Shuffle Rhythm – Phantom Dancer 22 February 2022

Shuffle Rhythm features in this week’s Phantom Dancer with a set of 1930s shuffle rhythm by the exponents of the style, Jan Savitt and Henry Busse

The Phantom Dancer is your non-stop mix of swing and jazz from live 1920s-60s radio and TV hosted by me, Greg Poppleton. Hear past Phantom Dancer online now at https://2ser.com/phantom-dancer/.

This show will be online after 2pm AEST, Tuesday 22 February at https://2ser.com/phantom-dancer/

 

SHUFFLE

Is one of three varieties of quaver (or eighth note) rhythms musicians use. The others are straight and swing.

It’s based on triplet subdivisions of the beat and it’s easiest to understand it by hearing it, hence the shuffle rhythm videos and set featuring Jan Savitt and Henry Busse.

Shuffle quavers alternate a long note and a short note. The long note falls on the beat and the short one in-between on the upbeat.

It’s a quaver triplet without playing the middle note of the triplet. Think of the first two notes of the triplet being tied together or even missing the middle note of the triplet.

NOTATION

Mostly if a song uses shuffle it does it all through the song. To make it easier to read the notation the notes are written as straight quavers. At the start of the music there’ll be a note to read the quavers as shuffle quavers.

A common marking for shuffle is a little equation written at the beginning expressing 2 quavers are to be played like a triplet with the first two notes tied. Or, the first two quavers of the triplet are written as a crochet.

Another way to indicating shuffle is to simply write the word shuffle at the top of the music.

22 FEBRUARY PLAY LIST

Play List – The Phantom Dancer 107.3 2SER-FM Sydney LISTEN ONLINE Community Radio Network Show CRN #532
107.3 2SER Tuesday 22 February 2022 12:04 – 2:00pm (+11 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 1ART ArtsoundFM Canberra Friday 10 – 11am 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	Glenn Miller in German
Spoken Intro + Here We Go Again	Glenn Miller AAF Orchestra	‘Wehrmacht Stunde’ ABSIE American Broadcsting Station in Europe Abbey Road Studios London 30 Oct 1944
Begin the Beguine	Glenn Miller AAF Orchestra (voc) Irene Manning	‘Wehrmacht Stunde’ ABSIE American Broadcsting Station in Europe Abbey Road Studios London 27 Nov 1944
Long Ago and Far Away	Glenn Miller AAF Orchestra (voc) Johnny Desmond	‘Wehrmacht Stunde’ ABSIE American Broadcsting Station in Europe Abbey Road Studios London 6 Nov 1944
Set 2	Mickey Mouse Bands on 1940s Radio
Open + Sing a Song About Susie	Gay Claridge Orchestra	‘One Night Stand’ Chez Paree Chicago AFRS Re-broadcast 7 Aug 1944
As If I Didn’t Have Enough on my Mind	Leighton Noble Orchestra (voc) Helen Lind	‘One Night Stand’ Starlight Room Waldorf-Astoria Hotel NYC AFRS Re-broadcast Aug 1946
Riff Raff + Close	Bob Strong Orchestra (voc) Band	‘One Night Stand’ Glen Island Casino New Rochelle NY AFRS Re-broadcast 20 Aug 1944
Set 3	Chamber Music Society of Lower Basin Street
Open + The March of the Goons	Paul Lavalle	‘Chamber Music Society of Lower Basin Street’ WJZ NBC Blue NY 14 Jul 1941
Long, Long Ago	Diane Courtney	‘Chamber Music Society of Lower Basin Street’ WJZ NBC Blue NY 14 Jul 1941
Dark Eyes	Toots Mondelo	‘Chamber Music Society of Lower Basin Street’ WJZ NBC Blue NY 14 Jul 1941
Swanee River	Henry Levine	‘Chamber Music Society of Lower Basin Street’ WJZ NBC Blue NY 14 Jul 1941
Set 4	Shuffle Rhythm
Hot Lips (theme)+ Hurry Home	Henry Busse Orchestra	‘One Night Stand’ Palladium Ballroom Hollywood AFRS Re-broadcast 14 Sep 1944
You’re Driving Me Crazy	Jan Savitt Orchestra	‘One Night Stand’ Palladium Ballroom Hollywood AFRS Re-broadcast 20 Sep 1945
Cherokee	Henry Busse Orchestra	‘One Night Stand’ Palladium Ballroom Hollywood AFRS Re-broadcast 14 Sep 1944
Set 5	Swing Musicians Play Rock
Come A’Runnin’	Big Al Sears (voc) Jessie Stone	Comm Rec NYC 22 Apr 1955
Open + Why Do Fools Fall In Love	Count Basie Orchestra (voc) Frankie Lymon and the Teenagers	‘Rock’n’Roll Dance Party’ WCBS CBS NY 1956
Let’s Face It	Sam ‘The Man’ Taylor Orchestra	‘Rock’n’Roll Dance Party’ WCBS CBS NY 1956
I Almost Lost My Mind	Count Basie Orchestra (voc) Ivory Joe Hunter	‘Rock’n’Roll Dance Party’ WCBS CBS NY 1956
Set 6	Harry James Sells Bonds
Intro + Save The American Way	Harry James Orchestra (voc) Helen Forrest	‘Treasury War Bond Show’ Transcribed Mar 1942
This is Worth Fighting For	Harry James Orchestra (voc) Jimmie Saunders	‘Treasury War Bond Show’ Transcribed Mar 1942
My Beloved is Rugged	Harry James Orchestra (voc) Helen Forrest	‘Treasury War Bond Show’ Transcribed Mar 1942
Back Beat Boogie + Close	Harry James Orchestra	‘Treasury War Bond Show’ Transcribed Mar 1942
Set 7	Gimmick Band Radio Transcriptions
Snuff Stuff	Seger Ellis and his Choirs of Brass	Radio Transcription 1937
Let There Be Love	Shep Fields and his Rippling Rhythm Orchestra (voc) Hal Derwin	Radio Transcription 1940
Walkin’ the Dog	Seger Ellis and his Choirs of Brass	Radio Transcription 1937
It Never Entered My Mind	Shep Fields and his Rippling Rhythm Orchestra (voc) Hal Derwin	Radio Transcription 1940
Set 8	Progressive Jazz Radio
Open + Sweet Georgia Brown	Roy Eldridge	‘Bandstand USA’ Cafe Bohemia WOR Mutual NY Mar 1957
Perdido + Tiny’s Blues	Terry Gibbs All-Stars	‘Symphony Sid Show’ Royal Roost WMCA NY 1948
I Remember Clifford	Oscar Pettiford	Birdland WABC ABC NY 1957
Not So Sleepy	Oscar Pettiford	Birdland WABC ABC NY 1957

