Big Bands – 2SER Radiothon Wk 1 Sat – Phantom Dancer 15 Oct 2022

Big Bands feature on this Saturday’s live Phantom Dancer – live because it’s the annual 2SER radiothon. Now is your moment to win great prizes when you pledge your support to this community radio station. 2SER has been bringing you The Phantom Dancer with Greg Poppleton since 1985.

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

LISTEN to this week’s Phantom Dancer mix (online after 6pm AEST, Saturday 15 October) and two years of Phantom Dancer mixes online at, at https://2ser.com/phantom-dancer/

BIG BANDS

Big bands are jazz orchestras usually consisting of ten or more musicians with three sections: reeds, brass and rhythm.

Originating in the early 1910s and dominating jazz into the early 1950s, big band describes a genre of pop music.

Big bands started as accompaniment for dancing. In contrast to the typical jazz emphasis on improvisation, big bands relied on written compositions and arrangements.

Big bands in the 1920s – 1930s, typically had two or three trumpets, one or two trombones, three or four saxophones doubling clarinet and flute, and a rhythm section of double bass, piano, guitar and drum kit.

In the 1940s, Stan Kenton’s band used up to five trumpets, five trombones (three tenor and two bass trombones), five saxophones (two alto saxophones, two tenor saxophones, one baritone saxophone), and a rhythm section.

Duke Ellington at one time used six trumpets. Boyd Raeburn drew from symphony orchestras by adding flute, French horn, strings and timpani to his band.

In the early 1940s, the big bands of Tommy Dorsey, Harry James, Les Brown, Artie Shaw, Glen Miller and more, added violins and cellos – ‘strings’.

2SER RADIOTHON

2SER IS BRINGING BACK THE FAMILY FOR RADIOTHON 2022. SUBSCRIBE NOW

After years of COVID restrictions, 2SER is getting back into the studios for radiothon – our biggest revenue raiser for the year – and we’re getting the family together in person!

From Oct 7 to 21 the station takes a break from regular programming to celebrate everything that makes 2SER great! The music, the talks and, most importantly, the 2SER family! Under the theme of We Are Family, we’ll be asking everyone to become financial subscribers or to donate.

2SER Breakfast presenter, Danny Chifley, said ”Subscribers and donors are so important for the station – they help us maintain our independence and provide us with some stability in an ever-shifting cultural and economic environment”

“When sponsorship of events abruptly evaporated at the start of the pandemic, our subscribers helped us stay afloat. When lightning struck our antenna three years ago, our donors got us right back on air”, said Danny. “So we love our family and we’re really excited to be reconnecting again”

Anyone who subscribes during radiothon goes into the draw for incredible prizes including a vintage turntable and record voucher from Egg Records, Newtown or a Complete Studio Kit from RØDE that contains everything you need to make professional, studio-quality recordings at home. There’s also small business subscriber prizes including an Atomic Brewery Dinner and Drinks for 10 people.

Between 7 and 21 October call 9514 9500 or get online at 2ser.com and join the family!

