Sam ‘The Man’ Taylor – Phantom Dancer 15 September 2020

Sam ‘The Man’ Taylor, influential 1940s jump and 1950s rock tenor saxophonist, is this week’s Phantom Dancer non-stop swing jazz feature artist. You’ll hear him from two 1956 Rock ‘n’ Roll Dance Party broadcasts on this week’s mix.

Greg Poppleton has been bringing you The Phantom Dancer, your non-stop mix of swing and jazz from live 1920s-60s radio and TV, each week since 1985.

Hear The Phantom Dancer online from 12:04pm AEST Tuesday 15 September at https://2ser.com/phantom-dancer/ where you can also hear two years of archived shows.

The finyl hour is vinyl.

SAM ‘THE MAN’ TAYLOR

Taylor was born in Lexington, Tennessee. He attended Alabama State University, where he played with the Bama State Collegians. He later worked with Scatman Crothers, Cootie Williams, Lucky Millinder, Cab Calloway, Ray Charles, Buddy Johnson, Louis Jordan and Big Joe Turner. Taylor was one of the most requested session saxophone players in New York recording studios in the 1950s. He also replaced Count Basie as the house bandleader on Alan Freed’s radio series, Camel Rock ‘n’ Roll Dance Party, on CBS, from where this week’s Phantom Dancer Sam ‘The Man’ Taylor tracks originate.

Taylor played the saxophone solo on Turner’s “Shake, Rattle and Roll”. He also played on “Harlem Nocturne”; on “Money Honey”, recorded by Clyde McPhatter and the Drifters in 1953; and on “Sh-Boom” by the Chords.

During the 1960s, he led a five-piece band, the Blues Chasers. In the 1970s, he frequently played and recorded in Japan.

VIDEO OF THE WEEK

Sam ‘The Man’ Taylor’s hit 1955 recording on the 1930s jazz standard, Harlem Nocturne. The song was written by Earle Hagen when he was a teenager! He later gave us some of the greatest TV themes ever: “Andy Griffith Show”, “Dick Van Dyke Show”, “Gomer Pyle USMC”, “Danny Thomas Show”, “That Girl”, “I Spy”, “Mod Squad”

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!

15 SEPTEMBER PLAY LIST

Play List – The Phantom Dancer 107.3 2SER-FM Sydney, Live Stream, Digital Radio Community Radio Network Show CRN #430
107.3 2SER Tuesday 15 September 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	Swing on 1930s Radio
Open + Star Dust	Eliot Lawrence Orchestra	Meadowbrook Ballroom Cedar Grove NJ WOR Mutual NY 1951
Take the A Train (theme) + Koko	Duke Ellington Orchestra	Town Casino NBC Cleveland OH 1952
GI Jive + Close	Raymond Scott Orchestra (voc) Dorothy Collins	‘The Raymond Scott Show’ AFRS Re-broadcast 1944
Set 2	Sam ‘The Man’ Taylor Big Band
Open + Push It	Sam ‘The Man’ Taylor Big Band	‘Rock’n’Roll Dance Party’ WCBS CBS NY 4 Sep 1956
Flag Waver	Sam ‘The Man’ Taylor Big Band	‘Rock’n’Roll Dance Party’ WCBS CBS NY 11 Sep 1956
Taylor Made + Close	Sam ‘The Man’ Taylor Big Band	‘Rock’n’Roll Dance Party’ WCBS CBS NY 4 Sep 1956
Set 3	Hillbilly Radio
Theme + Sugar Foot Rag	Skip Skipper Quartet	‘Stokely Hi Noon Roundup’ WMPS Memphis 1952
I Found It In Mother’s Bible	Skip Skipper Quartet (voc) Miss Sally Carter	‘Stokely Hi Noon Roundup’ WMPS Memphis 1952
I’ve Got A Gal Up On My Mind + Rainbows End + Close	The Plainsmen	‘Call of the Range’ KNX CBS Los Angeles 1946
Set 4	Bing Crosby and Rosemary Clooney
Enchanted	Rosemary Clooney (voc) Buddy Cole Music	‘Bing Crosby and Rosemary Clooney Show’ CBS Hollywood 20 Mar 1962
Shine On Harvest Moon	Bing Crosby and Rosemary Clooney (voc) Buddy Cole Music	‘Bing Crosby and Rosemary Clooney Show’ CBS Hollywood 20 Mar 1962
Deed I Do	Bing Crosby (voc) Buddy Cole Music	‘Bing Crosby and Rosemary Clooney Show’ CBS Hollywood 20 Mar 1962
Baby, Baby + Close	Rosemary Clooney (voc) Buddy Cole Music	‘Bing Crosby and Rosemary Clooney Show’ CBS Hollywood 20 Mar 1962
Set 5	Louis Armstrong
Open + I Never Knew	Louis Armstrong Orchestra (voc) Louis Armstrong	‘Spotlight Bands’ Dallas Tx Blue Network 17 Aug 1943
You Rascal You	Louis Armstrong All-Stars (voc) Louis Armstrong	‘Guest Star’ Radio Transcription New York City 7 May 1950
Basin Street Blues	Louis Armstrong All-Stars (voc) Louis Armstrong	‘Guest Star’ Radio Transcription New York City 12 Dec 1954
Skeleton in the Closet + Close	Louis Armstrong Orchestra (voc) Louis Armstrong	‘Norge Program’ Radio Transcription New York City 1937
Set 6	1930s Australian Dance Orchestras
Marmelade	Jim Davidson and his ABC Dance Band	Comm Rec Sydney 24 Jan 1938
Cosmopolitan Blues	Maurice Gilman Orchestra (voc) Noel Judd	Comm Rec Sydney 8 Jan 1935
Annie Laurie	Jim Davidson and his ABC Dance Band (voc) Alice Smith	Comm Rec Sydney 24 Jan 1938
Harlem Heat	Dudley Cantrell and his Grace Grenadiers	Comm Rec Sydney 22 Nov 1937
Set 7	1940s Dance Band Singers
I Dream of You	Bob Allen (voc) Tommy Dorsey Orchestra	‘For The Record’ Carnegie Hall WEAF NBC NY 17 Apr 1944
Playmates	Lorraine Benson (voc) Ray Herbeck and his Music with Romance Orchestra	Trianon Ballroom WGN Chicago 24 Nov 1947
Is You Is Or Is You Ain’t My Baby?	Betty Martin and Randy Ryan (voc) Bob Strong Orchestra	Glen Island Casino New Rochelle NY WOR Mutual NY 5 Aug 1944
Old Fashioned Love	Eddy Howard (voc) Eddy Howard Orchestra	Aragon Ballroom WGN Mutual Chicago 5 Dec 1948
Set 8	Charlie Parker’s 100th Birthday
Repetition / Interview / They Can’t Take That Away From Me	Charlie Parker and Strings	‘Symphony Sid Show’ Birdland WJZ ABC NY 7 Apr 1951
52nd Street Theme	Charlie Parker and Miles Davis	‘Symphony Sid Show’ Royal Roost WMCA NY 4 Sep 1948
Night in Tunisia	Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie	‘Symphony Sid Show’ WJZ ABC NY Birdland 31 Mar 1951
Ornithology	Charlie Parker and Kenny Dorham	‘Symphony Sid Show’ Royal Roost WMCA NY 1 Jan 1949

Fats Waller – Phantom Dancer 18 August 2020

Fats Waller from 1938-43 radio and recordings is this week’s Phantom Dancer feature artist. You’ll hear Fats Waller broadcsting live and on V-Discs.

Greg Poppleton presents The Phantom Dancer every week. It’s your non-stop mix of swing and jazz from live 1920s-60s radio and TV every week. The Phantom Dancer’s been on-air over 107.3 2SER Sydney since 1985.

Hear The Phantom Dancer online from 12:04pm AEST Tuesday 18 August at https://2ser.com/phantom-dancer/ where you can also hear two years of archived shows.

As always, the finyl hour is vinyl.

THE FINAL CURTAIN

At the end Waller’s career in 1943, the year he died, Fats Waller had the distinction of becoming the first African-American songwriter to compose a hit Broadway musical that was seen by a mostly white audience. Broadway producer Richard Kollmar’s hiring of Waller to create the musical Early to Bed was recalled in a 2016 essay about Waller by John McWhorter, an American academic and linguist who is Associate Professor of English and Comparative Literature at Columbia University, where he teaches linguistics, American studies, philosophy, and music history.

“Even as late as 1943, the idea of a black composer writing the score for a standard-issue white show was unheard of. When Broadway performer and producer Richard Kollmar began planning Early to Bed, his original idea was for Waller to perform in it as a comic character, not to write the music. Waller was, after all, as much a comedian as a musician. Comedy rarely dates well, but almost 80 years later, his comments and timing during “Your Feet’s Too Big” are as funny as anything on Comedy Central, and he nearly walks away with the movie Stormy Weather with just one musical scene and a bit of mugging later on, despite the competition of Bill “Bojangles” Robinson, Lena Horne, and the Nicholas Brothers. Kollmar’s original choice for composer [of Early to Bed] was Ferde Grofé, best known as the orchestrator of George Gershwin’s “Rhapsody in Blue,” whose signature compositions were portentous concert suites. But Grofé withdrew, and it is to Kollmar’s credit that he realized that he had a top-rate pop-song composer available in Waller. Waller’s double duty as composer and performer was short-lived. During a cash crisis and in an advanced state of intoxication, Waller threatened to leave the production unless Kollmar bought the rights to his Early to Bed music for $1,000. (This was typical of Waller, who often sold melodies for quick cash when in his cups. The evidence suggests, for example, that the standards “I Can’t Give You Anything but Love” and “On the Sunny Side of the Street” were Waller tunes.) Waller came to his senses the next day, but Kollmar decided that his drinking habits made him too risky a proposition for eight performances a week. From then on, Waller was the show’s composer only, with lyrics by George Marion, whose best-remembered work today is the script for the Astaire-Rogers film The Gay Divorcée.”

Six months after the premiere of Early to Bed, it was still playing in a Broadway theater. At that point newspapers reported Waller’s premature death.

VIDEO OF THE WEEK

Two acetates of piano by Fats Waller recorded in 1943 probably in September during a private session.
The first piece is ‘That Does It’, the second one is unknown.

