richard Himber Orchestra ‘Spotlight Bands’ Aniston, Alabama Blue Network 13 Nov 1943 I’m Beginning To See the Light (theme) + The One I Love Belongs To Somebody Else Enoch Light and the Light Brigade ‘One Night Stand’ New Park Casino Palisades Park NJ AFRS Re-broadcast 1944 One Night Stand + Close Denny Beckner Orchestra ‘Spotlight Bands’ Norfolk, Virginia AFRS Re-broadcast 30 Mar 1944 Set 2 Charlie Parker in Boston Ornithology Charlie Parker ‘Symphony Sid Show’ Hi-Hat Club WCOP Boston 18 Dec 1953 Laura Charlie Parker ‘Symphony Sid Show’ Hi-Hat Club WCOP Boston 1954 Out of Nowhere + Jumping with Symphony Sid Charlie Parker ‘Symphony Sid Show’ Hi-Hat Club WCOP Boston 24 Jan 1954 Set 3 Barbara James I Can’t Give You Anything But Love Barbara James (voc) Reg Lewis and his Trocadero Orchestra Comm Rec Sydney 1941 It Don’t Mean a Thing If It Ain’t Got That Swing Barbara James (voc) Frank Coughlan Trocadero Orchestra Radio Transcription Sydney June 1937 Small Town Boogie Barbara James (voc) Albert Fisher Orchestra ABC Sydney 1944 Set 4 1950s Swing on Radio It’s All In The Game Ray Anthony Orchestra ‘One Night Stand’ Cafe Rouge Hotel Statler NYC AFRS Re-broadcast 1952 Disorder at the Border Coleman Hawkins, Roy Eldridge, Horace Silver ‘Stars in Jazz’ Birdland WNBC NBC NY 1952 Everything Happens To Me Matt Denis Trio (MD voc) ‘All Star Parade of Bands’ Chi Chi Club WRCA NBC NY 15 Jun 1955 Set 5 Glenn Miller Army Air Forces Orchestra 1943-44 Jeep Jockey Jump Glenn Miller Army Air Forces Orchestra ‘Uncle Sam Presents’ AFRS Re-broadcast Oct 1943 Theme + Flying Home Glenn Miller Army Air Forces Orchestra ‘I Sustain The Wings’ Chicago Theatre WMAQ NBC Chicago 10 Jun 1944 Don’t Be That Way Glenn Miller Army Air Forces Orchestra ‘Uncle Sam Presents’ AFRS Re-broadcast Feb 1944 There Are Yanks + Close Glenn Miller Army Air Forces Orchestra (voc) Ray McKinley and the Crew Chiefs ‘I Sustain The Wings’ WEAF NBC New York City 15 Apr 1944 Set 6 Early Harry James Orchestra Cirribirribin (theme) + Tuxedo Junction Harry James Orchestra Southland Cafe WNAC NBC Red Boston 19 Mar 1940 FRom The Bottom Of My Heart Harry James Orchestra (voc) Frank Sinatra ‘America Dances’ WABC CBS NY and BBC London 19 Jul 1939 Andalucia (The Breeze and I) Harry James Orchestra Blue Room Hotel Lincoln WABC CBS New York City 22 May 1941 Feet Draggin’ Blues + Close Harry James Orchestra Aircheck Chatterbox Club Mountainside NJ 1940 Set 7 Loyce Whiteman 1930s Cocoanut Grove Sweet and Lovely (theme) + I’m Through With Love Gus Arnheim Orchestra (voc) Loyce Whiteman ‘Cocoanut Grove’ TRANSCO Radio Transcription Los Angeles 1931 Rain On The Roof Jimmie Grier Orchestra (voc) Loyce Whiteman ‘Cocoanut Grove’ TRANSCO Radio Transcription Los Angeles 1932 Whistling in the Dark Gus Arnheim Orchestra (voc) Loyce Whiteman ‘Cocoanut Grove’ TRANSCO Radio Transcription Los Angeles 1931 You Could Have Been the One, Baby Jimmie Grier Orchestra (voc) Loyce Whiteman ‘Cocoanut Grove’ TRANSCO Radio Transcription Los Angeles 1932 Set 8 Lee Konitz 1954 Radio Open + Hi Beck Lee Konitz Storyville Copley Square Hotel WHDH Boston 5 Jan 1954 Subconscious Lee Lee Konitz Storyville Copley Square Hotel WHDH Boston 5 Jan 1954