Shuffle Rhythm – Phantom Dancer 7 September 2021

Shuffle Rhythm features in this week’s Phantom Dancer with a set of 1930s shuffle rhythm by the exponents of the style, Jan Savitt and Henry Busse

The Phantom Dancer is your non-stop mix of swing and jazz from live 1920s-60s radio and TV hosted by me, Greg Poppleton. Hear past Phantom Dancer online now at https://2ser.com/phantom-dancer/.

LISTEN ONLINE. This show will be online after 2pm AEST, Tuesday 7 September at https://2ser.com/phantom-dancer/

 

SHUFFLE

Is one of three varieties of quaver (or eighth note) rhythms musicians use. The others are straight and swing.

It’s based on triplet subdivisions of the beat and it’s easiest to understand it by hearing it, hence the shuffle rhythm videos and set featuring Jan Savitt and Henry Busse.

Shuffle quavers alternate a long note and a short note. The long note falls on the beat and the short one in-between on the upbeat.

It’s a quaver triplet without playing the middle note of the triplet. Think of the first two notes of the triplet being tied together or even missing the middle note of the triplet.

 

NOTATION

Mostly if a song uses shuffle it does it all through the song. To make it easier to read the notation the notes are written as straight quavers. At the start of the music there’ll be a note to read the quavers as shuffle quavers.

A common marking for shuffle is a little equation written at the beginning expressing 2 quavers are to be played like a triplet with the first two notes tied. Or, the first two quavers of the triplet are written as a crochet.

Another way to indicating shuffle is to simply write the word shuffle at the top of the music.

7 SEPTEMBER PLAY LIST

Play List – The Phantom Dancer 107.3 2SER-FM Sydney LISTEN ONLINE   Community Radio Network Show CRN #508
107.3 2SER Tuesday 7 SEPTEMBER 2021 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 2SEA Eden Monday 3 – 4am 2MIA Griffith Monday 3 – 4am 2BAR Edge FM Bega Monday 3 – 4am 2BRW Braidwood Monday 3 – 4am 3VKV Alpine Radio Monday 6 – 7pm 7MID Oatlands Monday 6 -7pm 6GME Radio Goolarri Broome Tuesday 12am – 1am 2MCE Bathurst Wednesday 9 – 10am 1ART ArtsoundFM Canberra Friday 10 – 11am 2ARM Armidale Friday 12 – 1pm 5LCM Lofty FM Adelaide Friday 1 – 2pm 7LTN Launceston Sunday 5 – 6am 3MGB Mallacoota Sunday 5 – 6am 3BBR West Gippsland Sunday 5 – 6pm
Set 1	Glenn Miller in German
Spoken Intro + Here We Go Again	Glenn Miller AAF Orchestra	‘Wehrmacht Stunde’ ABSIE American Broadcsting Station in Europe Abbey Road Studios London 30 Oct 1944
Begin the Beguine	Glenn Miller AAF Orchestra (voc) Irene Manning	‘Wehrmacht Stunde’ ABSIE American Broadcsting Station in Europe Abbey Road Studios London 27 Nov 1944
Long Ago and Far Away	Glenn Miller AAF Orchestra (voc) Johnny Desmond	‘Wehrmacht Stunde’ ABSIE American Broadcsting Station in Europe Abbey Road Studios London 6 Nov 1944
Set 2	Mickey Mouse Bands on 1940s Radio
Open + Sing a Song About Susie	Gay Claridge Orchestra	‘One Night Stand’ Chez Paree Chicago AFRS Re-broadcast 7 Aug 1944
As If I Didn’t Have Enough on my Mind	Leighton Noble Orchestra (voc) Helen Lind	‘One Night Stand’ Starlight Room Waldorf-Astoria Hotel NYC AFRS Re-broadcast Aug 1946
Riff Raff + Close	Bob Strong Orchestra (voc) Band	‘One Night Stand’ Glen Island Casino New Rochelle NY AFRS Re-broadcast 20 Aug 1944
Set 3	Chamber Music Society of Lower Basin Street
Open + The March of the Goons	Paul Lavalle	‘Chamber Music Society of Lower Basin Street’ WJZ NBC Blue NY 14 Jul 1941
Long, Long Ago	Diane Courtney	‘Chamber Music Society of Lower Basin Street’ WJZ NBC Blue NY 14 Jul 1941
Dark Eyes	Toots Mondelo	‘Chamber Music Society of Lower Basin Street’ WJZ NBC Blue NY 14 Jul 1941
Swanee River	Henry Levine	‘Chamber Music Society of Lower Basin Street’ WJZ NBC Blue NY 14 Jul 1941
Set 4	Shuffle Rhythm
Hot Lips (theme)+ Hurry Home	Henry Busse Orchestra	‘One Night Stand’ Palladium Ballroom Hollywood AFRS Re-broadcast 14 Sep 1944
You’re Driving Me Crazy	Jan Savitt Orchestra	‘One Night Stand’ Palladium Ballroom Hollywood AFRS Re-broadcast 20 Sep 1945
Cherokee	Henry Busse Orchestra	‘One Night Stand’ Palladium Ballroom Hollywood AFRS Re-broadcast 14 Sep 1944
Set 5	Swing Musicians Play Rock
Come A’Runnin’	Big Al Sears (voc) Jessie Stone	Comm Rec NYC 22 Apr 1955
Open + Why Do Fools Fall In Love	Count Basie Orchestra (voc) Frankie Lymon and the Teenagers	‘Rock’n’Roll Dance Party’ WCBS CBS NY 1956
Let’s Face It	Sam ‘The Man’ Taylor Orchestra	‘Rock’n’Roll Dance Party’ WCBS CBS NY 1956
I Almost Lost My Mind	Count Basie Orchestra (voc) Ivory Joe Hunter	‘Rock’n’Roll Dance Party’ WCBS CBS NY 1956
Set 6	Harry James Sells Bonds
Intro + Save The American Way	Harry James Orchestra (voc) Helen Forrest	‘Treasury War Bond Show’ Transcribed Mar 1942
This is Worth Fighting For	Harry James Orchestra (voc) Jimmie Saunders	‘Treasury War Bond Show’ Transcribed Mar 1942
My Beloved is Rugged	Harry James Orchestra (voc) Helen Forrest	‘Treasury War Bond Show’ Transcribed Mar 1942
Back Beat Boogie + Close	Harry James Orchestra	‘Treasury War Bond Show’ Transcribed Mar 1942
Set 7	Gimmick Band Radio Transcriptions
Snuff Stuff	Seger Ellis and his Choirs of Brass	Radio Transcription 1937
Let There Be Love	Shep Fields and his Rippling Rhythm Orchestra (voc) Hal Derwin	Radio Transcription 1940
Walkin’ the Dog	Seger Ellis and his Choirs of Brass	Radio Transcription 1937
It Never Entered My Mind	Shep Fields and his Rippling Rhythm Orchestra (voc) Hal Derwin	Radio Transcription 1940
Set 8	Progressive Jazz Radio
Open + Sweet Georgia Brown	Roy Eldridge	‘Bandstand USA’ Cafe Bohemia WOR Mutual NY Mar 1957
Perdido + Tiny’s Blues	Terry Gibbs All-Stars	‘Symphony Sid Show’ Royal Roost WMCA NY 1948
I Remember Clifford	Oscar Pettiford	Birdland WABC ABC NY 1957
Not So Sleepy	Oscar Pettiford	Birdland WABC ABC NY 1957