18 AUGUST PLAY LIST

Play List – The Phantom Dancer 107.3 2SER-FM Sydney, Live Stream, Digital Radio Community Radio Network Show CRN #450
107.3 2SER Tuesday 18 August 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	1940s Swing Orchestras Live On-Air
Open + Whispering	Gene Krupa Orchestra	‘Spotlight Bands’ Blue Network 11 Nov 1944
Speak Low + Instrumental	Bob Chester Orchestra	‘One Night Stand’ Panther Room Hotel Sherman Chicago AFRS Re-broadcast 10 Aug 1944
With My Head In The Clouds + Close	Glenn Miller AAF Orchestra (voc) Tex Beneke and The Modernaires	‘Uncle Sam Presents’ New York City AFRS Re-broadcast Feb 1944
Set 2	Let’s Go To Town Transcriptions 1954
Open + Song In Blue	Les Paul and Mary Ford	‘Let’s Go To Town’ Radio Transcription Hollywood 1954
Don’t Get Around Much Anymore	Dorsey Brothers Orchestra (voc) Patti Page	‘Let’s Go To Town’ Radio Transcription Hollywood 1954
Man From Mars + Blue Flame (Close)	Woody Herman Third Herd	‘Let’s Go To Town’ Radio Transcription Hollywood 1954
Set 3	Vaudeville and Music Hall on the Radio
So Is Your Old Lady	Sadie Gale (voc) Humphrey Bishop and his AWA Light Opera Company	‘Songs Of The Shows’ 2CH – AWA Sydney Jun 1944
Selections from ‘The Girlfriend’	Royal Air Force Concert Party	‘Serenade To The Stars’ British Forces Radio London 1944
Have Your Chill	Coot Grant and Kid Socks Wilson	‘This is Jazz’ WOR Mutual NY 3 May 1947
Set 4	1930s – 1940s Pop on Your Hit Parade
As Long As Your Not In Love With Somebody Else + Brazil	Mark Warnow Orchestra (voc) Barry Wood and The Hit Paraders	‘Your Hit Parade’ AFRS Re-broadcast New York 23 Jan 1943
Let’s Get Lost	Mark Warnow Orchestra (voc) Fran Sinatra	‘Your Hit Parade’ Rehearsal WABC CBS NY 9 Oct 1943
Change Partners + I’ve Got A Pocket Full of Dreams + Close	Al Goodman Orchestra (voc) The Hit Paraders	‘Your Hit Parade’ WABC CBS NY 22 Oct 1938
I’ll See You In My Dreams	Greg Poppleton (voc) and the Bakelite Broadcasters	From the new album ‘Back In Your Own Backyard’
Set 5	Fats Waller on the Radio
Waller Jive	Fats Waller (piano and vocal)	V-Disc New York City 23 Sep 1943
Ain’t Misbehavin’ (Open) + Hold My Hand	Fats Waller and his Rhythm (voc) FW	WEAF NBC Red NY 16 Jul 1938
Yacht Club (Open) + I Do, Do You?	Fats Waller and his Rhythm	Panther Room Hotel Sherman WMAQ NBC Red Chicago 10 Dec 1940
When You And I Were Young + Yacht Club Swing (theme)	Fats Waller and his Rhythm (voc) FW	Panther Room Hotel Sherman WMAQ NBC Red Chicago 3 Dec 1940
Set 6	Early 1930s Radio Bands
Between The Devil and the Deep Blue Sea	Roane’s Pennsylvanians (voc) ‘Snowball’ and Band Chorus	Comm Rec New York City 28 Jan 1932
Do The New York	Gus Arnheim Orchestra	‘Cocoanut Grove’ Radio Transcription Los Angeles 1932
Dancing With Tears In My Eyes	Ruth Etting (voc) Ben Selvin Orchestra	Radio Transcription New York City 1930
When The Rest Of The Crowd Goes Home	Jimmy Grier Orchestra (voc) Donald Novis	‘Cocoanut Grove’ Radio Transcription Los Angeles 1931
Set 7	Harry ‘The Hipster’ Gibson 1940s Radio
Handsome Harry The Hipster	Harry ‘The Hipster’ Gibson	Radio Transcription Muzak NYC 21 Apr 1944
In A Mist	Harry ‘The Hipster’ Gibson	‘Eddie Condon Jazz Concert’ Town Hall WJZ Blue NY 22 Jul 1944
Candlelight	Harry ‘The Hipster’ Gibson	‘Eddie Condon Jazz Concert’ Town Hall WJZ Blue NY 22 Jul 1944
Who Put The Benzedrine In Mrs Murphy’s Ovaltine	Harry ‘The Hipster’ Gibson	Radio Transcription Los Angeles 8 Feb 1946
Set 8	Women Big Band Singers on 1940s Radio
‘sWonderful	Betty and Rosemary Clooney (voc) Tony Pastor Orchestra	Aircheck New York City Oct 1948
It’s So Peaceful In The Country	Peggy Lee (voc) Benny Goodman Orchestra	Meadowbrook Ballroom Cedar Grove NJ WABC CBS NY 20 Sep 1941
I’d Do It All Over Again	Anita O’Day (voc) Gene Krupa Orchestra	Astor Roof, Hotel Astor WOR Mutual NY 15 Aug 1945
Beg Your Pardon	Dinah Shore (voc) Harry James Orchestra	‘Dinah Shore Show’ KFI NBC LA 4 May 1948

Harry The Hipster Gibson Plays Bix – Phantom Dancer 5 May 2020

Harry ‘ The Hipster’ Gibson is your feature artist on this week’s Greg Poppleton Phantom Dancer. You’ll hear him play two of Bix Beidebecke’s famous piano compositions, In a Mist and Candlelight on live 1944 radio.

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 5 May at https://2ser.com/phantom-dancer/

The last hour is all vinyl.

1920s-30s

Harry “The Hipster” Gibson was a jazz pianist, singer, and songwriter. Gibson played New York style stride piano and boogie woogie while singing in a wild, unrestrained style. His music career began in the late 1920s, when under his real name, he played stride piano in Dixieland jazz bands in Harlem. He continued to perform there throughout the 1930s, adding the barrelhouse boogie of the time to his repertoire.

Gibson was fond of playing Fats Waller tunes, and when Waller heard Gibson in a club in Harlem in 1939, he hired him to be his relief pianist at club dates. Between 1939 and 1945, Gibson played at Manhattan jazz clubs on 52nd Street (“Swing Street”). Harry took the name “Gibson” from brand of gin.

1940s

Gibson was known for writing unusual songs considered ahead of their time.

He recorded often but there are very few visual examples of his work. In 1944 he filmed three songs in New York for the Soundies film jukeboxes, and he went to Hollywood in 1946 to appear as himself in the feature-length film musical Junior Prom. He preceded white rock-and-rollers by a decade: the Soundies he recorded are similar to Jerry Lee Lewis’s raucous piano numbers of the 1950s.

For all his wild-man theatrics, Gibson demonstrated remarkable discipline. While working on “Swing Street” at night, he was a fellow at the Juilliard Graduate School during the day. At the time, Juilliard was strictly a classical music academy; Gibson excelled there.

Like Mezz Mezzrow, Gibson consciously abandoned his ethnicity to adopt black music and culture. Gibson grew up near Harlem in New York City and his constant use of black jive talk was not an affectation; it was simply something he picked up from his fellow musicians. In his autobiography, Gibson claims he coined the term hipster between 1939 and 1945 when he was performing on Swing Street, and he started using “Harry the Hipster” as his stage name.

1950s

He recorded “Who Put the Benzedrine in Mrs. Murphy’s Ovaltine?”, released in January 1946 and radio stations across America refused to play it, resulting in his being blacklisted in the music industry. Although Gibson’s mainstream movie appearance in Junior Prom was released that same year, it couldn’t overcome the notoriety of the “Benzedrine” record. Gibson’s own drug use led to his decline.

1960s-80s

In the 1960s, when Gibson saw the huge success of the Beatles, he switched to rock and roll. By the 1970s, he was playing hard rock, blues, bop, novelty songs and a few songs that mixed ragtime with rock and roll. His hipster act became a hippie act. His old records were revived on the Dr. Demento radio show, particularly “Benzedrine”, which was included on the 1975 compilation album Dr. Demento’s Delights.

His comeback resulted in three more albums: Harry the Hipster Digs Christmas, Everybody’s Crazy but Me, (its title taken from the lyrics of “Stop That Dancin’ Up There”) (Progressive, 1986), and Who Put the Benzedrine in Mrs. Murphy’s Ovaltine (Delmark, 1989). Those two include some jazz, blues, ragtime, and rock and roll songs about reefer, nude bathing, hippie communes, strip clubs, male chauvinists, “rocking the 88s”, and Shirley MacLaine.

Gibson may have been the only jazz pianist of the 1930s and 1940s to go on to play in rock bands in the 1970s and 1980s.

VIDEO OF THE WEEK

‘Handsome Harry the Hipster’ from 1944. Enjoy.