15 OCTOBER PLAY LIST

Play List – The Phantom Dancer 107.3 2SER-FM Sydney LISTEN ONLINE SUBSCRIBE Community Radio Network Show CRN #565
107.3 2SER Saturday 15 October 2022 12:04 – 2:00pm (+10 hours GMT) and Saturdays 5 – 5:55pm National Program 5GTR Mt Gambier Monday 2:30 – 3:30am 3MBR Murrayville Monday 3 – 4am 4NAG Keppel FM Monday 3 – 4am 2MIA Griffith Monday 3 – 4am 2BAR Edge FM Bega Monday 3 – 4am 2BRW Braidwood Monday 3 – 4am 2YYY Young Monday 3 – 4am 3VKV Alpine Radio Monday 6 – 7pm 7MID Oatlands Monday 6 -7pm 6GME Radio Goolarri Broome Tuesday 12am – 1am 2SEA Eden Tuesday 6 – 7pm 2MCE Bathurst Wednesday 9 – 10am 2RDJ Burwood Wednesday 12 – 1pm 1ART ArtsoundFM Canberra Friday 10 – 11am 2RRR Ryde Friday 11am -12 noon 2ARM Armidale Friday 12 – 1pm 5LCM Lofty FM Adelaide Friday 1 – 2pm Denmark FM (West Australia) Saturdays 10 – 11am Repeat: Wednesdays 10 – 11pm 7LTN Launceston Sunday 5 – 6am 3MGB Mallacoota Sunday 5 – 6am 3BBR West Gippsland Sunday 5 – 6pm
Set 1	Big Bands
Theme + Instrumental	Gay Claridge Orchestra	‘One Night Stand’ AFRS Re-broadcast Chez Paree Chicago 15 Oct 1945
Cirribirribin (theme) + Loveless Love	Harry James Orchestra	‘One Night Stand’ AFRS Re-broadcast Casino Gardens Ocean Park Ca 29 Jun 1944
What a Drag	Glen Gray & the Casa Loma Orchestra (voc) Fats Daniels	‘One Night Stand’ AFRS Re-broadcast Casino Gardens Ocean Park Ca 24 Oct 1945
You’re Blase	Sonny Dunham Orchestra	‘One Night Stand’ AFRS Re-broadcast Palladium Ballroom Hollywood Ca 1 Aug 1944
Set 2	Big Bands
I Was Here When You Left	Cab Calloway Orchesta (voc) Dottie Salters	‘One Night Stand’ AFRS Re-broadcast New Zanzibar Cafe NYC Jul 1945
Theme + Hop, Skip and a Jump	Gene Krupa Orchestra (voc) Carolyn Raye	‘One Night Stand’ AFRS Re-broadcast Meadowbrook Gardens Culver City Ca 31 Mar 1946
Out of This World + Black Orchid	Woody Herman Orchestra (voc) Frances Wayne	‘One Night Stand’ AFRS Re-broadcast Cafe Rouge Hotel Pennsylvania NYC 23 Aug 1945
Set 3	Big Bands
Full Moon and Empty Arms	Buddy Morrow Orchestra (voc) Carl Denny	‘One Night Stand’ AFRS Re-broadcast Blue Room Hotel Lincoln NYC 27 May 1945
Redskin Rumba (theme) + Murder at Peyton Hall	Charlie Barnet Orchestra	‘One Night Stand’ AFRS Re-broadcast Casino Gardens Ocean Park Ca 3 Jan 1947
All of Me	Jimmy Dorsey Orchestra (voc) Claire Hogan	‘One Night Stand’ AFRS Re-broadcast Cafe Rouge Hotel Pennsylvania NYC 7 Apr 1949
Golden Earrings	Del Courtney Orchestra (voc) Gil Vester	‘One Night Stand’ AFRS Re-broadcast Rose Room Palace Hotel San Francisco 7 Jan 1948
Set 4	Big Bands
Dancing Tambourine	Ralph Flanagan Orchestra (voc) Band	‘One Night Stand’ AFRS Re-broadcast Cafe Rouge Hotel Pennsylvania NYC 26 Sep 1950
Theme + I’m a Fool to Want You	Art Wayner Orchestra	‘One Night Stand’ AFRS Re-broadcast The Latin Quarter NYC 31 Jul 1951
Autumn Leaves	Ray Anthony Orchestra (voc) The Skyliners and Ray Deauville	‘One Night Stand’ AFRS Re-broadcast Cafe Rouge Hotel Statler NYC 12 Dec 1950
Johnny, Won’t You Stay Awhile? + Blue Champagne + I Only Have Eyes For You	Blue Barron Orchestra (voc) Betty Clark	‘One Night Stand’ AFRS Re-broadcast Palladium Ballroom Hollywood Ca 20 Nov 1951
Set 5	Big Bands
Set 6	Big Bands
Set 7	Big Bands
Set 8	Big Bands

Kay Starr First Nations Jazz Singer – Phantom Dancer 19 Nov 2019

INDIGENOUS

This week’s Phantom Dancer feature artist with Greg Poppleton, is indigenous US jazz singer, Kay Starr. She began singing on radio as a child and we hear her this week aged 22 singing with Benny Goodman and Charlie Barnet’s orchestras.

ONLINE

This week’s Phantom Dancer will be online after the 19 November 107.3 2SER Sydney live mix at 2ser.com.
Hear the show live every Tuesday 12:04-2pm on 107.3 2SER Sydney.

KAY

Katherine Laverne Starks, known professionally as Kay Starr, was a name jazz, pop, and country singer in the 1940s-50s. (She was the original singer of the Roy Acuff song, ‘Bonaparte’s Retreat. Her roots were in jazz and Billie Holiday called her ‘the only white woman who could sing the blues.’