Shuffle Rhythm – Phantom Dancer 16 March 2021

Shuffle Rhythm features in this week’s Phantom Dancer with a set of 1930s shuffle rhythm by the exponents of the style, Jan Savitt and Henry Busse

The Phantom Dancer is your non-stop mix of swing and jazz from live 1920s-60s radio and TV hosted by me, Greg Poppleton. Hear past Phantom Dancer online now at https://2ser.com/phantom-dancer/.

This show will be online after 2pm AEST, Tuesday 16 March at https://2ser.com/phantom-dancer/

 

SHUFFLE

Is one of three varieties of quaver (or eighth note) rhythms musicians use. The others are straight and swing.

It’s based on triplet subdivisions of the beat and it’s easiest to understand it by hearing it, hence the shuffle rhythm videos and set featuring Jan Savitt and Henry Busse.

Shuffle quavers alternate a long note and a short note. The long note falls on the beat and the short one in-between on the upbeat.

It’s a quaver triplet without playing the middle note of the triplet. Think of the first two notes of the triplet being tied together or even missing the middle note of the triplet.

NOTATION

Mostly if a song uses shuffle it does it all through the song. To make it easier to read the notation the notes are written as straight quavers. At the start of the music there’ll be a note to read the quavers as shuffle quavers.

A common marking for shuffle is a little equation written at the beginning expressing 2 quavers are to be played like a triplet with the first two notes tied. Or, the first two quavers of the triplet are written as a crochet.

Another way to indicating shuffle is to simply write the word shuffle at the top of the music.