5 MAY PLAY LIST

Play List – The Phantom Dancer 107.3 2SER-FM Sydney, Live Stream, Digital Radio Community Radio Network Show CRN #435
107.3 2SER Tuesday 5 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	1930s Swing on the Wireless
Back Room Romp (A Contrapuntal Stomp)	Rex Stewart and his 52nd Street Sompers	Comm Rec NYC 7 July 1937
Margie	Benny Goodman Orchestra	‘Camel Caravan’ WABC CBS New York 6 Sep 1938
Here Comes Your Pappy Down The Own Dusty Road + Close	Bob Crosby Orchestra (voc) The Freshman	‘Ford V-8 Revue’ NYC 1936
Set 2	The Songs of Juan Tizol
Zambu	Harry James Orchestra featuring Juan Tizol	Meadowbrook Gardens Cedar Grove NJ WNBC NBC NY Feb 1946
Take The A-Train (theme) + Caravan	Duke Ellington featuring Juan Tizol (tb)	‘Stars in Jazz’ Birdland WNBC NBC NY 24 Nov 1952
Perdido + Lullaby of Birdland (theme)	Sarah Vaughan	‘Stars In Jazz’ Birdland WNBC NBC NY 31 Mar 53
Is There Life On Other Planets?	Various Learned Professors	‘University of Chicago Roundtable’ NBC Chicago 1948
Set 3	The Great Jazz Singers of the 1950s on Radio and Tv
Keeps On Raining	Billie Holliday	‘Eddie Condon’s Floor Show’ WPIX TV NY 1949
You’re My Thrill	Carmen McCrea	‘All-Star Parade Of Bands’ Birdland WRCA NBC NY 1956
Linger Awhile + Tenderly (Close)	Sarah Vaughan	‘All-Star Parade of Bands’ Sardi’s Hollywood KFI NBC LA 21 May 1956
Set 4	Cuban Rhythms – Cugie and Desi on the Radio
Open + Brazil	Xavier Cugat Orchestra (voc) Choir	‘Xavier Cugat Show’ AFRTS Re-broadcast 1944
Cachita	Desi Arnez Orchestra (voc) DA	Ciro’s Hollywood KNX CBS LA 1946
Chiu Chiu + Close	Xavier Cugat Orchestra (voc) Nita Rosa	‘Xavier Cugat Show’ AFRTS Re-broadcast 1944
Set 5	1944 – 1946 Radio Swing on One Night Stand
Cherokee	Charlie Barnet Orchestra	Radio Transcription 21 Jul 1944
Zanzi	Cab Calloway Orchestra	‘One Night Stand’ Club Zanzibar NY AFRS Re-broadcast 16 Jul 1945
On The Road To Mandalay	Jack Teagarden Orchestra	‘One Night Stand’ Joplin, Missouri AFRS Re-broadcast 18 Mar 1946
Holiday For Swing + Trinidad	Erskine Hawkins Orchestra	‘One Night Stand’ Blue Room Hotel Lincoln NY AFRS Re-broadcast 1 May 1946
Set 6	1930s Swing on the Radio
can You Take It?	Fletcher Henderson Orchestra	Comm Rec New York 18 Aug 1933
Let’s Dance (theme) + Te Object Of My Affection	Benny Goodman Orchestra (voc) Buddy Clark	‘Let’s Dance’ WEAF NBC Red NY 1 Dec 1934
Zonky	Glen Gray and the Casa Loma Orchestra	‘Camel Caravan’ WABC CBS NY 17 Dec 1935
Happy As The Day Is Long + Close	Tommy Dorsey Orchestra	‘Ford V-8 Show’ Texas Centennial Exposition Dallas Aug 1936
Set 7	Bix Beidebecke
Singin’ The Bluess	Frankie Trambauer Orchestra Orchestra, Bix Beidebecke (cnt) The 1st recorded jazz ballad?	Comm Rec New York 4 Feb 1927
In A Mist + Candlelight – both composed by Bix	Harry ‘The Hipster’ Gibson (piano)	‘Eddie Condon’s Jazz Concert’ Town Hall WJZ Blue Network NY 22 Jul 1944
You Took Advantage Of Me	Paul Whiteman Orchestra (voc) Bing Crosby (cnt) Bix Beidebecke	Comm Rec New York 28 Apr 1928
Set 8	Bop Singers On The Air
What’s The Matter Now?	Clyde Hart’s All-Stars (tp) Dizzy Gillespie (voc) Rubberleg Williams	Comm Rec NYC Jan 1945
Hurry Home + Deedle + Royal Roost Bop	Dave Lambert and Buddy Stewart (voc)	‘Symphony Sid Show’ Royal Roost WMCA NY 5 Mar 1949
I’m Forever Blowing Bubbles	Jackie Kane and Roy Kral (voc) Charlie Ventura Quartet	‘Symphony Sid Show’ WMCA NY 1949
Romance Without Finance	Charlie Parker Quintet (voc) Jimmy Butts	Comm Rec NYC 15 Sep 1944

Dixieland Revival – Phantom Dancer 21 April 2020

Your feature artists on this week’s Greg Poppleton Phantom Dancer are all (but one) broadcasting from San Francisco in the 1950s. They are Jimmy Dorsey (in a radio transcription), Muggsy Spanier, Kid Ory and Turk Murphy – all part of the Dixieland revival that went worldwide from the late 1930s into the 1960s (in Australia).

The Phantom Dancer, your non-stop 2 hour mix of swing and jazz from live 1920s-60s radio, is produced and presented by 1920s-30s singer and actor Greg Poppleton can be heard online from 12:04pm AEST Tuesday 21 April at https://2ser.com/phantom-dancer/

The last hour is all vinyl.

DIXIELAND REVIVAL

Was a movement of the late 1930s to the 1950s (in the US) reviving earlier improvisational jazz. It was a reaction to the arranged music of swing orchestras. The traditional front lines consisting of trumpets, trombones, and clarinets, and ensemble improvisation over a two-beat rhythm.

The term “Dixieland” was applied to early jazz by traditional jazz revivalists, starting in the 1940s and 1950s. The name is a reference to the “Old South”, specifically anything south of the Mason-Dixon line. The term encompasses earlier brass band marches, French Quadrilles, biguine, ragtime, and blues with collective, polyphonic improvisation. While instrumentation and size of bands varied, the “standard” band consisted of of a “front line” of trumpet (or cornet), trombone, and clarinet, with a “rhythm section” of at least two of the following instruments: guitar or banjo, string bass or tuba, piano, and drums. Louis Armstrong’s All-Stars was the band most popularly identified with Dixieland during the 1940s, although Armstrong’s own influence during the 1920s was to move the music beyond the traditional New Orleans style.

The definitive Dixieland sound is created when one instrument (usually the trumpet) plays the melody or a recognizable paraphrase or variation on it and the other instruments of the “front line” improvise around that melody. This creates a more polyphonic sound than the arranged ensemble playing of the big band sound or the straight “head” melodies of bebop.

During the 1930s and 1940s, the earlier group-improvisation style fell out of favor with the majority of younger black players, while some older players of both races continued on in the older style. Though younger musicians developed new forms, many beboppers revered Armstrong and quoted fragments of his recorded music in their own improvisations.

The Dixieland revival in the late 1940s and 1950s brought many semi-retired musicians a measure of fame late in their lives as well as bringing retired musicians back onto the jazz circuit after years of not playing (e.g., Kid Ory and Red Nichols). Many Dixieland groups of the revival era consciously imitated the recordings and bands of decades earlier. Other musicians continued to create innovative performances and new tunes. For example, in the 1950s a style called “Progressive Dixieland” sought to blend polyphonic improvisation with bebop-style rhythm. Spike Jones and His New Band and Steve Lacy played with such bands. This style is sometimes called “Dixie-bop”. Lacy went on to apply that approach to the music of Thelonious Monk, Charles Mingus, Duke Ellington, and Herbie Nichols.

Muggsy Spanier

CHICAGO STYLE

“Chicago style” is often applied to the sound of Chicagoans such as Jimmy McPartland, Eddie Condon, Muggsy Spanier, and Bud Freeman. The rhythm sections of these bands substitute the string bass for the tuba and the guitar for the banjo. Musically, the Chicagoans play in more of a swing-style 4-to-the-bar manner. The New Orleanian preference for an ensemble sound is deemphasized in favor of solos. Chicago-style Dixieland also differs from its southern origin by being faster paced, resembling the hustle-bustle of city life. Chicago-style bands play a wide variety of tunes, including most of those of the more traditional bands plus many of the Great American Songbook selections from the 1930s by George Gershwin, Jerome Kern, Cole Porter, and Irving Berlin. Non-Chicagoans such as Pee Wee Russell and Bobby Hackett are often thought of as playing in this style. This modernized style came to be called Nicksieland, after Nick’s Greenwich Village night club, where it was popular, though the term was not limited to that club.

Turk Murphy at Club Hangover

WEST COAST REVIVAL

The “West Coast revival” is a movement that was begun in the late 1930s by Lu Watters and his Yerba Buena Jazz Band in San Francisco and extended by trombonist Turk Murphy. It started out as a backlash to the Chicago style, which is closer in development towards swing. The repertoire of these bands is based on the music of Joe “King” Oliver, Jelly Roll Morton, Louis Armstrong, and W.C. Handy. Bands playing in the West Coast style use banjo and tuba in the rhythm sections, which play in a two-to-the-bar rhythmic style.

Much performed traditional Dixieland tunes include: “When the Saints Go Marching In”, “Muskrat Ramble”, “Struttin’ with Some Barbecue”, “Tiger Rag”, “Dippermouth Blues”, “Milenberg Joys”, “Basin Street Blues”, “Tin Roof Blues”, “At the Jazz Band Ball”, “Panama”, “I Found a New Baby”, “Royal Garden Blues” and many others. All of these tunes were widely played by jazz bands of the pre-WWII era, especially Louis Armstrong. They came to be grouped as Dixieland standards beginning in the 1950s.

Your Phantom Dancer Video of the Week is ‘Yes Suh!’ 26/Jul/32 NYC., THE RHYTHMAKERS: Red Allen (t) Jimmy Lord (cl) Pee Wee Russell (ts) Fats Waller (p,v) Eddie Condon (bj) Jack Bland (g) Pops Foster (b) Zutty Singleton (d) Billy Banks(v). Enjoy!

