Your Hit Parade – Phantom Dancer 9 June 2020

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
107.3 2SER Tuesday 9 June 2020 After the 2SER 12 noon news, 12:04 – 2:00pm (+10 hours GMT) and Saturdays 5 – 5:55pm National Program: 1ART ArtsoundFM Canberra Sunday 10 – 11pm 5GTR Mt Gambier Monday 2:30 – 3:30am 3MBR Murrayville Monday 3 – 4am 4NAG Keppel FM Monday 3 – 4am 2SEA Eden Monday 3 – 4am 2MIA Griffith Monday 3 – 4pm 2BAR Edge FM Bega Monday 3 – 4pm 3VKV Alpine Radio Monday 6 – 7pm 7MID Oatlands Tuesday 8 – 9pm 2MCE Bathurst / Orange / Central West NSW Wednesday 9 – 10am 2ARM Armidale Friday 12 – 1pm 7LTN Launceston Sunday 5 – 6am 3MGB Mallacoota Sunday 5 – 6am 6GME Radio Goolarri Broome Sunday 5 – 6am
Set 1	Your Hit Parade
Open + Stop Beating Around The Mulberry Bush	Al Goodman Orchestra (voc) The Hit Paraders	‘Your Hit Parade’ WABC CBS NY 22 Oct 1938
So In Love	Frank Sinatra (voc) Axel Stordahl Orchestra	‘Your Hit Parade’ KFI NBC Hollywood 20 Apr 1949
Moonlight Becomes You + Love Me Or Leave Me	Mark Warnow Orchestra (voc) Barry Wood	‘Your Hit Parade’ AFRS Re-broadcast 23 Jan 1943
Set 2	Jazz Moderne from live 1952 – 1960 Radio
Open + Route 66	Bobby Troup (voc) Trio	‘All-Star Parade of Bands’ The Cameo WRCA NBC NY 1956
Without A Song	Wild Bill Davis Trio	‘Stars in Jazz’ Birdland WNBC NBC NY 1952
Sleep + Close	Chico Hamilton Quintet	‘Jazz International’ AFRTS Hollywood 16 Jan 1960
Set 3	The Supper Club broadcasting from a Plane over New York
All Through The Day	Art van Damme Quintet	‘The Supper Club’ TWA Constellation 24,000′ over New York City NBC/AFRS 4 Apr 1946
Blue Skies + Got Me A Seat Upon The California Sunbeam + Doctor, Lawyer, Indian Chief + Temptation	Perry Como and the Satisfiers (voc) Ray Bloch Orchestra	‘The Supper Club’ TWA Constellation 24,000′ over New York City NBC/AFRS 4 Apr 1946
Sweet Georgia Brown + I’m Forever Blowing Bubbles	Art van Damme Quintet	‘The Supper Club’ TWA Constellation 24,000′ over New York City NBC/AFRS 4 Apr 1946
Set 4	1930s Swing on the Radio
Bumpy Weather Over Newark	Raymond Scott Quintette	Comm Rec New York Apr 1939
There’s a Lull in My Life	Benny Goodman Trio	‘Saturday Night Swing Club’ from Pittsburgh WABC CBS NY 12 Jun 1937
Stay in My Arms, Cinderella	Bob Chester Orchestra (voc) Stu Bradon	Mayfair Restaurant Hotel van Cleve Dayton OH 21 Sep 1939
Set 5	Swinging 1944 Radio
Blue Lou	Count Basie Orchestra	Blue Room Hotel Lincoln WABC CBS NY 21 Apr 1944
Hawaiian War Chant	Tommy Dorsey Orchestra	Casino Gardens Ocean Park Ca KFI NBC LA Oct 1944
Oh So Good	Glenn Miller Orchestra	ABSIE (American Broadcasting Station in Europe) London 12 Oct 1944
Keep The Home Fires Burning	Charlie Barnet Orchestra	‘For The Record’ WEAF NBC Red NY 11 Sep 1944
Set 6	Shuffle Rhythm Live on 1935-45 Radio
Futuristic Shuffle	Jan Savitt and his Top Hatters	Radio Transcripotion New York 22 Jul 1938
Instrumental	Henry Busse Orchestra	Rose Room Palace Hotel CBS San Francisco 28 Dec 1944
Quaker City Jazz	Jan Savitt and his Top Hatters	Arcadia Restaurant KYW NBC Red Philadelphia 2 Dec 1938
Sidewalks of Cuba + When Day Is Done (theme)	Henry Busse Orchestra	Radio Transcription Chicago 1935
Set 7	The Dixie Revival on the Air
Winnin’ Boy	Jelly Roll Morton	‘Chamber Music Society of Lower Basin Street’ WJZ NBC Blue NY 14 Jul 1940
Big Butter and Egg Man	Miff Mole and his Nixieland Six	Aircheck 30 Oct 1944
Yesterdays	Eddie Condon Group	‘Eddie Condon Jazz Concert’ Town Hall NY WJZ Blue Network 21 Oct 1944
Ride Red Ride + Close	Red Allen Dixielanders	‘Doctor Jazz’ WMGM NY 1950
Set 8	Progressive Jazz Live on the Air, Daddy-o!
Perfume Counter	Dave Brubeck Quartet	Birdland WJZ ABC NY Dec 1953
Jumpin’ With Symphony Sid (theme) Perdido	Howard McGee	Birdland WMCA NY Sep 1951
Little Girl Blue	Stan Getz Quartet	Basin Street WCBS CBS NY 1956
Smoke Signals + The Gentle Art of Love	Oscar Pettiford Band	Birdland WRCA NBC NY 26 May 1957

Johnny Green, You’ve Heard Him. Have You Heard Of Him? – Phantom Dancer 12 May 2020

Johnny Green was a U.S composer, songwriter, pianist, band leader and orchestra conductor. His most famous song is ‘Body and Soul’.

On this week’s Phantom Dancer we’ll be hearing a few of the 1930s radio orchestras lead by Johnny Green. And below, on your Phantom Dancer Video of the Week you can see a short film of the Johnny Green band in action. The short was made in 1935.

This week you’ll also hear sets with Patti Page, Johnny Ray and Erroll Garner from live 1957 TV and some of the great swing bands from the 1930s live on the 1938-39 BBC series, ‘America Dances’.

Produced and presented by Australia’s only authentic 1920s-30s singer, Greg Poppleton, The Phantom Dancer is your non-stop mix of swing and jazz from live 1920s-1960s radio and TV every week.

Hear this week’s Phantom Dancer (after 12 May) and past Phantom Dancers online at radio 2ser.com

JOHN ‘JOHNNY’ WALDO GREEN

He won four Academy Awards for his film scores and a fifth for producing a short musical film. And he went by the name of John or ‘Maestro’ in his later years.

As you’ll hear on today’s live 1930s radio broadcasts of Johnny Green and his Orchestra, Green couldn’t help but be self-assured.

He entered Harvard at age 15. You’ll hear him talk today on a 1939 aircheck about his early music schooling and his first song as a kid.

Indeed, by the time he was at Harvard, bandleader Guy Lombardo had heard Green’s Gold Coast Orchestra and hired him to create dance arrangements for his nationally famous Lombardo orchestra.

JAZZ STANDARDS

Green’s first song hit was written for the Lombardo orchestra. It was Coquette (1928), which Green wrote when he was 19.

Two years later, in 1930, Green wrote ‘Body and Soul’ which is now a jazz standard.

In the early 30s he was the radio and recording accompanist and arranger to singers James Melton, Libby Holman and Ethel Merman, and as you’ll hear on this week’s Phantom Dancer, Ruth Etting. He was also arranger and conductor for Paramount Pictures.

In this period he also wrote the standards ‘Out Of Nowhere’ (which you’ll hear in play today), ‘Rain Rain Go Away’, ‘I Cover the Waterfront’, ‘You’re Mine You’, ‘I Wanna Be Loved’ (his 1934 Oldsmobile show theme song), ‘Easy Come Easy Go’, ‘Repeal The Blues’ and the theme for Max Fleischer’s Betty Boop cartoons.

Nathaniel Shilkret and Paul Whiteman commissioned Green to write larger works for orchestra, including ‘Night Club: Six Impressions for Orchestra with Three Pianos’.

After spending 1933 in London, where he wrote the first musical comedy ever for BBC Radio, Green returned to New York City where, William S. Paley, president of the Columbia Broadcasting System and an investor in New York’s St. Regis Hotel, encouraged him to form what became known as Johnny Green, his Piano and Orchestra.

And he continued to lead his orchestra in top ranking radio shows into the 1940s, backing singers such as Fred Astaire and Alan Jones.

In the early 40s, Green moved to Hollywood. He became one of the people central to changing the overall sound of the MGM Symphony Orchestra.

ACADEMY AWARDS

He was Music Director at MGM from 1949 to 1959 and was nominated for an Oscar thirteen times. He won the award for the musical scores of Easter Parade, An American in Paris, West Side Story, and Oliver!, as well as for producing the short “The Merry Wives of Windsor Overture”, which won in the Short Subjects (One-Reel) category in 1954.

After leaving MGM, Green guest-conducted the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Denver Symphony Orchestra, Philadelphia Orchestra, San Francisco Symphony Orchestra, and Hollywood Bowl Orchestra. He also continued to compose the occasional filmscore, including the critically acclaimed They Shoot Horses, Don’t They? in 1969. He conducted the orchestra for the 1961 United Artists’ film version of West Side Story, for which he won a Grammy.

Green was a chairman of the music branch of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, leading the orchestra through 17 Academy Award telecasts.