16 MARCH PLAY LIST

Play List – The Phantom Dancer 107.3 2SER-FM Sydney LISTEN ONLINE Community Radio Network Show CRN #480
107.3 2SER Tuesday 16 March 2021 12:04 – 2:00pm (+11 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 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 1ART ArtsoundFM Canberra Friday 10 – 11am 2ARM Armidale Friday 12 – 1pm 5LCM Lofty FM Adelaide Friday 1 – 2pm 4RPH Brisbane Sunday 3 – 4am 7LTN Launceston Sunday 5 – 6am 3MGB Mallacoota Sunday 5 – 6am 6GME Radio Goolarri Broome Sunday 5 – 6am 3BBR West Gippsland Sunday 5 – 6pm
Set 1	Glenn Miller in German
Spoken Intro + Here We Go Again	Glenn Miller AAF Orchestra	‘Wehrmacht Stunde’ ABSIE American Broadcsting Station in Europe Abbey Road Studios London 30 Oct 1944
Begin the Beguine	Glenn Miller AAF Orchestra (voc) Irene Manning	‘Wehrmacht Stunde’ ABSIE American Broadcsting Station in Europe Abbey Road Studios London 27 Nov 1944
Long Ago and Far Away	Glenn Miller AAF Orchestra (voc) Johnny Desmond	‘Wehrmacht Stunde’ ABSIE American Broadcsting Station in Europe Abbey Road Studios London 6 Nov 1944
Set 2	Mickey Mouse Bands on 1940s Radio
Open + Sing a Song About Susie	Gay Claridge Orchestra	‘One Night Stand’ Chez Paree Chicago AFRS Re-broadcast 7 Aug 1944
As If I Didn’t Have Enough on my Mind	Leighton Noble Orchestra (voc) Helen Lind	‘One Night Stand’ Starlight Room Waldorf-Astoria Hotel NYC AFRS Re-broadcast Aug 1946
Riff Raff + Close	Bob Strong Orchestra (voc) Band	‘One Night Stand’ Glen Island Casino New Rochelle NY AFRS Re-broadcast 20 Aug 1944
Set 3	Chamber Music Society of Lower Basin Street
Open + The March of the Goons	Paul Lavalle	‘Chamber Music Society of Lower Basin Street’ WJZ NBC Blue NY 14 Jul 1941
Long, Long Ago	Diane Courtney	‘Chamber Music Society of Lower Basin Street’ WJZ NBC Blue NY 14 Jul 1941
Dark Eyes	Toots Mondelo	‘Chamber Music Society of Lower Basin Street’ WJZ NBC Blue NY 14 Jul 1941
Swanee River	Henry Levine	‘Chamber Music Society of Lower Basin Street’ WJZ NBC Blue NY 14 Jul 1941
Set 4	Shuffle Rhythm
Hot Lips (theme)+ Hurry Home	Henry Busse Orchestra	‘One Night Stand’ Palladium Ballroom Hollywood AFRS Re-broadcast 14 Sep 1944
You’re Driving Me Crazy	Jan Savitt Orchestra	‘One Night Stand’ Palladium Ballroom Hollywood AFRS Re-broadcast 20 Sep 1945
Cherokee	Henry Busse Orchestra	‘One Night Stand’ Palladium Ballroom Hollywood AFRS Re-broadcast 14 Sep 1944
Set 5	Swing Musicians Play Rock
Come A’Runnin’	Big Al Sears (voc) Jessie Stone	Comm Rec NYC 22 Apr 1955
Open + Why Do Fools Fall In Love	Count Basie Orchestra (voc) Frankie Lymon and the Teenagers	‘Rock’n’Roll Dance Party’ WCBS CBS NY 1956
Let’s Face It	Sam ‘The Man’ Taylor Orchestra	‘Rock’n’Roll Dance Party’ WCBS CBS NY 1956
I Almost Lost My Mind	Count Basie Orchestra (voc) Ivory Joe Hunter	‘Rock’n’Roll Dance Party’ WCBS CBS NY 1956
Set 6	Harry James Sells Bonds
Intro + Save The American Way	Harry James Orchestra (voc) Helen Forrest	‘Treasury War Bond Show’ Transcribed Mar 1942
This is Worth Fighting For	Harry James Orchestra (voc) Jimmie Saunders	‘Treasury War Bond Show’ Transcribed Mar 1942
My Beloved is Rugged	Harry James Orchestra (voc) Helen Forrest	‘Treasury War Bond Show’ Transcribed Mar 1942
Back Beat Boogie + Close	Harry James Orchestra	‘Treasury War Bond Show’ Transcribed Mar 1942
Set 7	Gimmick Band Radio Transcriptions
Snuff Stuff	Seger Ellis and his Choirs of Brass	Radio Transcription 1937
Let There Be Love	Shep Fields and his Rippling Rhythm Orchestra (voc) Hal Derwin	Radio Transcription 1940
Walkin’ the Dog	Seger Ellis and his Choirs of Brass	Radio Transcription 1937
It Never Entered My Mind	Shep Fields and his Rippling Rhythm Orchestra (voc) Hal Derwin	Radio Transcription 1940
Set 8	Progressive Jazz Radio
Open + Sweet Georgia Brown	Roy Eldridge	‘Bandstand USA’ Cafe Bohemia WOR Mutual NY Mar 1957
Perdido + Tiny’s Blues	Terry Gibbs All-Stars	‘Symphony Sid Show’ Royal Roost WMCA NY 1948
I Remember Clifford	Oscar Pettiford	Birdland WABC ABC NY 1957
Not So Sleepy	Oscar Pettiford	Birdland WABC ABC NY 1957

Jan Savitt and his Top Hatters – Phantom Dancer 1 Dec 2020

Jan Savitt, child prodigy classical violinist and popular dance band leader is this week’s Phantom Dancer feature artist. You’ll Jan Savitt and his Top Hatters in broadcasts from 1937-39.

LISTEN HERE

The Phantom Dancer is your non-stop mix of swing and jazz from live 1920s-60s radio and TV which I’ve been bringing you every week on 107.3 2SER Sydney since 1985. Listen here

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From his IMDB Bio and other sources,
“Jacob Sarvetnick was a child prodigy on the violin, destined to become Jan Savitt, leader of a popular swing band. Of Russian-Jewish ancestry, his father had variously worked as a motor mechanic and as a drummer in Tsar Nicholas II‘s Imperial Regimental Orchestra. In the U.S. from the age of fifteen, Jan became the youngest musician to play in the Philadelphia Symphony Orchestra, and, from there, he advanced to concert master for the great Leopold Stokowski.

In the wake of multiple scholarships and being recipient of the Philharmonic Society’s Gold Medal Award, he was soon leading his own string quartet.

In 1935, after graduating from the Curtis Institute of Music with a B.A., Jan suddenly decided to forsake classical for popular music and organise a dance band. He was eventually engaged by Philadelphia radio station KYW as musical director.