21 APRIL PLAY LIST

Play List – The Phantom Dancer 107.3 2SER-FM Sydney, Live Stream, Digital Radio Community Radio Network Show CRN #433
107.3 2SER Tuesday 21 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 Mon 2:30 – 3:30am 4NAG Keppel FM 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 2ARM Armidale Friday 12 – 1pm 7LTN Launceston 5 – 6am 3MGB Mallacoota Sunday 5 – 6am
Set 1	Prehistoric Stan Kenton from 1941 Radio
Artistry in Rhythm	Stan Kenton Orchestra	Radio Transcription C. P. MacGregor Studios Los Angeles Nov 1941
A Setting In Motion	Stan Kenton Orchestra	Radio Transcription C. P. MacGregor Studios Los Angeles 20 Sep 1941
Blues in F Minor	Stan Kenton Orchestra	Radio Transcription C. P. MacGregor Studios Los Angeles 6 Jan 1942
El Choclo	Stan Kenton Orchestra	Radio Transcription C. P. MacGregor Studios Los Angeles Oct 1941
Set 2	Swing Band Leaders Speak on the Radio
Sunrise Serenade	Glenn Miller Orchestra	Glen Island Casino New Rochelle NY WEAF NBC Red NY 15 Nov 1938
When I Get It + Blue Lou + Close	Harry James Orchestra lead by Tommy Dorsey	Casino Gardens Ocean Park KECA ABC LA 12 Aug 1944
Hallelujah	Benny Goodman Quartet	‘For The Record’ WEAF NBC NY 1944
Set 3	Lounge Music on 1920s – 1950s Radio
Sugarloaf Mambo	Bernard ‘Whitey’ Berquist’ and the Chicago NBC Symphony Orchestra	‘Monitor’ WRCA NBC NY 19 Jun 1956
On The Wood Pile	Harry Bruer (xylophone) with the Colonial Club Orchestra	‘Brunswick Brevities’ WABC CBS NY 1929
White Sails + Time On My Hands	Johnny Saab (organ)	‘Musical Interlude’ WJSV CBS Washington DC 21 Sep 1939
Set 4	From Birdland over WNBC in 1952
Stuffy	Coleman Hawkins and Roy Eldridge Orchestra	‘Stars in Jazz’ Birdland WNBC NBC NY 1952
Stardust + Lady Be Good	Kai Winding Group	‘Stars in Jazz’ Birdland WNBC NBC NY 2 Sep 1952
Set 5	The 1950s Dixie Revival on Radio
Chicago	Jimmy Dorsey ‘Dorseyland Band’	‘Marine Corp Show’ Radio Transcription Los Angeles 1950
Squeeze Me	Muggsy Spanier and his Dixieland All-Stars	‘Club Hangover’ KCBS San Francisco 11 Apr 1953
St James Infirmary	Kid Ory’s Creole Jazz Band	‘Club Hangover’ KCBS San Francisco 10 Oct 1954
Memphis Blues + Bay City (close)	Turk Murphy’s San Francisco Jazz Band	‘Easy Street’ KCBS San Francisco 9 Dec 1958
Set 6	Early Radio Appearances By Famous Singers
Shine	The Hoboken Four (Frank Sinatra’s first radio appearance)	‘Major Bowes’ Original Amateur Hour’ WABC CBS NY 1935
From The Bottom Of My Heart	Frank Sinatra (voc) Harry James Orchestra	‘America Dances’ Famous Door WABC CBS NY / BBC London Jul 1938
I’m Happy About The Whole Thing	Doris Day (voc) Barney Rapp and his New Englanders	Sign of the Drum Cincinnati Ohio NBC 17 Jun 1939
I Cried For You	Bing Crosby	WABC CBS NY 7 Nov 1931
Set 7	Harmony Singers on 1930s – 1940s Radio
When My Dreamboat Goes Home	The King Sisters with Frank DeVol	‘Radio Transcription’ Los Angeles 1949
Chi Baba, Chi Baba	Lionel Hampton Orchestra (voc) Herman McCoy and the Hamp-Tones	Casa Manana Culver City Ca KFI NBC LA 20 Jul 1947
That Sly Ol’ Gentleman	Benny Goodman Orchestra (voc) Martha Tilton and the Quintones	‘Camel Caravan’ WABC CBS NY 4 Apr 1939
Tiger Rag	The Inkspots	WFIL NBC Red Philadelphia 12 Jul 1939
Set 8	Swinging on 1940s Radio
Open + Tea For Two	Bob Strong Orchestra	Glen Island Casino New Rochelle NY WOR Mutual NY 5 Aug 1944
Theme + Quiet Riot	Buddy Rich Orchestra	‘Spotlight Bands’ Quonset Naval Air Station Rhode Island Blue Network 25 Jan 1946
The Elks’ Parade	Bobby Sherwood Orchestra	Terrace Room New Jersey WCBS CBS NY 17 Feb 1945
Cottontail	Duke Ellington Orchestra	‘A Date With The Duke’ Evansville Indiana ABC 16 Jun 1945

Left Field 1953 Band Leaders on NBC Radio – 14 April Phantom Dancer

Sauter-Finegan, Stan Kenton and Billy May were three 1953 bands making way-out sounds on NBC radio and are this week’s Greg Poppleton Phantom Dancer feature artists. You’ll also hear from vocal group The Hi-Los, an influence on young pianist, Herbie Hancock. Read the three band leader stories below…

The Phantom Dancer is your non-stop 2 hour mix of swing and jazz from live 1920s-60s radio. On-air with Greg Poppleton since 1985.

The Phantom Dancer produced and presented by 1920s-30s singer and actor Greg Poppleton can be heard online from 12:05pm AEST Tuesday 14 April at https://2ser.com/phantom-dancer/

The last hour is all vinyl.

Sauter-Finegan Orchestra

SAUTER – FINEGAN

The Sauter-Finegan Orchestra was an American swing jazz band popular in 1953.
The orchestra was led by Eddie Sauter and Bill Finegan, who were both experienced big band arrangers. Sauter played mellophone, trumpet, and drums. He had attended Columbia University and Juilliard. Finegan had studied at the Paris Conservatory. They began recording together in 1952, using inventive arrangements that made use of a variety of unusual instruments, including many orchestral instruments as well as oddities like the kazoo and the beaten human chest.

A June 7, 1952, article in the trade publication Billboard described the new group as “a creative band, which will combine dance music as well as mood interpretations.”

The group initially had a three-year contract with RCA Victor, with plans “for about 16 sides a year.” Their first chart appearance was with “Doodletown Fifers”, their version of a Civil War tune called “Kingdom Coming and the Year of Jubilo”. “Nina Never Knew” (featuring vocalist Joe Mooney) and “The Moon is Blue” (with Sally Sweetland) soon followed on the charts. With the success of the singles, they put together a 21-member touring ensemble and began playing venues in 1953.  Because the group played in dance halls rather than concert venues, they encountered little success on the road, and quit touring in 1955 after having accrued much debt.

June Christie singing with the Stan Kenton Orchestra

STAN KENTON

In 1950 Kenton fput together the large 39-piece Innovations in Modern Music Orchestra that included 16 strings, a woodwind section, and two French horns. The music was an extension of the works composed and recorded since 1947 by Bob Graettinger, Manny Albam, Franklyn Marks and others. Name jazz musicians such as Maynard Ferguson, Shorty Rogers, Milt Bernhart, John Graas, Art Pepper, Bud Shank, Bob Cooper, Laurindo Almeida, Shelly Manne, and June Christy were part of these musical ensembles. The groups managed two tours during 1950–51, from a commercial standpoint it would be Stan Kenton’s first major failure.

In order to be more commercially viable, Kenton reformed the band in 1951 to a much more standard instrumentation: five saxes, five trombones, five trumpets, piano, guitar, bass, drums. The charts of such arrangers as Gerry Mulligan, Johnny Richards, and particularly Bill Holman and Bill Russo began to dominate the repertoire. The music was written to better reflect the style of cutting edge, be-bop oriented big bands like those of Dizzy Gillespie and Woody Herman. Young, talented players and outstanding jazz soloists such as Maynard Ferguson, Lee Konitz, Conte Candoli, Sal Salvador and Frank Rosolino made strong contributions to the level of the 1952–53 band. The music composed and arranged during this time, which you hear from live 1953 radio, was far more tailor-made to contemporary jazz tastes and was one of the high points in Kenton’s career as band leader.

Billy May, sousaphone

BILLY MAY

After playing tuba for a few local bands, May heard Charlie Barnet’s band on the radio in his hometown of Pittsburgh. In the summer of 1938, he approached the bandleader and asked if he could write arrangements for the band. From 1938–40, he wrote arrangements and played trumpet for Barnet’s big band.

His arrangement of the Ray Noble composition “Cherokee” became a major hit of the swing music era. During the Barnet days, May revealed a significant flair for satire on a composition, “The Wrong Idea”, composed with Barnet, ridiculing the bland “Mickey Mouse” style of safe big-band music, with specific aim at bandleader Sammy Kaye, known for his “swing and sway” trademark. May’s caustic lyrics to the song called it “swing and sweat with Charlie Barnet”. Bandleader Glenn Miller hired May away from Barnet in 1940. “May points out that he was not responsible for any of the [Glenn Miller] band’s signature hits, but he did write the beautiful left-field introduction to [Bill] Finegan’s [arrangement of] ‘Serenade In Blue'”.

May’s charts often featured brisk tempos and intricate brass parts. One distinctive feature of his style is his frequent use of trumpet mute devices; another, a saxophone glissando, is widely known as his “slurping saxes”. He wrote in slower tempos, sometimes using string arrangements.

LOOK AT THIS 1930s DRUM KIT

Your Phantom Dancer Video of the Week is from a Larry Clinton 1939 Vitaphone short with vocals by Bea Wain and Ford Leary. Also note the clear shots of the 1930s drum kit where the cymbals are on bent poles attached to the bass drum.

14 APRIL PLAY LIST

Play List – The Phantom Dancer 107.3 2SER-FM Sydney, Live Stream, Digital Radio Community Radio Network Show CRN #432
107.3 2SER Tuesday 14 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 Mon 2:30 – 3:30am 4NAG Keppel FM 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 2ARM Armidale Friday 12 – 1pm 7LTN Launceston 5 – 6am 3MGB Mallacoota Sunday 5 – 6am
Set 1	1930s True Crime, Fox and Gypsy
Calling All Cars Theme	Studio Orchestra	‘Calling All Cars’ KNX CBS LA 17 Nov 1938
Unidentified Song	Jaroslav Jezek Orchestra	Comm Rec Prague 1938
Hallelujah!	Svenskahotkvintetten	Comm Rec Stockholm Oct 1939
Set 2	1930s European Pop on 1930s US Radio
The Lambeth Walk	Benny Goodman Orchestra (voc) Martha Tilton	‘Camel Caravan’ WABC CBS NY 6 Sep 1938
Harbour Lights	Rudy Vallee (voc) Robert Ambruster Orchestra	‘Chase and Sanborn Hour’ WEAF NBC Red NY 3 Oct 1937
My Prayer	Paul Whiteman Orchestra (voc) Joan Edwards	‘Chesterfield Show’ WABC CBS NY 25 Oct 1939
Set 3	Spotlight Bands 1943-45 Blue Network
Open + Blue Skies	Jimmy Joy Orchestra	‘Spotlight Bands’ Harlingen Tx Blue Network 6 Jan 1945
Chatanoogo Choo Choo Boogie	Sammy Kaye Orchestra	‘Spotlight Bands’ Washington DC Blue Network 31 Jan 1942
Take It Down + What Is This Thing Called Love + Close	Leo Reisman Orchestra	‘Spotlight Bands’ National Press Club Washington DC Blue Network 23 Jan 1943
Set 4	Way-Out Sounds on 1953 Radio
Open + Tweedle-Dee Tweedle-Dum	Sauter – Finnegan Orchestra	‘All Star Parade of Bands’ Blue Note WMAQ NBC Chicago 12 sep 1953
Blue Eyes	Stan Kenton Orchestra (voc) Conte Condoli	‘Concert in Miniature’ Student Union Teachers’ College WBOW NBC Terre Haute Indiana 16 June 1953
Do You Ever Think Of Me?	Billy May Orchestra (voc) The Encores	‘All Star Parade of Bands’ Palladium Ballroon KFI NBC LA 21 Dec 1953
Set 5	Mellow Swing on 1940s Radio
Brahm’s Lullaby	Les Elgart Orchestra	Radio Transcription New York City 1946
Trouble, Trouble	Benny Carter Orchestra (voc) Betty Roche	‘Jubilee’ AFRS Hollywood 1944
It’s Mellow	Glen Gray and the Casa Loma Orchestra	Terrace Room Hotel New Yorker WABC CBS New York May 1944
Way Low	Duke Ellington Orchestra	‘A Date With The Duke’ 400 Restaurant WJZ ABC NY 28 Apr 1945
Set 6	Trad Jazz on 1930s-40s Radio
Won’t You Come Over To My House, Baby?	Lazy Ade’s Big 4 (voc) Ade Monsborough	3AW Melbourne 1949
Waiting For The Evening Whistle	Eddie Condon Group	‘Eddie Condon’s Town Hall Jazz Concert’ Town Hall WJZ Blue NY 30 Sep 1944
You’re Driving Me Crazy	Bob Crosby’s Bobcats	‘Camel Caravan’ WABC CBS NY 18 Jul 1939
Dixieland Band	Benny Goodman Orchestra (voc) Helen Forrest	Palomar Ballroom KFI NBC Red LA 22 Aug 1935
Set 7	1940s Radio Big Band Swing
Open + Jeep Rhythm	Jimmie Lunceford Orchestra	‘Spotlight Bands’ Jefferson Barracks, Missouri Mutual Network 23 Nov 1945
The New Look	Charlie Spivak Orchestra	Palladium Ballroom KNX CBS LA 4 Apr 1948
Mister Pastor Goes To Town	Tony Pastor Orchestra	Broadcast New York City 1945
One O’Clock Jump	International Sweethearts of Rhythm + Armed Forces Radio Service Orchestra	‘Jubilee’ AFRS Hollywood Mar 1945
Set 8	Mod Sounds on WHDH Boston 1953 – 54
Hi Beck	Lee Konitz	Storyville Copley Square Hotel WHDH Boston 5 Jan 1954
Them There Eyes	Billie Holliday	Storyville Copley Square Hotel WHDH Boston Oct 1953
Groovin’ High	Charlie Parker	Storyville Copley Square Hotel WHDH Boston 22 Sep 1953