VIDEO OF THE WEEK

Your Phantom Dancer Video of the Week is a short film from 1935 of the Johnny Green Orchestra with sly dig at Johnny Green’s musical achievements. Enjoy…

12 MAY PLAY LIST

Play List – The Phantom Dancer 107.3 2SER-FM Sydney, Live Stream, Digital Radio Community Radio Network Show CRN #436
107.3 2SER Tuesday12 May 2020 After the 2SER 12 noon news, 12:04 – 2:00pm (+10 hours GMT) and Saturdays 5 – 5:55pm National Program: 1ART ArtsoundFM Canberra Sunday 10 – 11pm 5GTR Mt Gambier Monday 2:30 – 3:30am 3MBR Murrayville Monday 3 – 4am 4NAG Keppel FM Monday 3 – 4am 2SEA Eden Monday 3 – 4am 2MIA Griffith Monday 3 – 4pm 2BAR Edge FM Bega Monday 3 – 4pm 3VKV Alpine Radio Monday 6 – 7pm 7MID Oatlands Tuesday 8 – 9pm 2MCE Bathurst / Orange / Central West NSW Wednesday 9 – 10am 2ARM Armidale Friday 12 – 1pm 7LTN Launceston Sunday 5 – 6am 3MGB Mallacoota Sunday 5 – 6am 6GME Radio Goolarri Broome Sunday 5 – 6am
Set 1	1944-46 Swing Bands on One Night Stand
Theme + Boyds Nest	Boyd Raeburn Orchestra	‘One Night Stand’ Club Morocco LA AFRS Re-broadcast 19 Aug 1946
New World Jump	Bobby Sherwood Orchestra	‘One Night Stand’ Avodon Ballroom LA AFRS Re-broadcast 3 Jun 1946
Fellow on a Furlough + Blue Skies	Bob Chester Orchestra (voc) David Allyn	‘One Night Stand’ Panther Room Hotel Sherman Chicago AFRS Re-broadcast 8 Oct 1944
Set 2	Johnny Green Composer and Bandleader
Open + Sweet Little Heartache	Johnny Green Orchestra (voc) Jimmy Farrell	‘Fitch Summer Bandwagon’ WEAF NBC Red NY 9 Apr 1939
In the Evening + I Wanna Be Loved (theme)	Johnny Green Orchestra	‘Oldsmobile Program’ WABC CBS NY 20 Feb 1934
So Far So Good	Johnny Green Orchestra	‘Rhymo’ WABC CBS NY 26 May 1940
Set 3	Miles Davis on 1957 Radio
	Miles Davis Quintet	‘Bandstand USA’ Cafe Bohemia WOR Mutual NY 20 Jul 1957
Set 4	The Three Ambassadors, 1931-33 TRANSCO Cocoanut Grove Radio Shows
Sweet and Lovely + Down Among The Sleepy Pines	Jimmie Grier Orchestra (voc) Jean Shark and The Three Ambassadors	‘Cocoanut Grove Show’ Radio Transcription Los Angeles 1932
I Found a Million Dollar Baby in a Five and Ten Cent Store	Gus Arnheim Orchestra (voc) The Three Ambassadors	‘Cocoanut Grove Show’ Radio Transcription Los Angeles 1931
Seven Little Steps To Heaven	Phil Harris Orchestra (voc) The Three Ambassadors	‘Cocoanut Grove Show’ Radio Transcription Los Angeles 1933
Set 5	English Dance Bands
Let’s Put Out The Lights And Go To Sleep	Ambrose and his Orchestra	Comm Rec London 26 Oct 1932
My Bonnie Lies Over The Ocean	Johnny Claes and his Claepigeons (voc) Irene King	Comm Rec London 1941
Ya Got Love	Roy Fox Orchestra (voc) Al Bowlly	Comm Rec London 1932
We Shall Have Music	Jack Hylton Orchestra	AEF Programme BBC London 7 Sep 1944
Set 6	New Orleans Jazz on Radio
Running Wild	George Lewis Jazz Band	‘Dixieland Jambake’ WDSU ABC New Orleans 7 Oct 1950
Struttin’ With Some Barbeque	Red Allen Dixielanders	‘Doctor Jazz’ Stuyvesant Casino WMGM NY 1954
September in the Rain + I Got Rhythm	Eddie Condon Group	‘Eddie Condon’s Jazz Concert’ Town Hall WJZ Blue NY 25 Nov 1944
Eh, La Bas	Papa Celestin	‘Dixieland Jambake’ WDSU ABC New Orleans 1950
Set 7	A Date With The Duke on ABC 1945
Caravan + Fickle Fling	Duke Ellington Orchestra	‘A Date With The Duke’ Apollo Theatre WJZ ABC NY 30 Jun 1945
Hop, Skip and Jump	Duke Ellington Orchestra	‘A Date With The Duke’ Toldeo OH ABC 9 Jun 1945
C Jam Blues	Duke Ellington Orchestra	‘A Date With The Duke’ Paradise Theatre Detroit ABC 19 May 1945
Blue Skies + Things Ain’t What They Used To Be	Duke Ellington Orchestra	‘A Date With The Duke’ Battle Creek Michigan ABC 2 Jun 1945
Set 8	Modern Jazz on the Air
Move	Stan Getz (ts) Kai Winding (tb) Al Haig ℗ Tommy Potter (b) Roy Haynes	‘Jazz Club USA’ Carnegie Hall Voice of America 25 Dec 1949
How High The Moon	Allen Eager	Birdland WJZ ABC NY Jun 1953
Mel’s Idea + Body and Soul	Benny Goodman Sextet	‘One Night Stand’ Click Phildelphia AFRS re-broadcast 3 Jun 1948

Harry Reser’s Volunteer Firemen – Phantom Dancer 28 April 2020

Harry Reser, virtuoso 1920s-30s banjo star and band leader, the first to record ‘Santa Claus is Coming to Town‘, is your feature artist on this week’s Greg Poppleton Phantom Dancer.

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 28 April at https://2ser.com/phantom-dancer/

The last hour is all vinyl.

STAGGERING

Harry Reser’s recorded output is staggering and among the ensembles he was associated with included The Bostonians, the Campus Boys, Jimmy Johnston’s Rebels, the Four Minstrels, the Seven Rag Pickers, the Victorian Syncopators, Earl Oliver’s Jazz Babies, Bill Wirges’ Orchestra, Tom Stacks and his Minute Men and the celebrated Cliquot Club Eskimos, which were heard weekly on NBC Red, then Blue, then CBS radio network from 1925 until 1935.

Reser was one of the busiest and most prolific bandleaders and session men of the 1920s. His massive output of unfailingly cheerful and uplifting tunes, with vocals by Tom Stacks (who first sung the aforementioned Santa song) was released under more than 175 pseudonyms, including The Volunteer Firemen (who you’ll hear on this show), the Tickle Toe Ten, Jack’s Fast Steppin’ Bellhops, Si Higgins & His Sodbusters, and — most famously — the ginger ale-affiliated Clicquot Club Eskimos.

TAKING FLIGHT

Reser was a first cousin to Orville & Wilbur Wright, the Wright brothers, who first flew an airplane in 1903. His musical talents became apparent in toddlerhood, and when his parents realized they had a child prodigy, they had a special guitar made for him suited to his extremely small size. This was his first instrument.

Reser recalled, “Of course, being a kid, and playing for various minor concerts and recitals naturally gave me somewhat of a hero feeling, but I was never able to get the attitude of a great many people whom I often heard talking prodigies, juvenile wonders and any number of other equally mysterious things in connection with my playing. It never seemed in the least remarkable or extraordinary that I played at the age of eight.”

From ages 9 to 14 he studied music theory, piano, violin and cello.

DANCE BANDS

By the 1910s the banjo was making its presence felt more strongly with dance bands and Reser felt he should learn how to play it as quickly as possible. He practiced until he was able to play to a high enough standard to supplement his piano playing, thus increasing his chances of earning a reasonable living. In the summer of 1920 he played in a Dayton dance band under the leadership of Paul Goss. By this time he was playing the banjo regularly. He soon moved to Buffalo, New York to appear at the Hippodrome, playing primarily violin, though continuing to work on his banjo technique as well.

After Christmas of 1920 he moved to New York City. He sought out engagements and soon found himself in demand. Some of the early bands he was involved with included those of leading dance band leaders Ben Selvin, Benny Krueger, Sam Lanin, Nathan Glantz, and Mike Markel (for whom he played saxophone).

By 1922, he had recorded a half dozen pieces, including “Crazy Jo” and Zez Confrey’s “Kitten on the Keys”. In early autumn of the same year, he considered starting his own band. Soon a contract was drawn up with Okeh Records and his first band, the Okeh Syncopators, came into being during September or October 1922. Shortly after the start of this new endeavor he was approached by Paul Whiteman to sit in for Whiteman’s regular banjoist, Mike Pingitore, during a UK tour of the Paul Whiteman Orchestra.

Reser had three original compositions written for tenor banjo; The Cat and the Dog, Cracker Jack, and Lolly Pops.

In 1925, he found fame as the director for NBC’s Clicquot Club Eskimo Orchestra, continuing with that weekly half-hour until 1935. At the same time, he also led other bands using pseudonyms. “Harry Reser and His Six Jumping Jacks”, with vocals by Tom Stacks.

ENDORSED ARTIST

Throughout his career he was an endorsed artist, playing instruments from several well-known makers. During the 1920s he mainly played a variety of William L. Lange’s Paramount tenor and plectrum banjos, and Lange presented him with a Super Paramount Artists Supreme, as he also did to Mike Pingitore, another Paramount musician. Later Reser would play Gibson and Vegavox banjos.