In 1938, Jan Savitt & His Top Hatters broadcast from 5–5:30 pm every Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday as the KYW staff orchestra at KYW/NBC in Philadelphia. Saturday’s weekly broadcast was one hour, coast-to-coast. The group also played at the Earl Theatre and performed with The Andrews Sisters and The Three Stooges.

The resulting national broadcasts proved popular with audiences and ‘Jan Savitt & His Top Hatters’ (so named, because their ensemble uniform consisted of white tie, tails and top hat) soon became one of the most highly rated big bands in America, playing the swank hotels, theatres and ballrooms. The band featured a unique beat called ‘shuffle rhythm’ (which may, or may not, have been originated by another bandleader, Henry Busse).

The ‘Top Hatters’ comprised between fifteen and eighteen musicians, plus vocalists. Famous sidemen included trombonist and future television composer Earle Hagen, drummer Nick Fatool and trombonist Urbie Green. Among the vocalists were Carlotta Dale, future movie actress Gloria DeHaven and Bon Bon (aka George Tunnell), the first black musician to work long-term in a white orchestra.

Jan’s theme song was “Quaker City Jazz”. Other unique compositions for the band included the swinging “720 In the Books” (by arranger Johnny Watson), “Meadowbrook Shuffle”, “It’s a Wonderful World” and “Now and Forever”. Jan also had noteworthy hits with his interpretation of “Tuxedo Junction” and “Make Believe Island”.

By the early 1940’s, he added swing versions of classical compositions (mostly arranged by Jack Pleis), such as “The Sorcerer’s Apprentice”, “Prelude to Carmen” and Claude Debussy‘s “Afternoon of a Faun” to his repertoire. The band was featured in several B-movies, released by Warner Brothers and Columbia.

After World War II, Jan was forced to reduce the size of his band (now based on the West Coast) to eight musicians, due to tax debts. In 1948, on his way to a one-nighter in Sacramento, he suffered a cerebral haemorrhage and later died in a local hospital at the age of just thirty-six.

Savitt was married to model Barbara Ann Stillwell from 1940 until his death in 1948, and had two daughters with her, Devi Marilyn and Jo Ann. Jo Ann was married to Joel Douglas, son of Kirk, from 2004 until her death in 2013.

Credits on IMDB

Soundtrack (5 credits) 

2015Stalker (TV Series) (writer – 1 episode) – Love Hurts (2015) … (writer: “It’s a Wonderful World” – uncredited) 
1995The Immortals (“It’s a Wonderful World”)
1995The Bridges of Madison County (writer: “It’s A Wonderful World”)
1947That’s My Gal (music: “720 in the Books”)
1946Jan Savitt and His Band (Short) (performer: “I’ll Always Love You”, “Some Sunday Morning”, “Too Marvelous for Words”, “Dearest Darling”, “Avalon” – uncredited) 

Actor (4 credits) 
1947That’s My Gal Jan Savitt (uncredited) 
1946Betty Co-Ed Orchestra Leader Jan Savitt (as Jan Savitt and His Orchestra) 
1946High School Hero Jan Savitt 
1942Jan Savitt’s Serenade in Swing (Short) Orchestra Leader

Music department (2 credits) 
1946King of the Forest Rangers (composer: stock music – uncredited)
1945Rough Riders of Cheyenne (composer: stock music – uncredited)

Self (2 credits) 
1946Jan Savitt and His Band (Short) Self – Band Leader 
1946Swing High, Swing Sweet (Short) Self- Orchestra Leader