CHICKENS

Her aunt Nora was impressed by her 7-year-old niece’s singing and arranged for her to sing on a Dallas radio station, WRR, vocal competition. Starr finishing 3rd one week in a talent contest and placed first every week thereafter. She was given a 15-minute radio show. She sang pop and country songs with a piano accompaniment. By age 10 she was making $3 a night, which was quite a salary during the Great Depression.

WESTERN

When Starr’s father changed jobs, the family moved to Memphis, where she continued performing on the radio. She sang Western swing music, still mostly a mix of country and pop. While working for Memphis radio station WMPS, misspellings in her fan mail inspired her and her parents to change her name to Kay Starr.

VENUTI

At 15, she was chosen to sing with the Joe Venuti orchestra. Venuti had a contract to play in the Peabody Hotel in Memphis which called for his band to feature a girl singer, a performer he did not have at the time. Venuti’s road manager heard Starr on the radio and recommended her although she was young and her parents insisted on a midnight curfew.

BIG BANDS

At 17, in 1939, she worked with Bob Crosby and Glenn Miller, who hired her to replace the ill Marion Hutton. With Miller she recorded ‘Baby Me’ and ‘Love with a Capital You’. They were not a great success, in part because the band played in a key that, while appropriate for Hutton, did not suit Kay’s vocal range.

After finishing high school, she moved to Los Angeles and signed with Wingy Manone’s band. From 1943 to 1945 she sang with Charlie Barnet’s ensemble, which we’ll hear on this week’s show, retiring for a year after contracting pneumonia and later developing nodes on her vocal cords as a result of fatigue and overwork.

VIDEO

This week’s Phantom Dancer video of the week is the 1952 hit song ‘Wheel of Fortune’ sung on the Your Hit Parade TV show.

19 NOVEMBER PLAY LIST

Play List – The Phantom Dancer 107.3 2SER-FM Sydney, Live Stream, Digital Radio Community Radio Network Show CRN #414
107.3 2SER Tuesday 19 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	Stan Kenton Transcriptions
Artistry in Rhythm + Memphis Lament	Stan Kenton Orchestra (voc) Red Dorris	Radio Transcription Hollywood Oct 1941
Underneath the Stars	Stan Kenton Orchestra	Radio Transcription Hollywood Nov 1941
I Haven’t Got the Heart + Artistry in Rhythm (theme)	Stan Kenton Orchestra	Radio Transcription Hollywood Oct 1941
Set 2	Women Singers on 1940s-50s Radio
I Enjoy Being a Girl	Vincent Lopez Orchestra (voc) Barbara Barry	‘One Night Stand’ Grill Room Hotel Taft NYC AFRTS Re-broadcast 1959
Open + The Trolley Song	Johnny Long Orchestra (voc) Jill Corey	‘Let’s Go With Music’ Radio Transcription Hollywood 1955
Cirribirribin (theme) + In Times Like These	Harry James Orchestra (voc) Kitty Kallen	Hotel Astor Roof WOR Mutual NY 6 Jun 1944
Set 3	Dixieland Radio
Bugle Call Rag	Red Nichols	Radio Transcription 1953
Kansas City Man	Sidney Bechet and Bob Wilbur	‘This is Jazz’ WOR Mutual NY 19 Apr 1947
Silver Threads Among the Gold + Close	Henry Levine Octet	‘Chamber Music Society of Lower Basin Street’ WJZ NBC Blue 6 Jan 1941
Set 4	Kay Starr
Share Croppin’ Blues	Kay Starr (voc) Charlie Barnet Orchestra	V-Disc 13 Jul 1944
Honeysuckle Rose	Kay Starr (voc) Benny Goodman Quintet	‘Jubilee’ AFRS Hollywood 1948
I Can’t Get Started	Kay Starr (voc) Charlie Barnet Orchestra	‘For The Record’ WEAF NBC NY 11 Sep 1944
Them There Eyes	Kay Starr (voc) Benny Goodman Quintet	‘Jubilee’ AFRS Hollywood 1948
Set 5	One Night Stand
Embraceable You	Bob Crosby Orchestra (voc) Jewel Hopkins	‘One Night Stand’ Palladium Ballroom KNX CBS LA AFRS Re-broadcast 21 Feb 1946
Come And Be My Honey	Sammy Kaye Orchestra (voc) Nancye Norman and Band	‘One Night Stand’ Hotel Astor Roof NYC AFRS Re-broadcast 14 Aug 1944
Unannounced + Take the A Train (close)	Duke Ellington Orchestra	‘One Night Stand’ Club Zanzibar NYC AFRS Re-broadcast 7 Oct 1945
Set 6	Radio Transcriptions
Quaker City Jazz + And The Angels Sing	Jan Savitt Top Hatters (voc) Bon Bon	Radio Transcription 1939
Slow and Easy	Charlie Spivak Orchestra	Radio Transcription 1939
Masquerade Is Over	Jan Savitt Top Hatters (voc) Bon Bon	Radio Transcription 1939/div>
Charlie Horse	Charlie Spivak Orchestra	Radio Transcription 1939
Set 7	Swing Bands on 1940s Radio
Paradiddle Joe	Tony Pastor Orchestra	Aircheck 1944
Saturday Night	Jimmy Dorsey Orchestra (voc) Patti Thomas	‘Spotlight Bands’ AFRS Re-broadcast 11 Feb 1945
Let’s Blow	Buddy Rich Orchestra	Palladium Ballroom KNX CBS LA 27 Mar 1946
Sentimental Over You (theme) + You’re Driving Me Crazy	Tommy Dorsey Orchestra (voc) The Sentimentalists	‘Spotlight Bands’ AFRS Re-broadcast 29 Jan 1945
Set 8	1940s-50s Moderne
Shoo Be Doo Be		Rex Theatre RFI Paris Feb 1953
B’s Flat	Shelly Manne Quintet	Basin Street WCBS CBS NY Mar 1956
Confess		‘One Night Stand’ The Click Philadelphia AFRS Re-broadcast 3 Jun 1948
Little Girl Blue	Stan Getz Quartet	Basin Street WCBS CBS NY Mar 1956