Harry Reser played “Tiger Rag” and “You Hit the Spot” in the Vitaphone musical short Harry Reser and His Eskimos (1936) which is one of three Phantom Dancer Videos of the Week, below..

Reser remained active in music for the rest of his life, leading TV studio orchestras and playing with Broadway theatre orchestras. In 1960 he appeared with Bing Crosby, Peggy Lee, and Buster Keaton in “A 70th Birthday Salute to Paul Whiteman” on TV’s The Revlon Revue. He wrote several instructional books for the banjo, guitar, and ukulele.

In 1965 Reser died of a heart attack in the orchestra pit of Manhattan’s Imperial Theatre while warming up for a Broadway stage version of Fiddler on the Roof.

THREE VIDEOS OF THE WEEK

Your first Phantom Dancer Video of the Week is a Vitaphone short from 1929.

Harry Reser, Vitaphone, 1936, leading his Cliquot Eskimos with early electic organ and Reser playing amped slide guitar but no banjo!

Here’s a more complete version of the Vitaphone short, with the titles obliterated by the person who put the film up on YouTube, probably thinking that would solve any copyright issues.

Thirdly, be amazed by the drumming tricks of Freddie Crump on his 1920s drum kit which is so different from a modern jazz kit. Enjoy!

28 APRIL PLAY LIST

Play List – The Phantom Dancer 107.3 2SER-FM Sydney, Live Stream, Digital Radio Community Radio Network Show CRN #434
107.3 2SER Tuesday 28 April 2020 After the 2SER 12 noon news, 12:04 – 2:00pm (+10 hours GMT) and Saturdays 5 – 5:55pm National Program: 1ART ArtsoundFM Canberra Sunday 10 – 11pm 5GTR Mt Gambier Monday 2:30 – 3:30am 3MBR Murrayville Monday 3 – 4am 4NAG Keppel FM Monday 3 – 4am 2SEA Eden Monday 3 – 4am 2MIA Griffith Monday 3 – 4pm 2BAR Edge FM Bega Monday 3 – 4pm 3VKV Alpine Radio Monday 6 – 7pm 7MID Oatlands Tuesday 8 – 9pm 2MCE Bathurst / Orange / Central West NSW Wednesday 9 – 10am 2ARM Armidale Friday 12 – 1pm 7LTN Launceston Sunday 5 – 6am 3MGB Mallacoota Sunday 5 – 6am 6GME Radio Goolarri Broome Sunday 5 – 6am
Set 1	Jive on 1944 Radio
Theme + Three Little Words	Denny Beckner Orchestra	‘Spotlight Bands’ Norfolk Virginia Blue Network AFRS Re-broadcast 30 Mar 1944
Fifth Avenue Sax	Glen Gray and the Casa Loma Orchestra	‘One Night Stand’ Tune Town Ballroom St Louis Mo AFRS Re-broadcast 5 Apr 1944
On The Sunny Side Of The Street + Close	Tommy Dorsey Orchestra (voc) The Sentimentalists	‘Gi Jive’ AFRS Hollywood Sep 1944
Set 2	All-Star Parade of Bands from 1950s Radio
Open + The Man On The Beat	Ray Anthony Orchestra	‘All-Star Parade of Bands’ Palladium Ballroom KFI NBC Hollywood 23 Nov 1953
Take The A-Train (theme) + Caravan	Duke Ellington Orchestra	Basin Street WCBS CBS NY 16 Apr 1956
Rain	Les Brown and his Band of Renown	‘All-Star Parade of Bands’ Palladium Ballroom KFI NBC Hollywood 12 Oct 1953
Set 3	Some of the Earliest Recorded Jazz Radio
Tie Me To Your Apron Strings Again	The Volunteer Firemen directed by Harry Reser	Comm Rec New York City 27 Jan 1927
I Lost My Gal From Memphis / Here Comes Emily Brown	Red Nichols Orchestra (voc) Dick Robertson	‘Heat’ Radio Transcrition New York City 3 Aug 1930
Egyptian Ella	Philco Hour Orchestra	‘Philco Hour’ WABC CBS NY 1931
Set 4	Excursions in Modern Music on 1949 Radio
Open + Bop City	Charlie Barnet Orchestra	‘Excursions in Modern Music’ Rendevous Ballroom Balboa Ca 30 Jul 1949
Diz Does Everything	Jimmy Dorsey Orchestra (tp) Maynard Ferguson	‘One Night Stand’ Cafe Rouge Statler Hotel AFRS Re-broadcast 7 Apr 1949
Flying Home	Lionel Hampton Orchestra	‘One Night Stand’ Aquarium Restaurant NYC AFRS Re-brodcast 1949
Set 5	French Jazz on the Air 1949 – 1953
Dream of You	Django Reinhardt et la Quintette du Hot Club de France	Radio Geneva Switzerland 25 Oct 1949
Jam Session	Dizzy Gillespie (tp) avec Tony Proteau et son Orchestre	Rex Theatre RDF Paris Feb 1953
Night and Day	Django Reinhardt acc. par Paul Baron et son Grand Orchestre	‘This is Paris’ NBC 1950
Le Boogie de Paris	Jacques Helian et son Orchestre	Comm Rec Paris 1946
Set 6	Dance Bands on 1938 – 40 Radio
John Peel	Paul Whiteman Orchestra and Chorus with Jack Teagarden (tb)	‘Chesterfield Show’ WABC CBS NY 28 Dec 1938
Comes Love	Artie Shaw Orchestra (voc) Helen Forrest	Summer Terrace Ritz Carlton Hotel WNAC NBC Boston 19 Aug 1939
Sugar Blues	Ella Fitzgerald Orchestra (voc) Ella Fitzgerald	Savoy Ballroom WEAF NBC Red NY 26 Feb 1940
Hold Tight	Glenn Miller Orchestra (voc) Marion Hutton and Band	Meadowbrook Ballroom Cedar Grove NJ WJZ NBC Blue NY 18 Apr 1939
Set 7	Swinging on early 1940s Radio
Johnny Zero	George Trevare Orchestra (voc) Joan Blake	Comm Rec Sydney 1944
Shine	Jack Teagarden Orchestra	‘Spotlight Bands’ Joplin Mo Mutual Network 18 Mar 1946
The Skaters’ Waltz	Tommy Dorsey Orchestra	Meadowbrook Ballroom Cedar Grove NJ WABC CBS NY 11 Feb 1941
Moonglow + Swanee River	Lionel Hampton Orchestra	‘One Night Stand’ Trianon Ballroom Southgate Calif AFRS Re-broadcast 16 Jun 1944
Set 8	Band Singers With Their Own Radio Shows
Beg Your Pardon	Dinah Shore (voc) Harry James Orchestra	‘Call For Music’ KNX CBS LA 4 May 1948
Evalina	Mildred Bailey (voc) Paul Baron Orchestra	‘Music Till Midnight’ WABC CBS NY 1944
Somebody Loves Me	Peggy Lee (voc) Dave Barbour Orchestra	‘Rexall Show’ KNX CBS LA 1951
Day By Day + Put Your Dreams Away For Another Day (theme)	Frank Sinatra and Jimmy Durante	‘Songs by Sinatra’ AFRS Re-broadcast 27 Feb 1946

Bix Beidebecke First Hand – Phantom Dancer 15 Oct 2019

BIX

The first live jazz band I saw, many members of which I was later to sing with in my own band, played in front of a banner ‘Bix Lives’. Bix Beidebecke was an American jazz cornetist, pianist and composer.

This week’s 2SER Subscriber Drive Phantom Dancer presented by Greg Poppleton features music by this enourmous figure in jazz history and a 1941 reminiscence about Bix by someone who knew him personally.

ONLINE

This week’s Phantom Dancer will be online right after the 15 October 107.3 2SER Sydney live mix at 2ser.com.
Hear the show live every Tuesday 12:04-2pm on 107.3 2SER Sydney.

SUBSCRIBE

Join thousands of others to keep community radio on air by subscribing to 2SER now.

BIX AND PAUL

The Bix musical selections you’ll hear on this week’s Phantom Dancer comes from recordings he made as part of the Paul Whiteman Orchestra.

The Paul Whiteman Orchestra was the most popular and highest paid dance band of the day. In spite of Whiteman’s appellation “The King of Jazz”, his band was not a jazz ensemble as such, but a popular music outfit that drew from both jazz and classical music repertoires.

Idiotic jazz critics have derided the Whiteman band for not recording solo after solo by Bix. However, colleagues of Bix have testified that, far from feeling bound or stifled by the Whiteman orchestra, Bix often felt a sense of exhilaration. It was like attending a music school, learning and broadening.

Beiderbecke is featured on a number of Whiteman recordings, including two we’ll hear today with Bing Crosby and the Rhythm Boys as vocalists. These are, ‘You Took Advantage Of Me’ and ‘Changes’.

IMPRO

These two songs are specially written arrangements that emphasize Beiderbecke’s improvisational skills. Bill Challis, an arranger who had also worked in this capacity for Jean Goldkette, was particularly sympathetic in writing scores with Beiderbecke in mind, sometimes arranging entire ensemble passages based on solos that Bix played.

HOTEL ROOM TRASHING 40 YEARS AHEAD OF HIS TIME

On November 30, 1928, whilst on tour in Cleveland, Beiderbecke suffered ‘a severe nervous crisis’. “He cracked up, that’s all”, trombonist Bill Rank said. “Just went to pieces; broke up a roomful of furniture in the hotel.”