1 DECEMBER PLAY LIST

Play List – The Phantom Dancer 107.3 2SER-FM Sydney, Live Stream Community Radio Network Show CRN #444
107.3 2SER Tuesday 1 December 2020 12:04 – 2:00pm (+11 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 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  1ART ArtsoundFM Canberra Friday 10 – 11am 2ARM Armidale Friday 12 – 1pm 5LCM Lofty FM Adelaide Friday 1 – 2pm 7LTN Launceston Sunday 5 – 6am 3MGB Mallacoota Sunday 5 – 6am 6GME Radio Goolarri Broome Sunday 5 – 6am 3BBR West Gippsland Sunday 5 – 6pm
Set 1	Women on 1940s Radio
Theme + Down By The Riverside	Sister Rosetta Tharpe (voc) Lucky Millinder Orchestra	‘Jubilee’ AFRS Hollywood 2 Aug 1943
I Can’t Give You Anything But Love	Rose Murphy ‘The Chi-Chi Girl’	‘Jubilee’ AFRS Hollywood 18 Jan 1945
Sweet Georgia Brown	The International Sweethearts of Rhythm	‘Jubilee’ AFRS Hollywood 1945
Prelude in C#m + One O’Clock Jump (close)	Dorothy Donnegan	‘Jubilee’ AFRS Hollywood 5 Jun 1944
Set 2	Paul Whiteman 1936
Theme + Cosi Cosa	Paul Whiteman Orchestra (voc) The King’s Men	‘Musical Varieties’ WJZ NBC Blue NY 12 Jan 1936
The Music Goes Around	Paul Whiteman Orchestra (voc + tb) Jack Teagarden	‘Musical Varieties’ WJZ NBC Blue NY 12 Jan 1936
More Than You Know	Paul Whiteman Orchestra (voc) Morton Downey	‘Musical Varieties’ WJZ NBC Blue NY 12 Jan 1936
Soap Ad and Station ID	Paul Whiteman Orchestra	‘Musical Varieties’ WJZ NBC Blue NY 12 Jan 1936
Set 3	Midday Music 1945
News + My Dog Has Fleas	Dave Rose Orchestra	WOR Mutual NY 10 Aug 1945
Lady of the Evening	Dave Rose Orchestra	WOR Mutual NY 10 Aug 1945
Holiday for Strings	Dave Rose Orchestra	WOR Mutual NY 10 Aug 1945
Fascinating Rhythm	Piano Duo	WOR Mutual NY 10 Aug 1945
Time On My Hands + Close	Unidentified Orchestra	WOR Mutual NY 10 Aug 1945
Set 4	Jan Savitt
Quaker City Jazz	Jan Savitt and the Top Hatters	Arcadia Restaurant KYW NBC Philadelphia 2 Dec 1938
Monday Morning	Jan Savitt and the Top Hatters (voc) Carlotta Dale	KYW NBC Philadelphia Studios 17 Oct 1938
On The Road to Mandalay	Jan Savitt and the Top Hatters (voc) Bon Bon	Radio Transcription New York City 1939
Old Man Moon + Rigamarole + Close	Jan Savitt and the Top Hatters	KYW NBC Philadelphia New Studio Opening 14 Sep 1937
Set 5	Spotlight Bands
Open + Hallelujah	Ina Ray Hutton Orchestra	‘Spotlight Bands’ Blue Network Fort Monroe Va 13 Apr 1943
Taboo	Tommy Tucker Orchestra	‘Spotlight Bands’ Blue Network Biloxi Miss. 15 Feb 1945
Rose of the Rio Grande	Hal McIntyre Orchestra	‘Spotlight Bands’ Blue Network Miami Beach Fl 20 Nov 1943
Dark Eyes + Close	Jimmy Joy Orchestra	‘Spotlight Bands’ Blue Network Harlingen Tx 6 Jan 1945
Set 6	Trad Jazz Radio
Basin Street Blues	Jimmy Dorsey’s Dorseyland Band	Radio Transcription Los Angesles 1950
Riverside Blues	Muggsy Spanier	Club Hangover KCBS San Francisco 18 Apr 1953
Maryland, My Maryland	George Lewis Jazz Band	‘Dixieland Jambake’ WDSU ABC New Orleans 20 Apr 1951
Set 7	1930s-40s British Dance Bands
Ellingtonia Medley	Jack Hylton Orchestra	London 18 Nov 1933
My Bonnie Lies Over The Ocean	Johnny Claes Claepigeons (voc) Irene King	London 1941
Here Lies Love	Ambrose Orchestra (voc) Sam Browne	London 8 Nov 1932
It’s a Pair of Wings for Me	Nat Gonella Orchestra (voc) Nat Gonella	London 1940
Set 8	1950s Mod Radio
The Duke	Dave Brubeck	Basin Street WCBS CBS NY Feb 1956
Move	Miles Davis	‘Stars of Modern Jazz Concert’ Carnegie Hall Voice of America 25 Dec 1949
Night in Tunisia	Dizzy Gillespie	‘Symphony Sid Show’ Birdland WJZ NY 31 Mar 1951

Claude Thornhill Piano Child Prodigy – Phantom Dancer 4 September Radio Show 2018

He was a piano playing child prodigy who entered the Con at age 16 after playing professionally in theatre for years. His name is Claude Thornhill and he is this week’s Phantom Dancer feature artist.

THE PHANTOM DANCER

Swing and jazz from live 1920s-60s radio in a non-stop mix by Greg Poppleton.

Mixed live-to-air on radio 2SER 107.3 Sydney since 1985.

The Phantom Dancer is re-broadcast on 22 radio stations of the Community Radio Network and online at 2ser.com. That’s where you can hear lots of past Phantom Dancers, too.

IN THIS WEEK’S PHANTOM DANCER MIX?

The Claude Thornhill feature and a whole mix of swing and jazz from live 1930s-50s radio. Read the full play list below.

The last hour of the mix is ALL VINYL.

CLAUDE THORNHILL

This week I’m quoting the wiki article on Claude Thornhill. Usually I write a bio based on different sources, but I’m short of time this week recording a new album for the Greg Poppleton band with the Billion Dollar Quartet.

“Claude Thornhill (August 10, 1908 – July 1, 1965) was an American pianist, arranger, composer, and bandleader. He composed the jazz and pop standards “Snowfall” and “I Wish I Had You”.

CON

As a youth, he was recognized as an extraordinary talent and formed a traveling duo with Danny Polo, a musical prodigy on the clarinet and trumpet from nearby Clinton, Indiana. As a student at Garfield High School in Terre Haute, he played with several theater bands. Thornhill entered the Cincinnati Conservatory of Music at the age of 16.

That same year he and clarinetist Artie Shaw started their careers at the Golden Pheasant in Cleveland, Ohio, with the Austin Wylie Orchestra. Thornhill and Shaw went to New York together in 1931. Thornhill went to the West Coast in the late 1930s with the Bob Hope Radio Show and arranged for Judy Garland in Babes in Arms. In 1935, he played on sessions with Glenn Miller, including “Solo Hop”, which was released on Columbia Records. He also played with Paul Whiteman, Benny Goodman, Ray Noble, and Billie Holiday. He arranged “Loch Lomond” and “Annie Laurie” for Maxine Sullivan.

ORK

In 1939 he founded the Claude Thornhill Orchestra. Danny Polo was his lead clarinet player. Although the Thornhill band was a sophisticated dance band, it became known for its superior jazz musicians and for Thornhill’s and Gil Evans’s arrangements. The band played without vibrato so that the timbres of the instruments could be better appreciated. Thornhill encouraged the musicians to develop cool-sounding tones. The band was popular with both musicians and the public. Miles Davis’s Birth of the Cool nonet was modeled in part on Thornhill’s sound and unconventional instrumentation. The band’s most successful records were “Snowfall”, “A Sunday Kind of Love”, and “Love for Love”.