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

Valaida Snow Woman of Huge Talent – Phantom Dancer 13 Nov 2018

WOMAN OF HUGE TALENT

Trumpeter and singer Valaida Snow told many stories about herself. She was a huge star in the 1930s. A set of sides she recorded in 1936-37 London is this week’s Phantom Dancer feature.

PHANTOM DANCER

The Phantom Dancer is your non-stop mix of swing and jazz from live 1920s-60s radio and TV every week. I’ve been bringing you The Phantom Dancer on radio 2SER, and now online, since 1985.

Listen on-air every Tuesday 12:04-2:00pm AEST (+11 GMT) and online

See this week’s full play list and video of the week below.

VALAIDA SNOW

was the daughter of vaudevillian parents and trod the boards herself at an early age in a duet act with her sister, Lavaida.

Her father was murdered by the Elephant Man in a pay dispute

DANCER

In the early 1920s she blew New York away with her tap dance act.

Louis Armstrong hailed her the greatest performer he had ever seen when he caught her act in a Chicago club. While playing trumpet, she stepped into seven different pairs of shoes in a line, including clogs and Russian boots, in each pair she’d do a different step related to the shoes. Her tap dancing was rated as up there with Bojangles.

WORLD TOUR

In the early 1930s, Valaida toured Asia and Europe, performing in Shanghai, Batavia, Rangoon, the Balkans, Paris and then London. She then starred in a Broadway show with Ethel Merman.

LONDON

Relevant to the records on this week’s Phantom Dancer, Valaida starred in Lew Leslie’s London production of ‘Blackbirds of 1934’. This lead to the Parlophone records I’ll be spinning for you today.

She did return to US for shows in Los Angeles and New York City based on the sell-out shows she’d been doing in London and she sold out shows in the US, too. During her time in LA she claimed to have made movies with Cary Grant and Miriam Hopkins.

GOLD TRUMPET

Returning to Europe she played and recorded again in London. She appeared in Switzerland, Paris and The Netherlands where Queen Wilhelmina presented her with a gold trumpet. In 1939-40 she played and recorded in Stockholm and Copenhagen.

ARREST

Despite the Nazi occupation of Denmark, she returned there in 1941. She was arrested and interned in a Gestapo prison in Copenhagen.

She returned to the US, broken, in 1943, as part of a prisoner exchange.

She never recovered from her Nazi imprisonment, weighing only 70 pounds when she returned to the US. Her incarceration’s debilitationg effect on her health killed her career.

She continued to perform in clubs in the US until she died in the mid 1950s.