LAST RECORD

On his last recording session, in New York, on September 15, 1930, Beiderbecke played on the original recording of Hoagy Carmichael’s new song, ‘Georgia on My Mind’ with Carmichael doing the vocals, Eddie Lang on guitar, Joe Venuti on violin, Jimmy Dorsey on clarinet and alto saxophone, Jack Teagarden on trombone, and Bud Freeman on tenor saxophone. The song would go on to become a jazz and popular music standard.

STARDUST

Beiderbecke’s playing had an influence on Carmichael as a composer. One of his compositions, ‘Stardust’, was inspired by Beiderbecke’s improvisations, with a cornet phrase reworked by Carmichael into the song’s central theme.

Bing Crosby, who sang with Whiteman, also cited Beiderbecke as an important influence. “Bix and all the rest would play and exchange ideas on the piano”, he said. “With all the noise [of a New York pub] going on, I don’t know how they heard themselves, but they did. I didn’t contribute anything, but I listened and learned […] I was now being influenced by these musicians, particularly horn men. I could hum and sing all of the jazz choruses from the recordings made by Bix, Phil Napoleon, and the rest.”

VIDEO

This week’s Phantom Dancer video of the week shows Bix Beidebecke playing with the Whiteman Orchestra in a 1928 newsreel. Beidebecke, a self-taught cornetist, plays with puffed cheeks.

15 OCTOBER PLAY LIST

Play List – The Phantom Dancer 107.3 2SER-FM Sydney, Live Stream, Digital Radio Community Radio Network Show CRN #409
107.3 2SER Tuesday 15 October 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	One Night Stand
Open + Three Little Words	Tony Pastor Orchestra	‘One Night Stand’ Jaentzen Beach Portland OR AFRS Re-broadcast 15 May 1945
I Don’t Wanna Be Loved By Anyone Else But You + How Deep Is The Ocean?	Louis Prima Orchestra (voc) Lily Ann Polk	‘One Night Stand’ Meadowbrook Ballroom Cedar Grove NJ AFRS Re-broadcast 28 Sep 1945
Perdido + Close	Randy Brooks Orchestra	‘One Night Stand’ Roseland Ballroom NYC AFRS Re-broadcast 21 Sep 1944
Set 2	Orrin Tucker
Because of You	Orrin Tucker Orchestra (voc) Orrin Tucker	Trocadero Ballroon Elitch’s Gardens Mutual Denver CO Jun 1951
Drifting and Dreaming	Orrin Tucker Orchestra (voc) The Bodyguards	Comm Rec Los Angeles 15 Dec 1939
Goodnight My Love + Drifting and Dreaming (theme)	Orrin Tucker Orchestra (voc) Orrin Tucker	Boulevarde Room Stevens Hotel ABC Chicago 1951
Set 3	Eddie Condon
Oh, By Jingo!	Eddie Condon	‘Doctor Jazz’ Eddie Condon’s WNEW NY 10 Dec 1951
I Found A New Baby	Eddie Condon	‘Eddie Condon’s Jazz Concert’ WJZ Blue NY 3 Mar 1945
Bad Habits + Somebody Loves Me + Close	Eddie Condon (voc) Lee Wiley	‘Chesterfield Presents Eddie Condon’ Date and place unknown
Set 4	Bix Beidebecke
Changes	Paul Whiteman Orchestra (Bix solo) (voc) Rhythm Boys	Comm Rec NYC 23 Nov 1927
Bix Reminiscence	Ralph Burton	‘Chamber Music Society of Lower Basin Street’ WJZ Blue NY 6 Jan 1941
You Took Advantage of Me	Paul Whiteman Orchestra (Bix solo) (voc) Rhythm Boys	Comm Rec NYC 24 Apr 1928
Set 5	Swing Radio 1940-1941
Jug Music	Jimmy Dorsey Orchestra	Palladium Ballroom KFI NBC LA 20 Oct 1941
I’m Looking For A Guy Who Plays Alto And Baritone Doubles On A Clarinet And Wears A Size 37 Suit	Ozzie Nelson Orchestra (voc) Rose Ann Stevens	Blackhawk Restaurant WGN Mutual Chicago 30 Mar 1940
Oh So Good	Glenn Miller Orchestra	Cafe Rouge Hotel Pennsylvania WJZ NBC Blue 27 Dec 1941
Tuxedo Junction	Glenn Miller Orchestra (voc) Marion Hutton, Tex Beneke and the Modernaires	Cafe Rouge Hotel Pennsylvania WJZ NBC Blue 27 Dec 1941
Set 6	Anita O’Day
Kick It	Anita O’Day (voc) Gene Krupa Orchestra	Aircheck 7 Jun 1941
I’ll Do It All Over Again	Anita O’Day (voc) Gene Krupa Orchestra	Astor Roof Hotel Astor WOR Mutual NY 15 Aug 1945
Open + Amour	Anita O’Day (voc) Gene Krupa Orchestra	Aircheck 1 Oct 1941
Drum Boogie	Anita O’Day (voc) Gene Krupa Orchestra	Aircheck 1 Oct 1941
Set 7	1930s Dance Band Radio Transcriptions
I’ll Do Anything For You	Seger Ellis and his Choirs of Brass	Radio Transcription 1937
Ride, Tenderfoot, Ride	Dick Jurgens Orchestra (voc) Eddie Howard	Radio Transcription 1938
Snuff Stuff	Seger Ellis and his Choirs of Brass	Radio Transcription 1937
There’s Silver on the Sage Tonight	Dick Jurgens Orchestra (voc) Eddie Howard	Radio Transcription 1939
Set 8	Charlie Parker
Scrapple From The Apple	Charlie Parker	‘Symphony Sid Show’ Royal Roost WMCA NY 15 Jan 1949
Ad for Face Powder	Symphony Sid	‘Symphony Sid Show’ Royal Roost WMCA NY 19 Feb 1949
Oo-Bop-Sha-Bam	Charlie Parker (voc) Band	‘Symphony Sid Show’ Royal Roost WMCA NY 22 Jan 1949

Press Release – New Album ’20s 30s Tin Pan Alley Volume 1′

PRESS RELEASE
Greg Poppleton Releases Volume 1 in his Three Part Album Series,
‘20s 30s Tin Pan Alley Vol. 1’

Greg Poppleton has released the first volume in a three album series called, ‘20s 30s Tin Pan Alley’  as a limited edition CD and downloads.

Listen to ‘Happy Days Are Here Again’ in German and English as a thank you to the band’s may online fans in Germany…

Available now at
Bandcamp: https://gregpoppleton.bandcamp.com/album/20s-30s-tin-pan-alley-vol-1

CDBaby: https://store.cdbaby.com/cd/gregpoppleton

Apple iTunes: https://music.apple.com/us/album/20s-30s-tin-pan-alley-vol-1/1477720009

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/album/5CckWNaTr68d3Bdo0gH03G

Greg describes himself as an authentic 1920s – 30s singer. “While I wasn’t alive in the 20s and 30s,” Greg says, “I fulfil all the other qualities of authentic for this style of vocal jazz and swing.”

1. When he was 3, he saw Louis Armstrong on TV and fell in love with the music. He was hooked on 20s jazz and 30s swing from then on and is a rarity in that to get to this music he didn’t migrate from some ‘youth’ music genre. I’m totally uninfluenced by other music.
2. Vocalists in the 20s and 30s needed strong voices to be heard. Greg’s a classically trained singer. His coach had been taught by Tito Schipa and Lauritz Melchior.
3. He’s not a jazz instrumentalist holding a tune while putting on a megaphone voice.

The nine songs on the album include a special German and English version of ‘Happy Days Are Here Again’ as a thank you to the many fans Greg has in Germany.

• Website: https://www.gregpoppletonmusic.com
• Tour schedule:
  October 12 – One Enchanted Evening – magic & music show Sydney
  November 9 – Saturday Jazz – Penrith
  January 18 – Saturday Jazz – Penrith
  February 1 – Great Art Deco Ball – 1920s Festival Katoomba
  March 15 – Jazz At The Pines – Dural
  August 12 – Bondi Pavilion
  October 20 – Private Event
• Album release details:
  Greg Poppleton – 1920s – 30s vocals
  Al Davey – trumpet and trombone
  Paul Furniss – alto sax and clarinet
  Grahame Conlon – guitar, banjo and ukulele
  Geoff Power – sousaphone
  Rod Herbert – sousaphone (song 6)
  Adam Barnard – washboard and snare
  Lawrie Thompson – drums and washboard (songs 2, 6, 8)

  Recorded by Peter Gage, Paul Mirtschin and Peter O’Malley, Sydney.
  Phil Punch and Jem Hoppe, Electric Cave.
  Mixed by Phil Punch and Jem Hoppe, Electric Cave, Sydney.
  Mastered by Bob Scott, Bob Scott Audio Design and Recording, Sydney.
  Artwork by Michele Tenaglia, Turin.

• Discography:
  (2006) The Phantom Dancer
  (2012) Doin’ The Charleston
  (2013) Sweet Sue
  (2016) Back In Your Own Backyard
  (2019) 20s 30s Tin Pan Alley Vol. 1

BIO
Greg Poppleton has been leading bands singing the songs of the 1920s – 30s since 1994. He began his present band in 2002. Since then, Greg has played jazz festivals and venues in Australia and the Waiheke International Jazz Festival in New Zealand. Two of Greg’s albums have been played on Sydney commercial radio. Greg has also been an award-winning jazz broadcaster since 1985. His Phantom Dancer radio show is heard on over 20 radio stations across Australia and online.

