International Sweethearts of Rhythm – Phantom Dancer 5 November 2019

INTERNATIONAL

This week’s Phantom Dancer feature artist with Greg Poppleton is The International Sweethearts of Rhythm, the first integrated all women band in the United States. Latina, Asian, Caucasian, Black, Indian and Puerto Rican members gave the band an ‘international’ flavour, hence the name. You’ll hear them today from 1944-45 AFRS airchecks.

ONLINE

This week’s Phantom Dancer will be online after the 5 November 107.3 2SER Sydney live mix at 2ser.com.
Hear the show live every Tuesday 12:04-2pm on 107.3 2SER Sydney.

SWEETHEARTS

The original members of the band had met at Piney Woods Country Life School, a school for poor and African American children, in 1938 in Mississippi. Most who attended Piney Woods were orphans, including band member Helen Jones, who had been adopted by the school’s principal and founder (also the Sweethearts’ original bandleader), Dr Laurence C. Jones.

OF

The International Sweethearts of Rhythm turned professional and severed connections with Piney Woods in April 1941. The venues they played, such as the Apollo Theatre in Harlem, the Howard Theatre in Washington D.C., the Regal Theatre in Chicago, the Cotton Club in Cincinnati, the Riviera in St. Louis, the Dreamland in Omaha, or the Club Plantation and Million Dollar Theater in Los Angeles, were for black audiences. Leonard Feather stated in a Los Angeles Times article about the band that “if you are white, whatever your age, chances are you have never heard of the Sweethearts”.

The Sweethearts swiftly rose to fame, nonetheless. The band set a new box office record of 35,000 patrons in one week of 1941 at the Howard Theatre. In Hollywood they made short films for use in movie theaters. One of these is your Phantom Dancer Video of the Week. Radio work was largely confined to ‘Jubilee’ broadcasts over Armed Forces Radio aimed at black US armed forces personnel. You’ll hear excerpts from some of these broadcasts on this week’s Phantom Dancer.

RHYTHM

The 16-piece International Sweethearts of Rhythm featured a strong brass section, heavy percussion, and a deep rhythmic sense, along with many of the best female musicians of the day. The band leader and singer was Anna Mae Winburn. Check out the video of the week below to savour their original ideas.

VIDEO

This week’s Phantom Dancer video of the week is ‘Central Avenue Boogie’ from a 1940s soundie by the International Sweethearts of Rhythm, sung by Anna Mae Winburn.