Lord Invader 1940s Calypso – Phantom Dancer 7 April 2020

Lord Invader is this week’s Phantom Dancer feature artist. He was a Calypso singer and composer who began performing in the 1930s and recorded in the US from 1941 to 1959. We hear one of his 1941 sides today, introduced by actor Vincent Price. He composed ‘Rum and Coca Cola’, a hit for The Andrew Sisters.

The Phantom Dancer produced and presented by 1920s-30s singer and actor Greg Poppleton can be heard online from 12:05pm AEST Tuesday 7 April at https://2ser.com/phantom-dancer/

The final hour of the mix is all vinyl.

LORD INVADER

Lord Invader was born in Trinidad. He first came to notice in 1937 when he began performing in the capital, Port of Spain.

He competed in the very first  Calypso King competition and recorded for Bluebird records.

The Decca label invited him to New York City in 1941 to record.

He wrote many calypso lyrics, his most famous ‘Rum and Coca-Cola‘, was plagiarised by Morey Amsterdam and became a hit for the Andrews Sisters.

The melody had been previously published as the work of Venezuelan calypso composer Lionel Belasco on a song titled “L’Année Passée,” which was in turn based on a folk song from Martinique. Invader wrote lyrics to the tune.

The song became a local hit and was at the peak of its popularity when Amsterdam visited the island in September 1943 as part of a U.S.O. tour.

In 1948, after years of litigation, both plaintiffs won their cases, with Lord Invader receiving an award of $150,000 in owed royalties. However, Morey Amsterdam was allowed to retain copyright to the song. Lord Invader wrote a follow-up song to “Rum and Coca-Cola”, titled “Yankee Dollar”.

In the early 1940s, radio stations in the USA refused to play Lord Invader’s original version on the grounds of its using the trademarked name, and its references to prostitution and alcohol.

Invader later opened a calypso club in Trinidada and toured the U.S, Britain and Europe.

VIDEO OF THE WEEK

Birdsong had a place on US radio from the mid-1920s into the 1950s.

The show that started it all was American Radio Warblers, a program selling birdseed.

Organist Preston Sellers performed with TEN canaries.

The show ran for almost 30 years, finishing on the Mutual Network from Chicago.

Trill, I mean thrill, to Preston and ‘The Original Feathered Stars of the Air’ in this commercial 78 recording…

7 APRIL PLAY LIST

Play List – The Phantom Dancer 107.3 2SER-FM Sydney, Live Stream, Digital Radio Community Radio Network Show CRN #431
107.3 2SER Tuesday 7 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 Mon 2:30 – 3:30am 4NAG Keppel FM 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 2ARM Armidale Friday 12 – 1pm 7LTN Launceston 5 – 6am 3MGB Mallacoota Sunday 5 – 6am
Set 1	Live 1950s Big Band Swing Radio
Theme + Dancing in the Dark	Jerry Gray and his Band of Today	Edgewater Beach Hotel WMAQ NBC Chicago 8 Jun 1951
The Song is You	Buddy Morrow Orchestra	‘Let’s Go With Music’ Radio Transcription Hollywood 1954
Jam with Sam + Caravan	Duke Ellington Orchestra	Town Casino NBC Cleveland OH 17 Sep 1952
Set 2	1930s Calypso, Turkish and Persian Music announced by Vincent Price
New York Subway	Lord Invader	‘The World in Music’ AFRS Hollywood 1944
Shake Around	Lord Beginner	‘The World in Music’ AFRS Hollywood 1944
Odalisque and Zara	Unknown Turkish then Persian Orchestra	‘The World in Music’ AFRS Hollywood 1944
Set 3	1944 Jump and Swing On The Air
That’s The Stuff You Gotta Watch	Buddy Johnson Orchestra (voc) Ella Johnson and Band	Comm Rec New York City 4 Oct 1944
Accentuate the Positive	Louis Armstrong Orchestra (voc) Louis Armstrong	‘One Night Stand’ New Zanzibar Cafe NY AFRS Re-broadcast 18 Mar 44
To Me You Are Beautiful + Flying Home	Lionel Hampton Orchestra	‘One Night Stand’ Civic Auditorium Oakland Ca AFRS Re-broadcast 4 Jun 44
Set 4	Dance Bands on ‘One Night Stand’
Oh You Beautiful Doll (theme) + Lullaby of Broadway	Music in the Foster Fashion (voc) Chuck Foster	‘One Night Stand’ Terrace Room Hotel New Yorker NY AFRS Re-broadcast 13 Aug 1945
Let’s Take It Slow	Shep Fields and his New Music	‘One Night Stand’ AFRS Re-broadcast 1943
Medley: A Pretty Girl is Like a Melody / Mandy / All By Myself	Frankie Carle (piano and rhythm)	‘One Night Stand’ Cocoanut Grove Ambassador Hotel LA AFRS Re-brodcast 1951
Set 5	Crooners on 1930s Radio
I’ll Follow You	Bing Crosby	Comm Recording New York City 28 Oct 1932
Under The Palms	Donald Novis (voc) Gus Arnheim Orchestra	‘Cocoanut Grove’ Radio Transcription TRANSCO Hollywood 1932
TBA	Rudy Vallee	‘Fleishman Yeast Hour’ WEAF NBC Red New York 1934
I’ve Had My Moments + I’m Not Lazy I’m Dreaming	Russ Columbo	‘Hollywood on the Air’ KECA NBC Blue LA 15 Jul 1934
Set 6	Famous Name Bands on 1940s Radio
Mister Pastor Goes To Town	Tony Pastor Orchestra	Aircheck New York City Feb 1942
Blue Cellophane	Duke Ellington Orchestra	‘Downbeat Awards’ Chicago Opera House Blue Network Chicago 25 Mar 1945
Body and Soul (theme) + Chant of the Groove	Coleman Hawkins Orchestra	Savoy Ballroom Aircheck NYC 1940
Paducah + Clarinet a la King	Benny Goodman Orchestra (voc) Benny Goodman	‘Spotlight Bands’ Springfield Mass Blue Network 29 Sep 1943
Set 7	Forgotten Singers from 1939-40 Radio
“I” The Living “I” (Gilbert and Sullivan)	Erskine Hawkins Orchestra (voc) Ida James	Comm Rec New York City 8 Apr 1939
Oh, You Crazy Moon	Bea wain (voc) Your Hit Parade Orchestra	‘Your Hit Parade’ WEAF NBC Red NY 7 Oct 1939
Looking For Yesterdays	Artie Shaw Orchestra (voc) Anita Boyer	Broadcast New York City 26 Oct 1940
I Cried For You	Bunny Berrigan Orchestra (voc) Kitty Lane	Trianon Ballroom WCLE Cleveland OH 9 Apr 1939
Set 8	Radio Bands Inspired by BeBop
Elevation + Heart to Heart (theme)	Elliot Lawrence Orchestra	Palladium Ballroom KNX CBS LA 5 Dec 1947
God Child	Chubby Jackson Orchestra	‘Symphony Sid Show’ Royal Roost WMCA NY 12 Mar 1949
How High The Moon	Allen Eager	Birdland WJZ ABC NY Jun 1953
Bye Bye Blues	Benny Goodman Sextet	‘One Night Stand’ The Click Philadelphia AFRS Re-broadcast 3 Jun 1948

1940s Trumpet Players – Phantom Dancer 28 March 2020

1940s trumpet player band leaders: Pippo Barzizza, Charlie Spivak and Randy Brooks, are the Phantom Dancer feature artists kicking off this week’s non-stop live radio mix.

The Phantom Dancer produced and presented by 1920s-30s singer and actor Greg Poppleton can be heard online from 12:05pm AEDST Tuesday 31 March at https://2ser.com/phantom-dancer/

Two hour non-stop mix of swing and jazz from live 1920s-60s radio and TV presented by Greg Poppleton on radio 2SER 107.3 Sydney since 1985.

In this week’s mix hear Jo Stafford and a set of women pop singers on 1930s-50s radio, a set of Dizzy Gillespie radio and a set of 1940s radio swing bands lead by trumpet players Barzizza, Spivak and Randy Brooks.

The last hour is all vinyl.

PIPPO BARZIZZA

With his friend and rival Cinico Angelini, Pippo Barzizz became the pre-eminent Italian swing and jazz band leader in the 1930s, 40s and 50s.