“FIVE STARS. Poppleton’s vocals capture the essence of the 1920s- 1930s with uncanny accuracy.”
— John Gilbert, eJazzNews (U.S)

“Last year at the Melbourne Jazz Festival and the Thredbo Jazz Festival I saw some great acts. I made Greg Poppleton an offer [to play at the Waiheke International Jazz Festival] on the spot.”
— John Quigley, Director Waiheke International Jazz Festival

“Captures the 1920s – 1930s vocal style to perfection.”
— Kevin Jones 102.5 Fine Music FM

“Absolutely flooring. Greg Poppleton’s 1920s – 1930s jazz and swing always hits the spot.”
— Women’s Vintage Radio (U.S)

“Greg Poppleton was considered a little eccentric growing up in the mid-‘70s, rifling through the back shelves of music stores looking for recordings from the Swing Era”
— Sue Javes, Sydney Morning Herald

“Greg nails the 1920s vocal stylings.”
— Bill Lawson, Radio Adelaide

“Awesome. Totally fun.”
— Jesse Miner – ‘Hey, Mr Jesse’ Swing Podcast (US)

“Poppleton and company get inside each tune with their complete commitment to the style.”
— Budd Kopman, All About Jazz (U.S)

“Hi Greg. I “met” you (not in person) during your Friday evening performance at the Waiheke Jazz Festival. I live my life on purpose and in the moment, rarely missing a calling / opportunity. However, during your performance I totally froze when you made eye contact, and I could not bring myself to talk to you afterwards. I regret not telling you that your music has moved and inspired me. Thank you for giving of yourself so generously! With best wishes for your future,”
— W.T.  NZ

’20s 30s Tin Pan Alley Vol. 1′ available now at
Bandcamp: https://gregpoppleton.bandcamp.com/album/20s-30s-tin-pan-alley-vol-1

CDBaby: https://store.cdbaby.com/cd/gregpoppleton

Apple iTunes: https://music.apple.com/us/album/20s-30s-tin-pan-alley-vol-1/1477720009

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/album/5CckWNaTr68d3Bdo0gH03G

Sy Oliver – King Swing Arranger – Phantom Dancer 10 September 2019

SWING ARRANGER

This week’s Greg Poppleton Phantom Dancer features a set of 1940s swing bands from the Spotlight Bands series, a set of 1940s Nat King Cole and a set of the Dorsey Brothers on air, Tommy and Jimmy Dorsey with a feature by their uptempo arranger, the influential musician and composer, Sy Oliver.

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

The last hour is all vinyl.

OLIVER

Sy Oliver was a byword for swing in the 1940s. His musicianship skyrocketed the careers of big band leaders Jimmie Lunceford and Tommy Dorsey, both of whom you hear on this week’s Phantom Dancer. From wiki,

“Sy Oliver was born in Battle Creek, Michigan. His mother was a piano teacher and his father was a multi-instrumentalist who made a name for himself demonstrating saxophones at a time that instrument was little used outside of marching bands.

Oliver left home at 17 to play with Zack Whyte and his Chocolate Beau Brummels and later with Alphonse Trent. He sang and played trumpet with these bands, becoming known for his “growling” horn playing. He also began arranging with them.

He continued singing for the next 17 years, making many recordings when he was with Jimmie Lunceford and with his own band. With Lunceford, from 1934 to 1937, he recorded more than two dozen vocals. From 1949 to 1951, he recorded more than a dozen with his own band. With Tommy Dorsey, he only recorded two vocals, both in 1941 with Jo Stafford, on his own compositions “Yes Indeed” and “Swingin’ on Nothin'”.

Oliver arranged and conducted many songs for Ella Fitzgerald from her Decca years. As a composer, one of his most famous songs was “T’ain’t What You Do (It’s the Way That You Do It)”, which he co-wrote with Trummy Young.

 

LUNCEFORD

In 1933, Oliver joined Jimmie Lunceford’s band as a trumpet player, arranger and songwriter. He contributed many hit arrangements for the band, including “My Blue Heaven” and “Ain’t She Sweet”, as well as his original composition “For Dancers Only” which in time became the band’s theme song. He was co-arranger with pianist Ed Wilson; Oliver primarily taking the up-tempo numbers, Wilcox the ballads. Oliver’s arrangements “were a dashing parade of innovation that rivaled Ellington’s for consistency and originality.”

DORSEY

In 1939, when band leader Tommy Dorsey decided he wanted a swing band, his first step was to hire Oliver as an arranger away from Lunceford for $5,000 more a year. Oliver then became one of the first African Americans with a prominent role in a white band when he joined Tommy Dorsey. (Fletcher Henderson, another African American composer/arranger, had joined the Benny Goodman orchestra as the arranger some years earlier.) He led the transition of the Dorsey band from Dixieland to modern big band. His joining was instrumental in Dorsey luring several major jazz players, including Buddy Rich to his band.

With Dorsey, Oliver continued sharing arranging duties with another arranger, Axel Stordahl, Oliver doing up tempo tunes, Stordahl ballads. As James Kaplan puts it, “Tommy Dorsey’s band got a rocket boost in 1939 when Dorsey stole Lunceford’s great arranger Sy Oliver.”

His arrangement of “On the Sunny Side of the Street” was a big hit for Dorsey in 1946, as were his compositions “Yes, Indeed!” (a gospel-jazz tune that was later recorded by Ray Charles), “Opus One” (originally titled as “Opus No. 1”, but changed to suit the lyric that was added later), “The Minor Is Muggin'”, and “Well, Git It”.

Here’s a 1947 Downbeat review of the Sy Oliver band that you’ll hear from a live 1946 broadcast on this week’s Phantom Dancer…

 

APRES DORSEY

Oliver left Dorsey after seven years, in 1946, and began working as a freelance arranger and as music director for Decca Records.

One of his more successful efforts as an arranger was the Frank Sinatra album I Remember Tommy, a combined tribute to their former boss.

June 26, 1950, Sy Oliver and his Orchestra recorded the first American version of C’est si bon (Henri Betti, André Hornez, Jerry Seelen) and La Vie en rose (Louiguy, Édith Piaf, Mack David) for Louis Armstrong.

In 1974 he began a nightly gig with a small band at the Rainbow Room in New York. He continued that gig until 1984, with occasion time off to make festival or other dates, including at the Roseland Ballroom in New York. He retired in 1984.

Oliver died in New York City at the age of 77.

Your Phantom Dancer Video of the Week this week is a 1936 Vitaphone short of Jimmie Lunceford and his Orchestra with trumpet and arrangements by Sy Oliver
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!

Thank you.

Play List – The Phantom Dancer 107.3 2SER-FM Sydney, Live Stream, Digital Radio Community Radio Network Show CRN #403
107.3 2SER Tuesday 10 September 2019 After the 2SER 12 noon news, 12:04 – 2:00pm (+10 hours GMT)
Set 1	Swing on the 1940s Spotlight Bands Radio Series
Blue Skies + You’re Too Beautiful	Harry James Orchestra (voc) Buddy DeVito	’Spotlight Bands’ AFRS Re-broadcast Aug 1946
Futurama	Gene Krupa Orchestra	’Spotlight Bands’ AFRS Re-broadcast 1945
Dark Eyes + Temptation (theme)	Jimmy Joy Orchestra	’Spotlight Bands’ Harlingen Tx Blue Network 6 Jan 1945
Set 2	Nat King Cole Trio Time on 1947 – 59 Radio
Straighten Up And Fly Right (theme) + Sunday + Ad	Nat King Cole Trio (voc) NKC	’King Cole Trio Time’ KFI NBC LA 6 Mar 1948
Little Joe From Chicago + Boogie A La King	Nat King Cole Trio	’King Cole Trio Time’ Radio Transcription 1959
Tired	Pearl Bailey (voc) Nat King Cole Trio	’King Cole Trio Time’ WMAQ NBC Chicago 1 Mar 1947
Set 3	Those ‘Fabulous Dorseys’ on 1950s Radio and TV
I’m Getting Sentimental Over You (theme) + Sentimental Baby	Dorsey Brothers Orchestra (voc) Lynn Roberts	’All-Star Parade of Bands’ Claridge Hotel WMC NBC Memphis 1953
I’m Getting Sentimental Over You (theme) + Smiles	Sy Oliver Orchestra	’Endorsed By Dorsey’ WOR Mutual NY 3 Mar 1946
When The Saints Go Marching In + I’m Getting Sentimental Over You (theme)	Dorsey Brothers Orchestra (voc) Johnny Ray	’Stage Show’ CBS TV NY 1 Jan 1955
Set 4	Modern 1950s Sounds: RnB, Bop and Cool
Open + King Jacquet	Illinois Jacquet	’Sepia Swing Club’ WDIA Memphis 14 Dec 1951
Cool Blues	Charlie Parker	Hi-Hat Club WCOP Boston 1954
I’ve Got Rhythm	The Flexible Five	’California Melodies’ KHJ Mutual Los Angeles 1950
Set 5	Broadcasting From The Savoy
Round Midnight (theme) + 711	Cootie Williams Orchestra	’One Night Stand’ Savoy Ballroom NYC AFRS Re-broadcast 12 Feb 1945
Body and Soul (theme) + Chant of the Groove	Coleman Hawkins Orchestra	Aircheck Savoy Ballroom NYC 1940
They Can’t Take That Away From Me	Count Basie Orchestra (voc) Billie Holiday	Aircheck Savoy Ballroom NYC 30 Jun 1937
Floogie Boo + St Louis Blues	Cootie Williams Orchestra	’One Night Stand’ Savoy Ballroom NYC AFRS Re-broadcast 12 Feb 1945
Set 6	Swing Bands on 1930s – 1940s Radio
Chatterbox	Charlie Barnet Orchestra	Radio Transcription Los Angeles Apr 1938
Are You Kidding?	Jimmie Lunceford Orchestra (voc) Band	’Spotlight Bands’ Jefferson Barracks Missouri Blue Network 23 Nov 1945
Benny’s Bugle	Lee and Lester Young Orchestra	Club Capri KHJ Mutual LA 2 Dec 1941
The Blizzard	Louis Prima Orchestra	’Spotlight Bands’ Mitchell Field NY Mutual Network 15 Jan 1945
Set 7	Pop Songs on 1930s Radio
The You And Me That Used To Be	George Hall Orchestra	Radio Transcription New York City 1937
When Summer Is Gone (theme) + You’ve Got Me Crying Again	Hal Kemp Orchestra	’Lavena Program’ Radio Transcription New York City 1934
Chlo-e	Benny Goodman Orchestra	’Camel Caravan’ KNX CBS LA 17 Aug 1937
The Little Man Who Wasn’t There	Johnny Messner Orchestra	’Radio Transcription’ New York City 1939
Set 8	Modern Improvised Jazz on 1950s Radio
The Cinch + I Don’t Want To Be Kissed	Buddy Rich Quintet	Birdland WABC ABC NY 8 Nov 1958
The 7-11 Jump	Erroll Garner Trio	Basin Street WCBS CBS New York City May 1956
All The Things You Are	Dave Brubeck Quartet	Basin Street WCBS CBS New York City Feb 1956