VIDEO

This week’s Phantom Dancer video of the week features Valaida Snow singing and playing trumpet on ‘Patience and Fortitude’ on a soundie with the Ali Baba Trio in 1946

13 NOVEMBER PLAY LIST

Play List – The Phantom Dancer 107.3 2SER-FM Sydney, Live Stream, Digital Radio Community Radio Network Show CRN #340
107.3 2SER Tuesday 13 November 2018 After the 2SER 12 noon news, 12:04 – 2:00pm (+11 hours GMT) National Program: ArtSoundFM Canberra Sunday 7 – 8pm and early morning on 24 other stations.
Set 1	Swinging 1940s Radio
Intro + Is You Is Or Is You Ain’t My Baby	Shep Fields New Music (voc) Tommy Lucas	‘One Night Stand’ Copcabana NYC AFRS Re-broadcast 9 Aug 1944
The Man I Love	Red Rodney (tp) Gene Krupa Orchestra	‘One Night Stand’ Meadowbrook Gardens Culver City Ca AFRS Re-broadcast 31 Mar 1946
9:20 Special + Close	Cab Calloway Orchestra	‘One Night Stand’ New Zanzibar New York City AFRS Re-broadcast Jul 1945
Set 2	Sweet Music on 1930s-40s Radio
Open + If You Were Mine	Art Kassels and his Kassels-in-the-Air	Walnut Room Bismarck Hotel WGN Mutual Chicago 1940
Medley	Fairchild and Carroll	WEAF NBC Red 15 Sep 1937
Say Si, Si + Close	Frank Geoghan Orchestra (voc) The Octet	Terrace Room Hotel Statler WHK Mutual Cleveland 5 Apr 1940
Set 3	1940s Variety Show
Theme + La-la-la + Don’t Fence Me In	Victor Arden Stage Band (voc) Chorus and Barry Roberts	‘Manhattan-Merry-Go-Round’ WCEAF NBC NY 12 Oct 1944
I Got Rhythm	The Flexible 5	‘California Melodies’ KHJ Mutual LA 1940s
Send Me Someone To Love + Close	The Little Sisters (voc) Harry Zimmerman Orchestra	‘California Melodies’ KHJ Mutual LA 1940s
Set 4	Dixieland Radio
Have Your Chill	Coots Grant (voc) Kid Sox Wilson (piano)	‘This is Jazz’ WOR Mutual New York City 3 May 1947
Bluein’ The Blues	Preacher Rollo and the 5 Saints	‘Dixieland Club’ AFRS Re-broadcast 5 Sep 1951
Strut Miss Lizzie	Eddie Condon Group	‘Eddie Condon Jazz Concert’ WJZ Blue Network New York City 17 Feb 1945
Set 5	1930s Swing Radio
Down South Camp Meeting	Benny Goodman Orchestra	Madhattan Room Hotel Pennsylvania WABC CBS NY 20 Nov 1937
Cotton Pickers’ Congregation	Russ Morgan Orchestra	Paradise Restaurant WJZ NBC Blue NY 14 Oct 1938
Bugle Blues	Count Basie Orchestra	Aircheck Savoy Ballroom NYC 30 Jun 1937
The Man I Love	Del Courtney Orchestra	Aircheck Rainbow Room New Kenmore Hotel Albany NY 31 Oct 1938
Set 6	Dorsey Brothers Orchestra 1956 Radio
I’m Getting Sentimental Over You (theme) + Long Sam	Dorsey Brothers Orchestra	Cafe Rouge Statler Hotel WRCA NBC NY 1956
Too Close For Comfort	Dorsey Brothers Orchestra (voc) Tommy Mercer	‘NBC Bandstand’ NBC Radio & TV NY 1956
Open + Opus Number One	Dorsey Brothers Orchestra	Cafe Rouge Statler Hotel WRCA NBC NY Dec 1955
Too Young To Go Steady (voc) Lynn Roberts	Dorsey Brothers Orchestra	‘NBC Bandstand’ NBC Radio & TV NY 1956
Set 7	Valaida Snow
I Wish I Were Twins	Valaida Snow (tp & voc)	Comm Rec London 18 Jan 1936
Where Is The Sun?	Valaida Snow (tp & voc)	Comm Rec London 7 Jul 1937
I Must have That Man	Valaida Snow (tp & voc)	Comm Rec London 8 Sep 1936
Swing is the Thing	Valaida Snow (tp & voc)	Comm Rec London 14 Jul 1937
Set 8	Cardboard Records
Pardon Me, Pretty Baby	Sam Lanin Orchestra (voc) Paul Small	Hit of the Week Records New York City
I Found a Million Dollar Baby	Don Vorhees Orchestra	Hit of the Week Records New York City 10 Sep 1931
Let’s Get Friendly	The New York Twelve (voc) Smith Bellew	Hit of the Week Records New York City May 1931
I’m Keeping Company	Hit of the Week Orchestra (voc) Scarppy Lambert	Hit of the Week Records New York City Aug 1931