Beginning with his Blue Star Orchestra, then with Orchestra Cetra in the 1930s (which recorded 7,000 sides), and his Orchestra Moderna in the 1950s (which included a young Ennio Morricone), Barzizza broadcast regularly on EAIR, the national Italian radio, and then its post-war successor, RAI, intil 1954.

He composed songs and film soundtracks. His treatise on musical exercises, “Barzizza’s method” was published in 1952.

Pippo composed songs such as “Domani”, “Sera”, (a beautiful piece “with a harmony almost too high for that period”) and solo orchestra songs as “Do sol la si do” and his extraordinary “Adagio”.

CHARLIE SPIVAK

Spivak’s band was one of the most successful in the 1940s and survived until 1959.

Spivak’s experience playing with jazz musicians had little effect on his own band’s style, which was straight dance music, made up mainly of ballads and popular tunes. Spivak himself (known as “Cheery, Chubby Charlie”) had been noted for his trumpet’s sweet tone and his strength for playing lead parts, rather than for any improvisational ability. He was also known as “The Man Who Plays The Sweetest Trumpet In The World”.

RANDY BROOKS

Brooks began on trumpet at age six, and by eleven was touring with Rudy Vallee. He then worked with Claude Thornhill, Bob Allen, Bernie Cummins, Art Jarrett, and Les Brown before founding his own band in 1944. John Benson Brooks (no relation) contributed arrangements to the ensemble, and Stan Getz played in it in 1946. Among his hits for Decca Records were “Tenderly”, “Harlem Nocturne” and “The Man With The Horn”, but his swing-based style and large ensemble were out of step with the times, and his success eroded toward the end of the decade.
He was married to singer and band leader, Ina Ray Hutton.

Your Phantom Dancer Video of the Week is Pippo Barzizza leading and conducting the RAI TV Orchestra on his compositions “Il Boscaiolo” and “Sera” on the 60th Anniversary RAI TV broadcast of 1986.
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!

31 MARCH PLAY LIST

Play List – The Phantom Dancer 107.3 2SER-FM Sydney, Live Stream, Digital Radio Community Radio Network Show CRN #430
107.3 2SER Tuesday 31 March 2020 After the 2SER 12 noon news, 12:04 – 2:00pm (+11 hours GMT) and Saturdays 5 – 5:55pm National Program: 1ART ArtsoundFM Canberra Sunday 10 – 11pm 5GTR Mt Gambier Mon 2:30 – 3:30am 4NAG Keppel FM 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 2ARM Armidale Friday 12 – 1pm 7LTN Launceston 5 – 6am 3MGB Mallacoota Sunday 5 – 6am
Set 1	Swing Bands of Trumpet Playing Leaders on 1940s Radio
Non Hai Piu La Veste A Fiori Blu	Alberto Rabagliati e Quartetto Vocale Hot (voc) Pippo Barzizza Orchestra	Comm Rec Cetra, Rome 1946
Open + Stomping Room Only	Charlie Spivak Orchestra	‘One Night Stand’ Steel Pier Atlantic City NJ AFRS Re-broadcast 1947
Perdido + Theme	Randy Brooks Orchestra	‘One Night Stand’ Roseland Ballroom New York City AFRS Re-broadcast 14 Jul 1945
Set 2	Mickey Mouse Bands On 1950s – 60s Radio
Open + Tea For Two	Leon Kellner Orchestra	Blue Room Roosevelt Hotel WWL CBS New Orleans 1964
Mississippi Mud	Dick Jurgens Orchestra (voc) Al Galante and Band	Aragon Ballroom Aragon Ballroom WBBM CBS Chicago Dec 1950
Little Girl + Goodnight My Love + Drifting and Dreaming (Close)	Orrin Tucker Orchestra (voc) OT	Boulevarde Room Stevens Hotel ABC Chicago 1951
Set 3	Women Pop Singers on 1930s-50s Radio
More Than You Know	Jo Stafford (voc) Victor Young Orchestra	’Your Melody Hour’ KFI NBC Los Angeles 5 Aug 1951
If This Is Love, I Don’t Want Love	Kay Thompson	’Dodge Show’ Radio Transcription New York City 1935
Brahm’s Lullaby + Close	Ginny Simms + Chorus (voc) Cookie Fairchild Orchestra	’Personal Album’ AFRS Hollywood 1944
Set 4	Crooners on 1940s Radio
Open + Careless Hands	Frank Sinatra and The Hit Paraders (voc) Alex Stordahl Orchestra	’Your Hit Parade’ KFI NBC LA 30 Apr 1949
Open + Let’s Have Another Cup Of Coffee + Rise and Shine	Gordon MacRae	’The Railroad Hour’ KFI NBC Los Angeles 7 Aug 1950
Lucky Ol’ Sun	Dick Haymes and The Andrew Sisters (voc) Jerry Gary Orchestra	’Club 15’ KNX CBS Los Angeles 23 Sep 1949
Set 5	Dizzy Gillespie on 1940s-50s Radio
Lady Byrd	Dizzy Gillespie Orchestra	Aircheck Apollo Ballroom Harlem NY 22 Jan 1947
Manteca	Dizzy Gillespie Orchestra	Winter Palace Stockholm Radio Sweden 2 Feb 1948
Doodlin’	Dizzy Gillespie Orchestra	Birdland WCBS CBS NY Jul 1956
Jam Session	Dizzy Gillespie with Orchestra	Rex Theatre RTF Paris Feb 1953
Set 6	Piano Playing Band Leaders on the Air
If You Can’t Smile and Say Yes	Nat King Cole Trio	Trocadero KHJ Mutual LA 26 Apr 1945
Body and Soul	Teddy Wilson Orchestra	’America Dances’ BBC London via WABC CBS NY 1939
Every Tub	Count Basie Orchestra	’Stars in Jazz’ Birdland WNBC NBC NY 14 Jan 1953
Flying Home	Duke Ellington Orchestra	Blue Note WMAQ NBC Chicago 13 Aug 1952
Set 7	1930s Radio Jazz and Dance Bands
Black and Blue Rhythm	Jack Hylton Orchestra	Comm Rec London 26 Sep 1933
Crazy Rhythm	Benny Goodman Orchestra (voc) Helen Ward	’Let’s Dance’ WEAF NBC Red New York City 8 Dec 1934
Dardenella	Bunny Berrigan Orchestra	’Saturday Night Swing Club’ WABC CBS NY 31 Oct 1936
Haunting Me	Henry Busse Orchestra	Radio Transcription Hollywood 1935
Set 8	Trad Bands on Radio
Beale Street Blues	Jimmy Dorsey Dorseyland Band	Radio Transcription Los Angeles 1950
Heebie Jeebies	Eddie Condon Group	’Eddie Condon Town Hall Jazz Concert’ WJZ Blue NY 9 Sep 1944
I’m Confessin’	Hot Lips Page	’Doctor Jazz’ Stuyvesant Casino WMGM New York City 1950
That’s A Plenty	Muggsy Spanier	Club Hangover KCBS San Francisco 18 Apr 1953

The 1929-45 Teenager – Phantom Dancer 25 February 2020

This week’s Phantom Dancer 25 February mix feature artist from live 1920s-60s radio is The Teenager.

Specifically, we’ll hear three examples from 1929 – 45 radio of music and spoken word aimed at the teenager. You’ll even hear the massed voices of teenagers in a Frank Sinatra broadcast.

The Phantom Dancer with actor and 1920s-30s singer Greg Poppleton can be heard online now at https://2ser.com/phantom-dancer/

The last hour is all vinyl.

HAROLD TEEN

‘Harold Teen’ is a 1929 song celebrating the popular comic book character of the same name first published in 1919, written and drawn by Carl Ed (pronounced “eed”).

Asked in the late 1930s why he had started the strip, Ed answered, “Twenty years ago, there was no comic strip on adolescence. I thought every well-balanced comic sheet should have one.”

Harold Teen 1928 movie poster

The success of the strip led to toys, figurines, pins and other products.

Carl Ed received writing credit for both film adaptations of Harold Teen. Tap dancer Hal Le Roy had the title role in the 1934 movie musical Harold Teen. In the 1928 silent version, Harold was portrayed by Arthur Lake, best known for his many performances as Dagwood Bumstead.

There was also a Harold Teen radio show mid-day on Saturdays on the Tribune radio station WGN in Chicago. It was mostly a DJ show with Harold and his buddy Shad spinning the latest hits.

Kansas City jazz band pianist Joe Sanders wrote a song about the “Don Juan of comic strip fame”, describing him as a “human love machine” and as “romance personified”. A performance by the Coon-Sanders Original Nighthawk Orchestra can be heard in the March 1, 1929, episode of the Maytag Frolics radio program on this week’s Phantom Dancer

BOBBY SOXERS

Bobby soxer is term for a very zealous fan of 1940s traditional pop music, in particular that of singer Frank Sinatra. We’ll hear them screaming after a Frank song in this week’s Phantom Dancer.

Bobby soxers were usually teenage girls in high schools and colleges, who got their name from the bobby socks that they wore.

Teenage actress Shirley Temple played a stereotypical Bobby socker in the film The Bachelor and the Bobby-Soxer (1947).

Bobby soxers

SEVENTEEN

Turns out, as you’ll hear announced on this week’s Phantom Dancer, that Eddie Condon’s dxieland jazz was ‘OK with teenage USA’.  This reported wisdom came from a newly published magazine, Seventeen, the first magazine aimed at 13-17 year old girls that treated them like adults so they could be sold to.

Helen Valentine (1893-1986) was the founder and editor in chief of Seventeen.

April 1945 Seventeen cover

In 1944, while serving as promotion director for Mademoiselle magazine at Walter Annenberg’s Triangle Publications, she was asked by Annenberg to help revive a movie magazine.

Although the concept of “teenager” as a distinct demographic segment of the population was a relatively new idea at that time, Valentine instead proposed a magazine for teen-age girls. Noticing the wide popularity of a King Features Syndicate comic strip by cartoonist Hilda Terry that focused on the trials and tribulations of a typical teenager’s life entitled Teena which began running in July 1944, Valentine convinced Annenberg that teenage girls needed a magazine of their own and that the then unserved demographic had the potential to become an important and lucrative new consumer market segment stating that “It was time to treat children as adults.”

The magazine was launched in September 1944 and within a year, Seventeen had a circulation of a million. Seventeen is credited with creating a teen market for clothing manufacturers and other industries.

VIDEO

The Phantom Dancer Video of the Week  is a short clip from the documentary, Teenage, featuring Bobby Soxers. 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!