Back In Your Own Backyard – Free CD Offer

FREE CD OFFER

Free Offer – Enjoy these 4 tracks from the 12 track album ‘Back in Your Own Backyard’, then grab your AUTOGRAPHED COPY of the 12 track ‘Back in Your Own Backyard’ CD at Bandcamp FREE at –https://gregpoppleton.bandcamp.com/album/back-in-your-own-backyard-free-offer

Cover shipping and handling and I’ll send you the ‘Back in Your Own Backyard’ CD – FREE.

Budd Kopman at All About Jazz (US) said of this album, “It would take an extremely jaded heart not to smile and tap your feet, much less dance around the room, to Greg Poppleton.”

But what’s that $1 Bandcamp asks you to pay?

It’s Bandcamp’s lowest allowed list price. I can’t put the price at $0, so I’ve taken $1 off the shipping rates. That way you get the ‘Back in Your Own Backyard’ CD FREE.

I bought 200 CDs of ‘Back in Your Own Backyard’. I want to send you an autographed copy FREE.
Offer ends 31 July or when all CDs are sold.

1. 00:00 Cake Walkin’ Babies From Home
2. 02:33 Too Marvellous
3. They Didn’t Believe Me
4. 05:44 I’ll See You In My Dreams
5. 08:21 Egyptian Ella
6. Back In Your Own Backyard
7. When My Dreamboat Comes Home
8. Makin’ Whoopee!
9. Nobody’s Sweetheart
10. Honeysuckle Rose
11. The Lady Is A Tramp
12. Yes, We Have No Bananas!

Greg Poppleton – 1920s – 30s singer
Geoff Power – Sousaphone, Trumpet and Trombone
Paul Furniss – Alto Sax and Clarinet
Grahame Conlon – Spanish Guitar with steel strings
Lawrie Thompson – Drums and Washboard

GRAB YOUR FREE AUTOGRAPHED CD NOW https://gregpoppleton.bandcamp.com/album/back-in-your-own-backyard-free-offer

“Given the knowledge of the era and the authenticity of performance, Poppleton’s latest release, Back In Your Own Backyard is a real delight. It’s sure to surprise lovers of early jazz that such is happening Down Under, as well as win over “newbies” to the music … It would take an extremely jaded heart not to smile and tap your feet, much less dance around the room, to Greg Poppleton.”— Budd Kopman, All About Jazz (U.S)

Marian, Erroll and Sir George – Jazz Piano Greats on Radio – Phantom Dancer 4 Jun 2019

PIANO

The Phantom Dancer feature artist with Greg Poppleton this week are feature artists – three jazz piano stars from 1950s radio: Erroll Garner, Marian McPartland and George Shearing.

The full Phantom Dancer play list of swing and jazz mixed by Greg Poppleton from live 1920s-60s radio below is ready for your perusal below.

ONLINE

This week’s Phantom Dancer will be online right after the 4 June 2SER live mix at 2ser.com.
Hear the show live every Tuesday 12:04-2pm on 107.3 2SER Sydney

ERROLL GARNER

Garner began playing piano at the age of three. Garner was self-taught and remained an ear player all his life. He never learned to read music. At age seven, he began appearing on the radio station KDKA in Pittsburgh with a group called the Candy Kids. By age 11, he was playing on the Allegheny riverboats. At 14 in 1937, he joined local saxophonist Leroy Brown.

He played locally in the shadow of his older pianist brother Linton Garner.

Garner moved to New York City in 1944. He briefly worked with the bassist Slam Stewart, and though not a bebop musician, in 1947 he played with Charlie Parker on the “Cool Blues” session. Although his admission to the Pittsburgh music union was initially refused because of his inability to read music, it relented in 1956 and made him an honorary member. Garner is credited with a superb memory of music. After attending a concert by the Russian classical pianist Emil Gilels, Garner returned to his apartment and was able to play a large portion of the performed music by recall.

Garner made many tours both at home and abroad and regularly recorded.

MARIAN McPARTLAND

Margaret Marian McPartland, OBE, was an English-American jazz pianist, composer, writer and Grammy winner.

She demonstrated an early aptitude at the piano and had perfect pitch. She studied violin from the age of nine, but never took to the instrument. She also trained as a vocalist and received a number of favorable reviews in the local paper. Her mother refused to find her daughter a piano teacher until the age of 16, by which time Margaret was already adept at learning songs by ear. This lack of early education meant that Marian was never a strong reader of notated music, and would always prefer to learn through listening.

Marian pursued studies at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London, where she worked toward a performance degree that would enable her to become a concert pianist, though she also did coursework in vocal performance. She studied with Orlando Morgan, who also taught Myra Hess. Turner’s talents for improvisation and composition were recognized early when she won the Wainwright Memorial Scholarship for Composition, the Worshipful Company of Musicians Composition Scholarship, and the Chairman’s School Composition Prize in 1936 and 1937. Much to her family’s dismay, she developed a love for American jazz and musicians such as Duke Ellington, Fats Waller, Teddy Wilson, Mary Lou Williams, and many others. In 1938, Turner sought out Billy Mayerl at his School of Modern Syncopation to seek lessons, and was convinced to audition for his piano quartet. Despite her family’s efforts to keep her at Guildhall, Turner left to join Billy Mayerl’s Claviers, a four-piano vaudeville act. There, she elected to perform under the stage name of Marian Page. She promised her family that she would one day return to finish her degree at Guildhall.[8] After the Claviers tour, Marian returned to London in the fall of 1938 and played sporadically for shows and on the Carroll Lewis Show. To avoid the draft during World War II, she volunteered for the Entertainment National Service Association (ENSA), a group that was playing for Allied troops, in fall 1940. In 1944, her friend Zonie Dale recommended that Marian join the United Service Organizations (USO) because they paid more and played with American men.

With the USO, Marian went through basic training and was issued a set of combat gear – GI boots, helmet, and uniform. Marian was assigned to a group called the Band Wagon, which followed the Allied forces after the D-Day invasion. In anticipation of wartime demands, Marian learned to play the accordion in the event that there was no piano available with which to play for the troops. In St Vith, Belgium, on 14 October 1944, Marian met a Chicago cornetist named Jimmy McPartland at a jam session. McPartland had volunteered for the army and was serving active duty when his superiors realized that he could do better work as an entertainer, since he was well-known among the troops. Jimmy was solicited to put together a sextet to entertain the troops, and invited Marian to join him as their pianist. They soon fell for each other, and signed an official US Army marriage document on 14 December 1944. They married on 3 February 1945, in Aachen, Germany, and played at their own military base wedding. Her marriage to an American man automatically gave Marian US citizenship, side-by-side with her British citizenship.[3] Marian was reluctant to tell her parents of the marriage, and had Jimmy’s commanding officer tell them when he had lunch with them in England in early 1945.[10] It was with Jimmy that Marian began her first real training in jazz. Jimmy and Marian did their first recording together on 6 January 1946 in London before leaving for the US. They arrived in New York City on 23 April 1946, and Marian would never live outside of the US again. However, she kept her British citizenship throughout her life.

After the war, Marian and Jimmy moved to Chicago to be near his family. Jimmy grew up in the Austin neighborhood of Chicago, and was an original member of the Austin High Gang that popularized Chicago-style Dixieland jazz in the 1920s. In June 1946, Marian made her American debut at the Moose Lodge. Soon, Jimmy’s group, which now included Marian, landed a standing gig at the Rose Bowl through the end of 1946. This engagement was followed by ones at Taboo, Capitol Lounge, and finally Brass Rail. Marian flourished in Jimmy’s group, and by association with him. They played at exclusive clubs like Blue Note and Silhouette with stars like Billie Holiday.

During their Chicago years, Jimmy and Marian also visited France in 1949 for the Paris Jazz Festival. This was semi-important for their association with the European jazz scene, but more significant because it marked the beginning of Marian’s writing career. Marian’s testimonial about the festival ran in the July 1949 issue of Down Beat.