Herbie Fields Child Prodigy – Phantom Dancer 29 May Radio Swing Jazz Mix

Herbie Fields is a musician I’ve long wanted to play a set of. Now the time has come.

I’m Greg Poppleton, 1920s-30s singer and your Phantom Dancer.

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

On air every Tuesday, live from 107.3 2SER Sydney from 12:04-2pm, the Phantom Dancer is recorded for re-broadcast over 23 radio stations of the Community Radio Network and online at 2ser.com.

THIS WEEK’S PHANTOM DANCER MIX
– opens with a set of dance bands live on the 1940s ‘One Night Stand’ radio series,
– hear a set of Sarah Vaughan from live 1950s radio,
– a set of early radio dance bands from rare 1920s-30s radio,
– a set of the daddies of boogie woogie pianists from live 1930s radio,
– a set of today’s feature artist, Herbie Fields, including Miles Davis’s recording debut. See the full play list below for more…

HERBIE FIELDS
Herbie Fields was a child prodigy clarinet and sax player whose meteoric career in the mid-1940s faltered in the 1950s, making him increasing disgruntled until he couldn’t take it any more.

A student at the famous Juilliard School of Music, he began recording and broadcasting in 1944 after a two year stint in the U.S Army.

On this week’s Phantom Dancer we’ll hear his first orchestra live from 1944 radio on its own national network band remote. It was coveted radio exposure mostly given to more seasoned bands. We’ll also hear a song from his first recording session made for the prestigious Savoy record label.

The 1945 Savoy record we’ll hear on today’s show features singer Rubberlegs Williams. Rubberlegs, sounding very Fats Waller, calls out Herbie Fields by name on the record – more evidence of the meteoric rise of Herbie Field as a swing name.

This was also the first recording by teenage Miles Davis on trumpet. Miles sounds like Miles even then, though some players on the session complained that the teenager wasn’t good enough – another story for another Phantom Dancer.

Herbie Fields and his 3 year old daughter, Sandra

 

UP-AND-COMING
His star rising in just twelve short months, Fields also won Esquire magazine’s New Star Award on alto sax in 1945.

In 1946, RCA Victor signed Fields as leader of his own big band. Despite including musicians of the calibre of Neal Hefti, Bill Evans, Marty Napoleon and Serge Chaloff, the band was a commercial failure. Big bands were out of fashion.

He went from big band to septet in 1949. We’ll hear that septet on this week’s Phantom Dancer in a 1951 radio broadcast.

In the septet was Frank Rosolino trombone, Jimmy Nottingham trumpet, Jim Aton double bass, Bill Evans piano and Tiny Kahn drums. The group backed Billie Holiday on a successful U.S east coat tour. You’ll hear in this septet broadcast how Fields could play in swing, bop and r’n’b styles all on the one song (‘How High The Moon’).

R’N’B
In the 1950s, Fields moved into rhythm and blues. He became a sax ‘honker’.

You’ll hear him mix honk with bop and swing on ‘How High the Moon’ with his septet on what the 1951 announcer calls a ‘rock’n’roll’ number.

But his decreasing popularity after such a promising career start in 1944 made him increasing disgruntled.

Bill Evans said of Field’s r’n’b style, “In some ways he had been a forerunner of rock ‘n’ roll. He was wiggling, jerking. Rock ‘n’ roll came, brought millions of dollars, but nothing for Herbie Fields.”

Field’s recorded sporadically as an r’n’b artist, bop player and big band leader.

He was leading a trio in his own Miami restaurant in 1958 when is suddenly had enough at age 39.

PHANTOM DANCER VIDEO OF THE WEEK
It’s Herbie Fields on clarinet with the Lionel Hampton sextet on a Decca recording of ‘Ribs and Hot Sauce’.