Thornhill was playing at the Paramount Theater in New York for $10,000 a week in 1942 when he enlisted in the U.S. Navy. As chief musician, he performed shows across the Pacific Theater with Jackie Cooper as his drummer and Dennis Day as his vocalist.

LIB

In 1946, he was discharged from the Navy and reunited his ensemble. Danny Polo, Gerry Mulligan, and Barry Galbraith returned with new members, Red Rodney, Lee Konitz, Joe Shulman, and Bill Barber. In the mid 1950s, Thornhill was briefly Tony Bennett’s musical director. He offered his big band library to Gerry Mulligan when Mulligan formed the Concert Jazz Band, but Gerry regretfully declined the gift, since his instrumentation was different. A large portion of his extensive library of music is currently held by Drury University in Springfield, Missouri.

Thornhill died of a heart attack in Caldwell, New Jersey, at the age of 56. In 1984, he was posthumously inducted into the Big Band and Jazz Hall of Fame.”

VIDEO OF THE WEEK

A tour-de-corn from 1942 with Claude Thornhill, his piano, and his orchestra. Vocals by the Snowflakes including future bop singer with Dave Lambert, Buddy Stewart. (You can hear Dave Lambert and Buddy Stewart bop duets live in 1949 with Charie Parker on the 21 August Phantom Dancer).

4 SEPTEMBER PLAY LIST

Play List – The Phantom Dancer 107.3 2SER-FM Sydney, Live Stream, Digital Radio Community Radio Network Show CRN #330
107.3 2SER Tuesday 4 September 2018 After the 2SER 12 noon news, 12:04 – 2:00pm (+10 hours GMT) National Program: ArtSoundFM Canberra Sunday 7 – 8pm and early morning on 23 other stations.
Set 1	Pop Singers on
Open + Buttons and Bows	Jo Stafford	‘Guest Star’ Radio Transcription New York City 22 May 1949
Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered	Margaret Whiting	‘Oxydol Show’ CBS 1950
The Birth of the Blues + Basin Street Blues + Close	Liz Tilton and Curt Massey	‘Alka-Seltzer Show’ CBS 17 Jun 1949
Set 2	1950s Radio Jazz Pop
Summertime (theme) + Them There Eyes	Bob Crosby Orchestra (voc) Bob Crosby	‘Marine Corp Show’ Radio Transcription 1950
At Last	The Honey Dreamers	‘Airtime’ Radio Transcription 1945
‘S Wonderful + Sleepy Time Down South (theme)	Louis Armstrong	‘All-Star Parade of Bands’ Basin Street WRCA NBC NY 8 May 1955
Set 3	Philco Orchestra
Let a Little Pleasure Interfere with Business	Philco Orchestra	‘Philco Show’ WABC CBS NY 1930
Cinderella Brown	Philco Orchestra	‘Philco Show’ WABC CBS NY 1930
Egyptian Ella	Philco Orchestra	‘Philco Show’ WABC CBS NY 1931
Set 4	Jan Garber 1944-45
Snowfall (theme) + Where or When	Claude Thornhill Orchestra	‘One Night Stand’ Glen Island Casino New Rochelle NY AFRS Re-Broadcast 23 Jun 1947
Classics in Jazz + Flight of the Bumble Bee	Claude Thornhill Orchestra	‘Saturday Night Swing Club’ WABC CBS NY 12 Jun 1937
Let’s Go Home + Close	Claude Thornhill Orchestra	Cafe Rouge Pennsylvania WJZ ABC NY 22 Sep 1947
Set 5	Swinging 1940s Big Band Radio
Stealing Apples	Benny Goodman Orchestra	Hotel Astor Roof WABC CBS New York Jul 1943
Cottontail	Duke Ellington Orchestra	‘Date With The Duke’ WJZ ABC NY 10 Nov 1945
Swanee River	Lionel Hampton Orchestra	‘Jubilee’ AFRS Hollywood 3 Dec 1945
Mr Chips + Blue and Boogie	Billy Eckstine Orchestra	‘Jubilee’ AFRS Hollywood Feb 1945
Set 6	Women Singers 1939 Radio
Don’t Worry ‘Bout Me	Kay Doyle (voc) Bunny Berrigan Orchestra	Mutual Network Boston 20 Sep 1939
The Very Thought of You (theme) + And the Angels Sing	Liz Tilton (voc) Ray Noble Orchestra	Beverly-Wiltshire Hotel Beverly Hills Ca KFI NBC LA 22 Oct 1939
Little Sir Echo	Doris Day (voc) Barney Rapp Orchestra	Sign of the Drum NBC Cincinnati 17 Jun 1939
Yankee Doodle	Linda Keene (voc) Jack Teagarden Orchestra	‘Young Man with a Band’ WABC CBS NY Nov 1939
Set 7	1938-40 Sweet Band Radio Transcriptions
So You’re The One	Sterling Young Orchestra (voc) Bobbie Innes	Radio Transcription 1940
Heart and Soul	Blue Barron Orchestra (voc) Russ Carlyle	Radio Transcription 1938
It Seems Like Old Times	Glen Gray Orchestra (voc) Cliff Grass	Radio Transcription 1939
Goodbye Now	Chuck Foster Orchestra (voc) 3Ds	Radio Transcription 1940
Set 8	Bop Radio
Groovin’ The Blues	Miss Rhapsody	Comm Rec 6 Jul 1944
Hi Beck	Lee Konitz	Storyville Copley Square Hotel WHDH Boston 5 Jan 1954
Bye Bye Blackbird + Straight No Chaser	Miles Davis	‘Bandstand USA’ Spotlight Mutual, Washington DC Feb 1959

24 April 2018 Phantom Dancer – Bea Wain First To Record ‘Over The Rainbow’

You’ll hear some very loving and touching words on today’s Phantom Dancer.