In 1949, the McPartlands settled in Manhattan, living in an apartment in the same building as the Nordstrom Sisters. In 1950, she announced that she would no longer go by her stage name, Marian Page, but would now go by her married name, Marian McPartland. With Jimmy’s help and encouragement, Marian started her own trio, which started performing at the newly opened 54th street club called The Embers on 8 May 1951. Here, she learned how to lead her own group, and played with greats such as Roy Eldridge, Coleman Hawkins, and Terry Gibbs. After trying out different combos, she settled on a trio of piano, bass, and drums that would soon become standard. This gig led to the notorious Leonard Feather review that opened by saying: “Oh, she’ll never make it: she’s English, white and a woman.” She signed her first record deal without Jimmy in 1951, with Savoy Records. On 2 February 1952, Marian opened a gig at the Hickory House that would continue regularly through November 1962. During her time at the Hickory House, Duke Ellington would often come in to listen. Ellington was influential on McPartland’s development as a pianist, and told her she played too many notes, a sentiment she would take to heart.

In 1958 a black and white group portrait of 57 notable jazz musicians, including McPartland, was photographed in front of a brownstone in Harlem, New York City. Art Kane, a freelance photographer working for Esquire magazine, took the photo, which was called, “A Great Day in Harlem”, and it became a well-known image of New York’s jazz musicians of the time. Immediately preceding her death in August 2013, she was one of only four of the 57 participating musicians who were still alive. After many years of recording for labels such as Capitol, Savoy, Argo, Sesac, Time, and Dot, in 1969 she founded her own record label, Halcyon Records, before having a long association with the Concord label. Marian and Jimmy divorced in 1972, but they remained close, and remarried in 1991, shortly before Jimmy’s death.

GEORGE SHEARING

Sir George Albert Shearing, OBE, was a British jazz pianist and composer of over 300 titles, including the jazz standards ‘Lullaby of Birdland’ and ‘Conception’. He had multiple albums on the Billboard charts during the 1950s, 1960s, 1980s and 1990s.

Shearing also started to learn piano at the age of three and began formal training at Linden Lodge School for the Blind, where he spent four years.

Though he was offered several scholarships, Shearing opted to perform at a local pub, the Mason’s Arms in Lambeth, for ’25 bob a week’ playing piano and accordion. He joined an all-blind band during that time and was influenced by the records of Teddy Wilson and Fats Waller. Shearing made his first BBC radio broadcast during this time after befriending Leonard Feather, with whom he started recording in 1937.

In 1940, Shearing joined Harry Parry’s popular band and contributed to the comeback of Stéphane Grappelli. Shearing won six consecutive Top Pianist Melody Maker polls during this time.

In 1947, Shearing emigrated to the United States, where his harmonically complex style mixing swing, bop and modern classical influences gained popularity.

In 1949, he formed the first George Shearing Quintet, a band with Margie Hyams (vibraphone), Chuck Wayne (guitar), later replaced by Toots Thielemans (listed as John Tillman), John Levy (bass), and Denzil Best (drums). This line-up recorded for Discovery, Savoy, and MGM, including the immensely popular single ‘September in the Rain’ (MGM), which sold over 900,000 copies.

Shearing’s interest in classical music resulted in some performances with concert orchestras in the 1950s and 1960s, and his solos frequently drew upon the music of Satie, Delius, and Debussy for inspiration. He became known for a piano technique known as “The Shearing Sound”, a type of double melody block chord, with an additional fifth part that doubles the melody an octave lower. With the piano playing these five voices, Shearing would double the top voice with the vibraphone and the bottom voice with the guitar to create his signature sound.

VIDEO

This week’s Phantom Dancer video of the week is a trailer for a documentary about Marian Mc Partland . Enjoy!

4 JUNE PLAY LIST

Play List – The Phantom Dancer 107.3 2SER-FM Sydney, Live Stream, Digital Radio Community Radio Network Show CRN #389
107.3 2SER Tuesday 4 June 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 and early morning on 23 other stations.
Set 1	Dance Bands on 1940s Radio
Open + Song of India	Billy Bishop Orchestra	‘One Night Stand’ Trianon Ballroom Chicago AFRS Re-broadcast 25 Feb 1945
The Moon of Monokoa	Ray Noble Orchestra (voc) Tony Martin	‘Songs of the Islands’ AFRS Hollywood 1944
Hittin’ on the Keys	Ted Straeter Orchestra	‘Spotlight Bands’ Hammond General Hospital AFRS Re-broadcast 9 Apr 1945
Set 2	Early Stan Kenton
Low Bridge	Stan Kenton Orchestra	Radio Transcription Los Angeles Nov 1941
Summer Idyll	Stan Kenton Orchestra (voc) Red Dorris	Radio Transcription Los Angeles Nov 1941
‘S Wonderful	Stan Kenton Orchestra	Radio Transcription Los Angeles Nov 1941
Set 3	Cocoanut Grove 1932-34
Rose Room (theme)+ A Boy and a Girl Were Dancing	Phil Harris Orchestra (voc) Geoffery Gill	Radio Transcription Los Angeles 1934
We’ve Got To Pit That Sun Back in the Sky	Jimmy Grier (voc) The Three Ambassadors	Radio Transcription Los Angeles 1932
I’ve Got a Right to Sing the Blues + Goodnight Sweetheart + Close	Ted Fio Rito Orchestra (voc) Rusty Bennett	Radio Transcription Los Angeles 1934
Set 4	Piano Jazz Stars
Lullaby of Birdland + Louisiana Hayride	Erroll Garner Trio	‘All-Star Parade of Bands’ Birdland WRCA NBC NY 24 Jul 1953
Falling in Love	Marian McPartland	‘All-Star Parade of Bands’ Birdland WRCA NBC NY 23 Apr 1956
Carnegie Horizons + Close	George Shearing	‘Stars in Jazz’ Birdland WNBC NBC NY 3 Jul 1952
Set 5	Count Basie 1940s-50s Radio
Rock a Bye Basie	Count Basie Orchestra	Aircheck Los Angeles Sep 1945
Jumpin’ at the Woodside	Count Basie Orchestra	Birdland WNBC NBC NY 31 Aug 1952
Andy’s Blues	Count Basie Orchestra	Avadon Ballroom KHJ Mutual LA Jun 1946
Paradise Squat + Lullaby of Birdland	Count Basie Orchestra	‘Stars in Jazz’ Birdland WNBC NBC NY 16 Jan 1953
Set 6	1930s British Dance Bands
That Lindy Hop	Roy Fox Orchestra	Comm Rec London 1932
Nobody’s Using It Now	Debroy Somers Orchestra (voc) Tom Barratt	Comm Rec London 11 Mar 1930
I Always Keep My Girl Out Late	Jack Jackson Orchestra (voc) Trio	Comm Rec London 25 Aug 1933
Rhythm Mad	Billy Cotton Orchestra	Comm Rec London 26 Mar 1935
Set 7	1930s Dance Bands
The Merry-Go-Round Broke Down	Dick Jurgens Orchestra (voc) Eddy Howard	Radio Transcription 1938
Between The Devil and the Deep Blue Sea	Isham Jones Orchestra	WOR Mutual NY 31 Jan 1936
The Continental	Henry Busse Orchestra	Radio Transcription 1935
Bye Bye Blues + Close	Hal Kemp Orchestra	‘Lady Esther Serenade’ WEAF NBC Red NY 26 Aug 1936
Set 8	Modern Sounds on Radio
Just You, Just Me	Tadd Dameron	‘Symphony Sid Show’ Royal Roost WMCA NY Sep 1948
Tenderly	Chubby Jackson	‘Symphony Sid Show’ Royal Roost WMCA NY 5 Mar 1949
Ain’t You a Mess	Stan Getz	Red Hill Inn Pennsauken NY WABC ABC NY 18 May 1957

Doris Day – Phantom Dancer 18 May 2019

DORIS DAY

The Phantom Dancer feature artist with Greg Poppleton this week is big band singer and movie star, Doris Day.

In this week’s non-stop mix of swing and jazz from live 1920s – 1960s radio and TV, you’ll hear Doris Day in 1939 on Ohio radio and later in the 1940s as the star singer with international favourite Les Brown and his Band of Renown.

You can s the full Phantom Dancer play list of swing and jazz mixed by Greg Poppleton from live 1920s-60s radio below.

ONLINE

This week’s Phantom Dancer will be online right after the 21 May 2SER live mix at 2ser.com.
Hear the show live every Tuesday 12:04-2pm on 107.3 2SER Sydney

Doris Day

DAY TIME RADIO

Doris Day was born Doris Mary Kappelhoff in 1922.

She began her career as a big band singer with Barney Rapp and his New Englanders in 1939, which is where we’ll first hear her in a broadcast over NBC from Cincinnati.

She reached commercial success in 1945 with two No. 1 recordings, ‘Sentimental Journey’ and ‘My Dreams Are Getting Better All the Time’ with Les Brown and his Band of Renown. We’ll also hear from live airchecks with Les Brown from that period.

She left Brown to embark on a solo career and recorded more than 650 songs from 1947 to 1967.

In 2011 at age 89, she released her 29th studio album My Heart which contained new material and became a UK Top 10 album and #12 on the Amazon bestseller list.

Doris Day and dance act partner Jerry, 1937

DAY TIME MOVIES

Day’s film career began with the film Romance on the High Seas (1948), leading to a 20-year career as a motion picture actress.

She starred in film musicals, comedies and dramas.

She played the title role in Calamity Jane (1953) and starred in Alfred Hitchcock’s The Man Who Knew Too Much (1956) with James Stewart. Her best-known films are those in which she co-starred with Rock Hudson including 1959’s Pillow Talk, for which she was nominated an Academy Award for Best Actress.