25 FEBRUARY PLAY LIST

Play List – The Phantom Dancer 107.3 2SER-FM Sydney, Live Stream, Digital Radio Community Radio Network Show CRN #425
107.3 2SER Tuesday 25 February 2020 After the 2SER 12 noon news, 12:04 – 2:00pm (+11 hours GMT) and Saturdays 5 – 5:55pm National Program: 1ART ArtsoundFM Canberra Sunday 10 – 11pm 5GTR Mt Gambier Mon 2:30 – 3:30am 4NAG Keppel FM 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 2ARM Armidale Friday 12 – 1pm 3MGB Mallacoota Sunday 5 – 6am
Set 1	Sweet Music
Open + On the Sunny Side of the Street	Frances Langford	‘Swingtime’ AFRS Hollywood 1944
Open + Old Shanty Town	Owen Bradley and the Anita Kerr Singers (voc) Lion Oil Orchestra	‘Sunday Down South’ Lion Network. 25 Jul 1954
Sheik of Araby + Time To Say Goodbye (theme)	Russ Morgan Orchestra (voc) Russ Morgan	Club Del Mar Santa Monica Ca 22 Aug 1959
Set 2	Modern Music Radio
Open + Move	Miles Davis Nonet	‘Symphony Sid Show’ Royal Roost WMCA NY 4 Sep 1948
Open + Lady Be Good	Coleman Hawkins	‘Jazz Art Concert’ Theatre DeLys WNBC NBC NY 4 Oct 1952
Boogie Mysterioso	Mary Lou Williams Quintet	‘Jazz Club USA’ Voice of America 1951
Set 3	Selling Oldsmobiles
Open + Roll Out of Bed with a Smile	Johnny Green Orchestra	‘Oldsmobile Program’ WABC CBS NY 20 Feb 1934
Everything I Have Is Yours + After Sundown	Ruth Etting	‘Oldsmobile Program’ WABC CBS NY 20 Feb 1934
Temptation + I Wanna Be Loved (theme)	Johnny Green Orchestra	‘Oldsmobile Program’ WABC CBS NY 20 Feb 1934
Set 4	Aimed at Teenagers
Open + I Found a New Baby	Eddie Condon	‘Eddie Condon Town Hall Jazz Concert’ Ritz Theatre WJZ Blue NY 3 Mar 1945
Open + Harold Teen	Coon-Sanders Nighthawks (voc) Joe Sanders	‘Maytag Frolics’ Radio Transcription 28 Feb 1929
I Love You	Frank Sinatra	‘Your Hit Parade’ WABC CBS NY 6 May 1944
Set 5	Trad Jazz on Radio
Royal Garden Blues	Jimmy Dorsey Dorseyland Band	Radio Transcription Los Angeles 1950
Eh, La Bas!	Papa Celestin	‘Dixieland Jamboree’ WDSU ABC New Orleans 1950
Jazz Me Blues	Bob Crosby Bobcats	Blackhawk Restaurant WGN Mutual Chicago 25 Mar 1940
Copenhagen	Artie Shaw Orchestra	Blue Room Hotel Lincoln WEAF NBC Red NY 30 Dec 1939
Set 6	Swing Radio
Take The A-Train (theme) + Way Low	Duke Ellington Orchestra	Hurricane Restaurant Aircheck NYC 28 Aug 1943
Open + Sugarfoot Stomp	Benny Goodman Orchestra	‘Spotlight Bands’ Springfield Ma. Blue Network 29 Sep 1943
Frantic in the Atlantic	Cab Calloway Orchestra	‘One Night Stand’ Club Zanzibar AFRS re-broadcast 16 Jul 1946
Your Father’s Moustache	Woody Herman Orchestra	‘Wild Root Creme Oil Show’ ABC 1 Dec 1946
Set 7	1930s French Swing
Got a Date in Louisiana	Philippe Brun Swing Band	Comm Rec Paris 8 Mar 1938
Avalon	Michel Warlop Orchestra	Comm Rec Paris 2 Mar 1935
What’ll I Do	Fletcher Allen Orchestra	Comm Rec Paris 15 Mar 1938
Popcorn Man	Ray Ventura Orchestra (voc) Betty Allen	Comm Rec Paris 1938
Set 8	1940s-50s Moderne
BeBop	Howard McGee Sextet	Aircheck Hollywood 29 Apr 1947
Imagination	Slim Gaillard	‘Symphony Sid Show’ Birdland 2 Jun 1951
Oo-Ba-Ba-Re-Ba	Charlie Barnet Orchestra	400 Restaurant New York City Aircheck 1945
Mulligantawny	Woody Herman Third Hers	‘All-Star Parade of Bands’ Peony Park WOW NBC Omaha 1954

Richard Himber Unusual Arrangements 1936-38 Radio – Phantom Dancer 18 February 2020

This week’s 18 February Phantom Dancer mix of swing of jazz feature artist from live 1920s-60s radio, on radio and online, is composer, band leader, violinist, and magician, Richard Himber.

Richard Himber was a gimmicks man. He had the first vanity phone number back in 1932, R-HIMBER, and he came up with the idea of bands playing on the back of flatbed trucks for promotions. Hear him on 1936-38 radio on this week’s Phantom Dancer with Greg Poppleton.

The Phantom Dancer with actor and 1920s-30s singer Greg Poppleton can be heard online now at https://2ser.com/phantom-dancer/

The last hour is all vinyl.

 

From his Wiki entry…

Richard Himber Orchestra

TUCKER

He was born as Herbert Richard Imber in Newark, New Jersey to the owner of a chain of meat stores. His parents gave him violin lessons but when they found him performing in a seedy Newark dive, they took the instrument away from him and sent him to military school. In 1915, he stole away into New York City, where Sophie Tucker heard him play and hired him as a novelty act to play with her and the Five Kings of Syncopation where Himber was the highlight of the cabaret act.

He worked his way through Vaudeville and down Tin Pan Alley. He managed Rudy Vallee’s orchestra service, which sent out bands for private parties and society functions. A suave salesman and irrepressible idea man, he soon had his own band booking agency. In 1932, he acquired the first known “vanity” telephone number, R-HIMBER, answered 24 hours a day. Later that year, Himber finally formed an orchestra of his own, parlaying a gig at New York’s Essex House Hotel into national NBC radio exposure. Among the top-notch professionals in its ranks were Benny Goodman, Tommy Dorsey, Artie Shaw and many other future stars of the music world.

CAREER

In 1933 Richard Himber made his first records, for Vocalion under the name “Dick Himber,” which intimates always called him. Among the selections was his own theme song, “It Isn’t Fair,” a song he wrote which became a hit. In 1934 after a single session for Victor’s budget label Bluebird, he began recording for the full-priced Victor label until 1939. He led one of the most sophisticated “sweet” dance bands of the era, featuring Joey Nash as his vocalist (1933–1935), who was replaced by Stuart Allen (1935–1939). We hear Stuart Allen on this week’s Phantom Dancer.

Himber was also a skilled magician, and invented many magic tricks including “The Himber Wallet,” “The Himber Ring,” and the “Himber Milk Pitcher.” In later years, his band act often included an interlude of magic and he conjured on many television shows as well.

An amazing Richard Himber magic trick – with comedy patter!

Himber was the publisher of the R-H Log, a weekly survey of the most popular tunes on radio and television. To the annoyance of most music publishers, he refused to accept payola. He once ordered his secretary to phone every major publisher and tell them he had a stroke, to which many of them joyfully replied, “It’s about time.”

Other popular tunes that Himber composed were “Moments in the Moonlight,” “After the Rain,” “Monday in Manhattan,” “Haunting Memories,” “Time Will Tell,” “Am I Asking Too Much,” and “I’m Getting Nowhere Fast with You.” In 1957 he wrote a TV theme for NBC’s Tonight! America After Dark when Jack Lescoulie was the interim host—before Jack Paar took over.

In the late 1930s Himber’s band was featured in short-subject films produced in New York by Paramount Pictures and Himber was also the maestro for New York’s annual Harvest Moon Ball.

FLATBED TRUCK

Among Himber’s novel promotions was a traveling bandstand on a flatbed truck, sponsored by Pepsi-Cola. The orchestra used it for free outdoor concerts in the New York City area in the 1960s. It was during one of these concerts in 1966 that Himber suffered a heart attack, dying several hours later.

VIDEO

Here is The Phantom Dancer Video of the Week, the Richard Himber 1937 soundie, ‘Richard Himber Plays For You’.

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!