29 MAY PLAY LIST

Play List – The Phantom Dancer 107.3 2SER-FM Sydney, Live Stream, Digital Radio Community Radio Network Show CRN #318
107.3 2SER Tuesday 29 May 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 22 other stations.
Set 1	Swing Bands on ‘One Night Stand’
Theme + Kentucky	Gay Claridge Orchestra	‘One Night Stand’ Chez Paree, Chicago AFRS Re-broadcast 21 Aug 1945
You’re Driving Me Crazy	Jan Savitt Orchestra	‘One Night Stand’ Palladium Ballroom Hollywood AFRS Re-broadcast 20 Sep 1945
9:20 Special + Pavanne (close)	Sonny Dunham Orchestra	‘One Night Stand’ Cafe Rouge Hotel Pennsylvania NYC AFRS Re-broadcast 14 Apr 1944
Set 2	Sarah Vaughan Sings Jazz on 1953-56 Radio
Tenderly	Sarah Vaughan	‘Stars in Jazz’ Birdland WNBC NBC NY 31 Mar 1953
I Get a Kick Out of You	Sarah Vaughan	‘Stars in Jazz’ Birdland WNBC NBC NY 31 Mar 1953
Linger Awhile + ‘S Wonderful + Tenderly	Sarah Vaughan	‘All-Star Parade of Bands’ Zardi’s KFI NBC LA 21 May 1956
Set 3	Herbie Fields Feature
That’s The Stuff You Got To Watch	Herbie Fields, Miles Davis’s first recording, Rubberlegs Williams (voc)	WOR Studios New York City 25 Apr 1945
Theme + Don’t Take Your Love From Me	Herbie Fields Orchestra (voc) Carol Kaye	Glen Island Casinu New Rochelle NY WOR MBS NY 9 Aug 1944
How High The Moon + Close	Herbie Fields Septet	‘Stars on Parade’ Radio Transcription 1951
Set 4	1920s-30s Radio Bands
I’m Just A Vagabond Lover	Eskimo Pie Orchestra	Radio Transcription 1929
I Can’t Believe That You’re In Love With Me	Jimmy Grier Orchestra (voc) Gogo Delys	Radio Transcription 1932
I Following You + Coca Cola Waltz	Leonard Joy Coca-Cola Orchestra	‘Coca-Cola Top Notchers’ WEAF NBC Red NY 19 Mar 1930
Set 5	Duke Ellington on 1950s Radio
Open + Tulip or Turnip	Duke Ellington Orchestra (voc) Ray Nance	Blue Note WMAQ NBC Chicago 13 Aug 1952
Things Ain’t What They Used To Be	Duke Ellington Orchestra	Meadowbrook Ballroom Cedar Grove NJ WNBC NBC NY 11 Jun 1951
The Hawk Talks	Duke Ellington Orchestra	Blue Note WMAQ NBC Chicago 30 Jul 1952
Great Times	Duke Ellington Orchestra	Radio Transcription New York 11 Feb 1951
Set 6	Eddie Condon
Open + At The Jazz Band Ball	Eddie Condon Group	‘Eddie Condon Town Hall Jazz Concert’ WJZ Blue NY 30 Sep 1944
I’m a Ding Dong Daddy From Dumas	Eddie Condon Group	‘Eddie Condon Town Hall Jazz Concert’ WJZ Blue NY 16 Jul 1944
Easter Parade	Eddie Condon Group	‘Eddie Condon Town Hall Jazz Concert’ WJZ Blue NY 23 Sep 1944
Ensemble Blues	Eddie Condon Group	‘Eddie Condon Town Hall Jazz Concert’ WJZ Blue NY 29 Jul 1944
Set 7	Boogie Woogie
Pine Top’s Boogie Woogie	Pine Tops Smith	Comm Rec Chicago 29 Dec 1928
Pine Top’s Boogie Woogie	Albert Ammons, Meade Lux Lewis (voc) Johnny Mercer	‘Camel Caravan’ WABC CBS NY 11 Apr 1939
Honky Tonk Train Blues	Meade Lux Lewis	‘Camel Caravan’ WABC CBS NY 3 Jan 1939
Roll ‘Em	Albert Ammons, Meade Lux Lewis	‘Camel Caravan’ WABC CBS NY 3 Jan 1939
Set 8	Farewell
Boompsie	Chubby Jackson Orchestra	‘Symphony Sid Show’ Royal Roost WMCA NY 5 Mar 1949