She worked with James Garner on both Move Over, Darling (1963) and The Thrill of It All (1963), and also starred with Clark Gable, Cary Grant, James Cagney, David Niven, Jack Lemmon, Frank Sinatra, Richard Widmark, Kirk Douglas, Lauren Bacall and Rod Taylor.

DAY TIME TV

She became one of the biggest film stars in the early 1960s and ended her movie career in 1968. She then moved to TV, starring in the sitcom The Doris Day Show (1968–1973) during and after which she starred in TV specials.

AWARDS DAY

She received the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award and a Legend Award from the Society of Singers. In 1960, she was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actress and was given the Cecil B. DeMille Award for lifetime achievement in motion pictures in 1989. In 2004, she was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom; this was followed in 2011 by the Los Angeles Film Critics Association’s Career Achievement Award.

ACTIVIST DAY

In 1971, Doris Day co-founded Actors and Others for Animals, and appeared in a series of newspaper advertisements denouncing the wearing of fur, alongside Mary Tyler Moore, Angie Dickinson and Jayne Meadows.

In 1978, Day founded the Doris Day Pet Foundation, now the Doris Day Animal Foundation (DDAF). A non-profit charity, DDAF funds other non-profit causes throughout the US that share DDAF’s mission of helping animals and the people who love them.

To complement the Doris Day Animal Foundation, Day formed the Doris Day Animal League (DDAL) in 1987, a national non-profit citizen’s lobbying organisation whose mission is to reduce pain and suffering and protect animals through legislative initiatives.

Day actively lobbied the United States Congress in support of legislation designed to safeguard animal welfare on a number of occasions and in 1995 she originated the annual Spay Day USA. The DDAL merged into The Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) in 2006. The HSUS now manages World Spay Day, the annual one-day spay/neuter event that Day originated.

A facility bearing her name, the Doris Day Horse Rescue and Adoption Center, which helps abused and neglected horses, opened in 2011 in Murchison, Texas, on the grounds of an animal sanctuary started by her late friend, author Cleveland Amory. Day contributed $250,000 towards the founding of the center.

Day was a vegetarian.

VIDEO

This week’s Phantom Dancer video of the week is a 1964 interview with Doris Day by Lucille Ball. Enjoy!

21 MAY PLAY LIST

Play List – The Phantom Dancer 107.3 2SER-FM Sydney, Live Stream, Digital Radio Community Radio Network Show CRN #387
107.3 2SER Tuesday 21 May 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 ArtSoundFM Canberra Sunday 7 – 8pm and early morning on 23 other stations.
Set 1	Big Bands on 1950s Radio
Cirribirribin (theme) + Musicmakers	Harry James Orchestra	Cocoanut Grove Ambassador Hotel KFI NBC Los Angeles 7 Jan 1953
Too Close for Comfort	Count Basie Orchestra (voc) Joe Williams	‘Rock ‘n’ Roll Dance Party’ WCBS CBS NY 16 Jun 1956
South	Chuck Cabot Orchestra	Empire Room Rice Hotel CBS Houston Apr 1953
Set 2	Trad on 1940s – 50s Radio
Open + Everybody Loves My Baby	Wild Bill Davison	‘This is Jazz’ WOR Mutual NY 3 May 1947
Keepin’ Out of Mischief Now	Ralph Sutton	Club Hangover KCBS San Francisco 24 Jul 1954
‘S Wonderful	Louis Armstrong	‘All Star Parade of Jazz’ WRCA NBC NY 8 May 1955
Set 3	Slim Gaillard
Open + How High The Moon	Slim Gaillard	Birdland WNBC NBC NY 9 Sep 1952
Ba-Ba-Doo	Slim Gaillard	Birdland WNBC NBC NY 9 Sep 1952
How High The Moon + Jumping with Symphony Sid	Slim Gaillard	Birdland WNBC NBC NY 9 Sep 1952
Set 4	Doris Day
Blue Music	Doris Day (voc) Les Brown Orchestra	Peacock Room Baker Hotel CBS Dallas 9 Aug 1945
Little Sir Echo	Doris Day (voc) Barney Rapp and his New Englanders	Sign of the Drum NBC Cincinnati OH 17 Jun 1939
I Wish I Knew	Doris Day (voc) Les Brown Orchestra	Palladium Ballroom KNX CBS LA 16 Aug 1945
I’m Happy About the Whole Thing	Doris Day (voc) Barney Rapp and his New Englanders	Sign of the Drum NBC Cincinnati OH 17 Jun 1939
Set 5	Modern Sounds on 1940s-50s Radio
Open + Casual Jazz	Stan Kenton Orchestra	‘Concert in Miniature’ Hampton Casino Hampton Beach NH WBZ NBC Boston 21 Jul 1953
Open + Carambola	Machito	‘Symphony Sid Show’ BIrdland WJZ ABC NY 1951
Don’t Take Your Love From Me	Maynard Fergusson Orchestra	‘One Night Stand’ Birdland AFRS Re-broadcast 1958
Set 6	1930s-40s Sweet Band Radio Transcriptions
Vieni Su (theme)	Carl Ravazza Orchestra (voc) CR	Radio Transcription 1941
So You’re The One	Sterling Young Orchestra (voc) Bobbie Ennis	Radio Transcription 1939
Would It Make Any Difference To You?	Carl Ravazza Orchestra (voc) CR	Radio Transcription 1942
Cherokee	Sterling Young Orchestra	Radio Transcription 1940
Set 7	Buddy Rich Big Band on Radio
Rain on the Riff (theme) + Cool Breeze	Buddy Rich Orchestra	‘Spotlight Bands’ Phoenixville PA Mutual Network 24 Dec 1945
Nellie’s Nightmare	Buddy Rich Orchestra	Hollywood Palladium KNX CBS LA Mar 1946
Day by Day	Buddy Rich Orchestra (voc) Dottie Reid	Hollywood Palladium KNX CBS LA 27 Mar 1946
Quiet Riot	Buddy Rich Orchestra	Post Lodge Larchmont NY Aircheck Apr 1947
Set 8	Buddy Rich Quintet
Four + If It Were a Bell	Buddy Rich Quintet	Birdland WABC ABC NY 7 Nov 1958

Announcing Bob Hawke’s Death at ALGWA Conference Dinner

Greg Poppleton’s 1920s Quartet were invited to be the entertainment for the ALGWA biennial conference dinner.

During the dinner, it was my solemn duty to break the news that Bob Hawke, Australia’s 23rd Prime Minister, had died. There is film of this moment below…

ALGWA is the national Australian Local Government Women’s Association. With branches in every state and territory it seeks to strengthen networking, mentoring and innovative opportunities that encourage and support women in local government.

ALGWA sign at conference dinner

BREAKING THE NEWS BOB HAWKE HAD DIED

When news came through during the evening that one of Australia’s most popular political leaders had died, I was asked to break the news to the conference delegates.

Thank you to Cazzbo Johns, who put down her sousaphone to film the moment I broke that sad news news mid band set at the ALGWA Conference Dinner…

<h4>1920s SINGER AND BAND</h4>
The Greg Poppleton band for the Conference Dinner included:
– Greg Poppleton: Australia’s only authentic 1920s – 1930s singer singing into a 1920s suspension microphone and 1920s megaphone
– Paul Furniss: clarinet and alto saxophone
– Cazzbo (Carolyn) Johns: sousaphone
– Grahame Conlon: guitar and banjo

<h4>SOUND AND LIGHTS</h4>
were provided for the long arc shaped room by Tony Jex at OzManagement. As Tony is the booker for the Greg Poppleton band, the ALGWA Conference had lights, sound and operation at a discount.

To book Greg Poppleton, contact Tony: tony@ozmanagement.com

The band photo below was taken by magneticshots.com, event photography.

Greg Poppleton 1920s band

<h4>DANCING</h4>
The Greg Poppleton band played a conga and The Charleston so that The Salsa Republic Dancers could get delegates together on the dance floor.

Below, delegates are dancing the conga.

Dancing the conga to Greg Poppleton

The band also played The Charleston for The Salsa Republic

Salsa Republic dancing The Charleston to Greg Poppleton’s 1920s band

<h4>WHY BOOKING A REAL 1920s BAND FOR A 1920s THEME MAKES REAL DOLLARS AND SENSE</h4>
So many bands play songs from the 1920s.

The Greg Poppleton band is 1920s. That’s because Greg sings the music of the 1920s and 1930s exclusively.

The difference is sound.

Bands and DJs that play 1920s, 1930s, rock, blues, Sinatra, comb, spoons, gypsy, Buble and what ever else is supposed ‘to get people dancing’ try really hard to hide the fact they can’t make the right 1920s – 30s sounds.

It’s that simple.

Like, the family wagon is a car but racers aren’t going to use it to try and win a grand prix, are they?

Booking the family wagon instead of the specialist twenties singer and band ruins any 1920s -30s atmosphere you’ve spent money, time and reputation on creating.

Greg Poppleton 1920s singer and Cazzbo Johns on sousaphone

And here’s Cazzbo with Grahame Conlon on guitar doubling banjo in the Greg Poppleton band at the ALGWA dinner. Tony Jex is in the back ground at the sound desk.

Cazzbo Johns sousaphone, Grahame Conlon guitar doubling banjo in the Greg Poppleton band

On sax and clarinet with the Greg Poppleton band is one of Australia’s most celebrated jazz figures, Paul Furniss…

Paul Furniss with the Greg Poppleton band on alto sax and clarinet.

To book Greg Poppleton, contact Tony: tony@ozmanagement.com
Please visit the band website www.gregpoppletonmusic.com