5 NOVEMBER PLAY LIST

Play List – The Phantom Dancer 107.3 2SER-FM Sydney, Live Stream, Digital Radio Community Radio Network Show CRN #412
107.3 2SER Tuesday 5 November 2019 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	Big Bands on One Night Stand
Open + Saint Louis Breakdown	Lucky Millinder Orchestra	‘One Night Stand’ Savoy Ballroom Harlem NYC AFRS Re-broadcast 17 July 1945
I’ll Be Around	Sonny Dunham Orchestra (voc) Pat Cameron	‘One Night Stand’ Cafe Rouge Hotel Pennsylvania NYC AFRS Re-broadcast 14 Apr 1944
I’ve Got Rhythm + Close	Tony Pastor Orchestra	‘One Night Stand’ Jantzen Beach Portland OR AFRS Re-broadcast 15 May 1945
Set 2	1940s-50s Trad Radio
Lonesome Road	Muggsy Spanier & Baby Doods	‘This is Jazz’ WOR Mutual NY 5 Apr 1947
Between The Devil and the Deep Blue Sea	Ralph Sutton Quintet	Club Hangover KCBS San Francisco 7 Sep 54
I Ain’t Gonna Give Anyone None of my Jelly Roll	Meade Lux Lewis	Club Hangover KCBS San Francisco 7 Sep 54
Set 3	Lounge Radio
Open + Quiet Village (theme) + Happy Talk	Martin Denny Orchestra	‘One Night Stand’ London House AFRTS Re-broadcast via WBBM CBS Chicago 1959
Open + Boulevarde of Broken Dreams	Dick Carroll Orchestra	‘The World Dances’ WJSV CBS Washington DC 21 Sep 1939
Kila Kila Holi A’kala + Close	Johnny Pineapple	Polynesian Village Edgewater Beach Hotel WGN Chicago 1 Jan 1958
Set 4	The International Sweethearts of Rhythm
Galvanising	The International Sweethearts of Rhythm	‘Jubilee’ AFRS Hollywood 1945
Diggin’ Dyke	The International Sweethearts of Rhythm	‘Jubilee’ AFRS Hollywood 17 Jul 1945
She’s Crazy With the Heat	The International Sweethearts of Rhythm	‘Jubilee’ AFRS Hollywood
Set 5	Les Brown
Carioca	Les Brown Orchestra	Radio Transcription 1949
Open + Love is Just Around the Corner	Les Brown Orchestra	Peacock Room baker Hotel CBS Dallas 9 Au !945
We’ll Be Together Aain	Les Brown Orchestra (voc) Jane Harvey	‘One Night Stand’ Cafe Rouge Hotel Pennsylvamia AFRS Re-broadcast 28 Dec 1945
Show Me The Way To Go Home	Les Brown Orchestra (voc) Butch Stone	Palladium Ballroom KNX CBS LA 16 Aug 1945
Set 6	1935-36 Dance Bands
Down By the Old Mill Stream	Bunny Berrigan Orchestra	‘Saturday Night Swing Club’ WABC CBS NY 22 Oct 1936
Christopher Columbus	Isham Jones Orchestra	WOR Mutual NY 13 Mar 1936
Haunting Me	Henry Busse Orchestra	Radio Transcription 1935
Weary Blues	Tommy Dorsey Orchestra	‘Ford V-8 Show’ CBS Dallas Aug 1936
Set 7	Django Reinhardt Radio Transcriptions
Nuages	Django Reinhardt Quintet	Radio Geneve Switzerland 25 Oct 1949
How High the Moon	Django Reinhardt with Ray McKinley’s Quintet	Jazz Club Francaise 1945
Black Night	Django Reinhardt Quintet	Radio Geneve Switzerland 25 Oct 1949
Danse Norvegienne No. 2	Django Reinhardt Quintet	Radio Geneve Switzerland 25 Oct 1949
Set 8	Miles Davis
Intro + Walkin’	Miles Davis	‘Bandstand USA’ Birdland WOR Mutual NYC 3 Jan 1959
All of Me	Miles Davis	‘Bandstand USA’ Birdland WOR Mutual NYC 3 Jan 1959

Hit of the Week – Phantom Dancer Show 6 August 2019

CARDBOARD RECORDS

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

Swing Harp on 1940s-50s Radio – Phantom Dancer 5 February 2018

SWING HARP

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
4F Ferdinand, The Frantic Freak	Harry ‘The Hipster’ Gibson	Comm Rec New York City 21 Apr 1944

Lester Young – Phantom Dancer Radio Show 18 September 2018

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	Duke Ellington Orchestra	Cotton Club WCBS CBS NY 8 May 1938
Set 7	1937 Radio
I’d Do Anything For You	Seger Ellis and his Choirs of Brass	Radio Transcription NYC 1937
Pennies from Heaven	Mills Brothers	‘Norge Program’ Radio Transcription NYC 1937
Johnny One Note	Hal Kemp Orchestra (voc) Skinnay Ennis	‘Chesterfield Show’ WABC CBS NY 1937
Blue Skies + Closing	George Hall Orchestra	Radio Transcription NYC 1937
Set 8	Bop Big Bands on Radio
Oo-Pop-A-Da	Dizzy Gillespie Orchestra	Winter Palace Radio Sweden Stockholm 2 Feb 1948
Belvedere Bop	Chubby Jackson Orchestra	‘Symphony Sid Show’ WMCA NY 12 Mar 1949
Serenade in Sulphur-8	Slim Gaillard	‘Symphony Sid Show’ WJZ ABC NY 7 Jul 1951