18 FEBRUARY PLAY LIST

Play List – The Phantom Dancer 107.3 2SER-FM Sydney, Live Stream, Digital Radio Community Radio Network Show CRN #424
107.3 2SER Tuesday 18 February 2020 After the 2SER 12 noon news, 12:04 – 2:00pm (+11 hours GMT) and Saturdays 5 – 5:55pm National Program: 1ART ArtsoundFM Canberra Sunday 10 – 11pm 5GTR Mt Gambier Mon 2:30 – 3:30am 4NAG Keppel FM 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 2ARM Armidale Friday 12 – 1pm 3MGB Mallacoota Sunday 5 – 6am
Set 1	1938 – 40 Glenn Miller
Moonlight Serenade (theme) + I Never Knew	Glenn Miller Orchestra	Paradise Restaurant WEAF NBC Red NY 30 Dec 1938
Bei Mir Bist Du Schoen	Glenn Miller Orchestra (voc) Andrew Sisters	‘Chesterfield Show’ WABC CBS NY 27 Dec 1939
My My + Close	Glenn Miller Orchestra (voc) Marion Hutton	Cafe Rouge Hotel Pennsylvania WJZ NBC Blue NYC 15 Apr 1940
Set 2	Modern Radio
Prez’s Mood	Lester Young	1958 recording
I Got It Bad	Woody Herman Orchestra (voc) Mary Ann McCall	‘Excursions in Modern Music’ Rendezvous Ballroom KHJ Mutual LA 30 Jul 1949
My Lady + Bill’s Blues	Stan Kenton Orchestra (alto sax Lee Konitz)	‘Concert Encores’ Palladium Balroom KFI NBC LA 15 Jan 1953
Set 3	Benny Goodman and Fletcher Henderson
Some of These Days	Benny Goodman Quartet	‘Camel Caravan’ WABC CBS NY 13 Sep 1938
Pic-a-Rib	Benny Goodman Orchestra	‘Camel Caravan’ WEAF NBC Red NY 14 Oct 1939
Blue Skies	Benny Goodman Orchestra and Fletcher Henderson	‘Camel Caravan’ WABC CBS NY 13 Sep 1938
Set 4	Richard Himber
Bei Mir Bist Du Schoen	Lucky Strike Orchestra directed by Richard Himber (voc) Buddy Clark	‘Your Hit Parade’ WEAF NBC Red NY 15 Jan 1938
Yesterdays	Richard Himber and his Studebaker Champions	‘Magic Key’ WJZ NBC Blue NY 27 Dec 1936
Through the Courtesy of Love + It’s DeLovely	Richard Himber and his Studebaker Champions (voc) Stuart Allen	‘Magic Key’ WJZ NBC Blue NY 27 Dec 1936
Set 5	Women Big Band Singers  1937 – 40
I’m Getting Sentimental Over You (theme) + I’ll Those In Favour of Swing Say Aye	Edythe Wright (voc) Tommy Dorsey Orchestra	Cafe Rouge Hotel Pennsylvania WABC CBS NY 14 Sep 1939
It’s a Blue World	Ella Fitzgerald Orchestra (voc) EF	Savoy Ballroom Harlem WEAF NBC Red NY 4 Mar 1940
Darn That Dream	Helen Humes (voc) Count Basie Orchestra	Southland Cafe WNAC NBC Red Boston 20 Feb 1940
One, Two Button Your Shoes	Ivie Anderson (voc) Duke Ellington Orchestra	Cotton Club WABC CBS NY 18 Mar 1937
Set 6	1940s Swing Bands on Radio
Combination Solid	Charlie Spivak Orchestra	Radio Transcription 1941
Nightmares (theme) + Bedford Drive	Artie Shaw Orchestra	‘Spotlight Bands’ Santa Ana Ca. Mutual Network 3 Oct 1945
Is You Is or Is You Ain’t My Baby?	Bob Strong Orchestra (voc) Betty Martin and Randy Ryan	Glen Island Casino New Rochelle NY WOR Mutual NY 5 Aug 1944
Minding My Business	Buddy Rich Orchestra (voc) Dottie Reid	‘Spotlight Bands’ Phoenixville PA 24 Dec 1945
Set 7	Cab Calloway Commercial Sides
A Minor Breakdown	Cab Calloway Orchestra	Comm Rec 10 Dec 1937
Vuelva	Cab Calloway Orchestra	Comm Rec 17 Dec 1939
I Like Music	Cab Calloway Orchestra	Comm Rec 26 Jan 1938
Do I Care? No. No.	Cab Calloway Orchestra	Comm Rec 18 Mar 1940
Set 8	Harry James on 1954 Radio
Caxton Hall Swing	Harry James Orchestra	Radio Transcription New York City 23 Jan 1954
Cherry	Harry James Orchestra	NBC Superior WI 29 May 1954
Woodchopper’s Ball	Harry James Orchestra	‘All Star Parade of Bands’ WOW NBC Omaha 1954
Roll ‘Em + Cirribirribin (theme)	Harry James Orchestra	Aragon Ballroom WBBM CBS Chicago 20 Jun 1954

Fletcher Henderson – 11 February 2020 Phantom Dancer

This week’s 11 February Phantom Dancer mix of swing of jazz from live 1920s-60s radio, on radio and online, has Fletcher Henderson from 1940s-50s radio as feature artist.

Fletcher Henderson studied chemistry and maths. When he turned to music he changed jazz forever, introducing swing arrangements in the 1920s, bringing Louis Armstrong to NYC and making music literacy popular. Hear him on 1935-50 radio on this week’s Phantom Dancer with Greg Poppleton.

The Phantom Dancer with actor and 1920s-30s singer Greg Poppleton can be heard online now at https://2ser.com/phantom-dancer/

The last hour is all vinyl.

SWING

A gifted pianist from the age of 6, whose father made him practice for hours every day, Fletcher Henderson, studied chemistry and mathematics and worked in a laboratory before turning to music.

Henderson, along with Don Redman, established the formula for swing music. The two broke the orchestra into sections (woodwind section, brass section, rhythm section). These sections worked together to create a unique sound. Sometimes, the sections would play in call-and-response style. At other times one section would play supporting riffs behind the other. Swing, its popularity spanning over a decade, was the most fashionable form of jazz ever in the United States.

The immaculately dressed Fletcher Henderson Orchestra in 1936, while Henderson was also arranging for Benny Goodman

ARMSTRONG

Henderson was also responsible for bringing Louis Armstrong from Chicago to New York in October 1924, thus flipping the focal point of jazz in the history of the United States. Armstrong left the band in November 1925 and returned to Chicago.

Henderson also played a key role in bringing improvisatory jazz styles from New Orleans and other areas of the country to New York, where they merged with a dance-band tradition that relied heavily on arrangements written out in musical notation.

Fletcher Henderson Orch. in 1925 with Louis Armstrong

HOW’S STUDYING?

Henderson differed from other musicians in his time. He made the idea of playing jazz popular to ambitious, young, black musicians. He made it financially stable and a way to seize cultural power during the time.

Henderson cared for the appearance of the band. He was all for making an impact on the era. Henderson would see to it that each member had a clean-shaven face, a tuxedo, and polished shoes. It was recorded that he would do this before every performance, especially ones in predominantly white communities.

Henderson created a band that was capable of playing dance music and complex arrangements. Louis Metcalf said, “The sight of Fletcher Henderson’s men playing behind music stands brought on a learning-to-read-music kick in Harlem which hadn’t cared before it. There were two years of real concentration. Everybody greeted you with ‘How’s studying?’

Here is The Phantom Dancer Video of the Week, the Fletcher Henderson Ork playing ‘You Go To My Head’ live over WLS NBC Blue, Grand Terrace Ballroom, Chicago, in 1938. Enjoy!

Make sure you come back to this blog, Greg Poppleton’s Radio Lounge, every Tuesday, for the newest Phantom Dancer play list and Video of the Week!

11 FEBRUARY PLAY LIST

Play List – The Phantom Dancer 107.3 2SER-FM Sydney, Live Stream, Digital Radio Community Radio Network Show CRN #423
107.3 2SER Tuesday 11 February 2020 After the 2SER 12 noon news, 12:04 – 2:00pm (+11 hours GMT) National Program: ArtsoundFM Canberra Sunday 10 – 11pm Edge FM Bega Monday 3 – 4pm 7MID Oatlands Tuesday 8 – 9pm 2ARM Armidale Friday 12 – 1pm 3MGB Mallacoota Sunday 5 – 6am and early morning on 23 other stations.
Set 1	So-A-Tone
Sleep (theme) + On Your Toes	Fred Waring Orchestra (voc) Chorus + Johnny Davis	‘Fred Waring Show’ WABC CBS NYC 14 Apr 1936
Deep Forest (theme) + Limehouse Blues	Earl Hines Orchestra	Grand Terrance Cafe WMAQ NBC Red Chicago 3 Aug 1938
Ad + The Broken Record + Rhapsody in Blue (theme)	Paul Whiteman Orchestra (voc and piano) Ramona	‘Paul Whiteman’s Musical Varieties’ WJZ NBC Blue NYC 12 Jan 1936
Set 2	1960s Radio
Open + There’ll Never Be Another You	Billy Taylor and Wes Montgomery	‘The Navy Swings’ Radio Transcription Hollywood 1964
I’ve Got a Crush on You	Jerry Gray and his Band of Today (voc) Bobby Clark	Palladium Ballrom KFI NBC LA 20 Jan 1961
One Note Samba	Bola Sete	‘The Navy Swings’ Radio Transcription Hollywood 1965
Set 3	Dixieland on Radio
Blues in Bb	Opie Cates	‘Jubilee’ AFRS Hollywood 10 Jan 1948
Mamie’s Blues	Louis Armstrong	‘This is Jazz’ WOR Mutual NY 26 Apr 1947
I’ve Got The World on a String + Close	Hazel Scott	‘Jazz Club USA’ VOA Washington DC 1951
Set 4	Fletcher Henderson
Jeep Rhythm	Fletcher Henderson Orchestra	‘Jubilee’ AFRS Hollywood 1944
Alexander’s Ragtime Band	Fletcher Henderson arr. Benny Goodman Orchestra	‘Magic Key’ WLS NBC Blue Chicago 29 Dec 1935
Christopher Columbus (theme) + Royal Garden Blues	Fletcher Henderson Orchestra	Cafe Society Downtown WMGM New York 9 Dec 1950
Set 5	Dorsey Brothers 1955
I’m Getting Sentimental Over You + Sentimental Baby	Dorsey Brothers Orchestra (voc) Lynn Roberts	‘All-Star Parade of Bands’ Magnolia Room Hotel Claridge WMC NBC Memphis 19 Jun 1955
Open + My Brother is the Leader of the Band	Dorsey Brothers Orchestra	‘Stage Show’ CBS TV New York City 1 Jan 1955
Capital Idea + Close	Dorsey Brothers Orchestra	‘All-Star Parade of Bands’ Magnolia Room Hotel Claridge WMC NBC Memphis 19 Jun 1955
Set 6	1937 Benny Goodman Orchestra
Let’s Dance (theme) + Naughty Waltz	Benny Goodman Orchestra	Madhattan Room Hotel Pennsylvania WABC CBS NY 6 Nov 1937
Satan Takes a Holiday	Benny Goodman Orchestra	‘Camel Caravan’ WABC CBS NY 17 Aug 1937
Popcorn Man	Benny Goodman Orchestra (voc) Martha Tilton	Madhattan Room Hotel Pennsylvania WABC CBS NY 6 Nov 1937
Sing, Sing, Sing	Benny Goodman Orchestra	‘Camel Caravan’ WABC CBS NY 10 Aug 1937
Set 7	Fats Waller
Your Feets Too Big	Fats Waller	‘Command Performance USA’ AFRS Hollywood 1943
I’m Gonna Sit Right Down and Write Myself a Letter + Christopher Columbus	Fats Waller	‘The Magic Key’ WJZ NBC Blue NY 24 May 1936
The Joint is Jumpin’ + Summertime + Stompin’ at the Savoy	Fats Waller	‘This Is New York’ WABC CBS NY 11 Dec 1938
Set 8	Stan Kenton
Limelight	Stan Kenton Orchestra	‘Concert in Miniature’ Moonlight Gardens Coney Island NBC Cincinnati OH 26 Aug 1952
Painted Rhythm	Stan Kenton Orchestra	Palladium Ballroom KNX CBS LA 27 Nov 1945
Bags and Barrage	Stan Kenton Orchestra	‘Concert in Miniature’ NBC Fort Sheridan IL 2 Sep 1952
Eager Beaver	Stan Kenton Orchestra	Palladium Ballroom KNX CBS LA 27 Nov 1945