The Phantom Dancer, presented every week by actor, Greg Poppleton, Australia’s only authentic 1920s-30s singer goes live from 107.3 2SER Sydney every Tuesday after the noon news.

It’s your non-stop mix of swing and jazz from live 1920s-60s radio and TV sent to 22 radio stations of the Community Radio Network and online.

Hear this week’s Phantom Dancer (after 24 April), and past Phantom Dancers, online at radio 2ser.com

In the mix this week, live 1930s-60s radio by Bob Crosby, Sammy Kaye, Al Trace, Larry Clinton and Bea Wain. See the full play list below.

THOSE TOUCHING WORDS?

“Beautiful, Bea Wain, beautiful.”

Who’s Bea Wain? She’s one of the greatest singers of the Swing Era and my absolute favourite.

Who said those words? You’ll hear them on today’s Phantom Dancer in the Bea Wain set, incidentally.

It was Andre Baruch, award-winning network radio announcer, who said them spontaneously as the announcer for the 1939 ‘Your Hit Parade’ after Bea Wain sang, ‘O, You Crazy Moon’.

They were married in 1938 and remained together until his death 53 years later. Bea Wain died last August aged 100.

THE UNSUNG SINGING GREAT

Bea Wain began singing on local radio at age six. She lived in the Bronx. Her accent disappeared when she sang. She had four No. 1 hits. And she never had a singing lesson.

She also had her name shortened from Beatrice to Bea by some unknown radio exec, to save space on record labels.

Quoting from her New York Times obituary,
“I never wanted anybody to teach me how to sing,” she said in an interview with Sara Fishko for the New York public radio station WNYC in 2013. “I had piano, elocution and dancing lessons, but never singing lessons.”

And she went on to sing professionally past the age of 90.

THE BIG BREAK

Was a big band arranger and in 1938 was forming a swing band with big RCA – NBC promotion. You’ll hear the band broadcasting ‘The RCA Campus Club’ from the Glen island Casino on today’s Phantom Dancer. The singer he hired to front this important band was Bea Wain.

How’d he find her.

She was in the chorus for the Kate Smith Radio Show. She stepped forward for an eight bar solo. That was enough for Clinton. She was hired. Again quoting from her NYT obit:

“The impeccable Wain never fails to captivate us as Clinton’s brassmen play natty little curlicues around her,” Will Friedwald wrote in his book “Jazz Singing: America’s Great Voices From Bessie Smith to Bebop and Beyond” (1990).

OVER THE RAINBOW

In 1939 Billboard magazine’s college poll voted her the most popular female vocalist. Ella Fitzgerald was second.

In 1938 she was the first to record ‘Over The Rainbow’ from the film, ‘The Wizard of Oz’. MGM, which owned the rights, stopped the record from being issued until after the film, and Judy Garland’s version (who sang it in the movie) was released.

Wain’s ‘Over The Rainbow’ is the Phantom Dancer Video of the Week. It’s interesting to hear the first-ever version, totally untouched by Garland’s version.

Wain said in a 1988 interview, that when Helen O’Connell, a fellow big band singer, was asked how it felt to be a part of music history, she replied, “If I knew it was history, we would have paid more attention.”

HIT RECORDS

In a short recording career of just a few years (she got tired of touring and the poor recording fees and rarely made records after 18 months with the Clinton band), Bea Wain had four hit records, all with Larry Clinton’s Orchestra .
1. Heart and Soul, which she introduced in the short ‘A Song is Born’ announced by Andre Baruch
2. Deep Purple
3. Cry, Baby, Cry
4. My Reverie, an up-tempo version of the Debussy piano piece ‘Reverie’ with lyrics by Larry Clinton.

‘My Reverie’ became Bea Wain’s theme song but, quoting from her New York Times obituary, “it was almost scrapped when Debussy’s heirs learned, to their horror, that the music had been adapted for a pop audience with a brisk tempo and lyrics.

But when Larry Clinton sent them his recording, Wain recalled, they replied, “If this girl sings it, O.K”

MR AND MRS MUSIC

After the World War Two, during which Bea Wain sung in Army Camps and her husband, Andre Baruch served overseas, the couple became ‘Mr and Mrs Music,’ a daily program on WMCA, New York, on which they doubled as disc jockeys and interviewers.

 

They continued on radio when they moved to Palm Springs in 1973 and retired from being DJs in 1980.

After that, Bea Wain sang on TV and in clubs, (there’s a 1983 TV medley of her 1938-39 hits on YouTube).

Quoting from the Wiki article on Wain, she told Christopher Popa in a 2004 interview, “Actually, I’ve had a wonderful life, a wonderful career. And I’m still singing, and I’m still singing pretty good. This past December, I did a series of shows in Palm Springs, California, and the review said, “Bea Wain is still a giant.” It’s something called Musical Chairs. I did six shows in six different venues, and I was a smash. And I really got a kick out of it.”

VIDEO OF THE WEEK

Your Phantom Dancer Video of the Week the first recording of ‘Over The Rainbow’ sung by Bea Wain in 1938 but not released until after the ‘Wizard of Oz’ (in which the song features) came out in 1939. Enjoy this original take wholly uninfluenced by Judy Garland…

Play List – The Phantom Dancer 107.3 2SER-FM Sydney, Live Stream, Digital Radio Community Radio Network Show CRN #313 107.3 2SER Tuesday 24 April 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 and Sway with Sammy Kaye Theme + Elmers Tune Sammy Kaye Orchestra (voc) The Three Kaydettes ‘Spotlight Bands’ Washington DC Blue Network 31 Jan 1942 Ad + It’s a Great Feeling Sammy Kaye Orchestra (voc) The Kaydettes ‘Sammy Kaye Showreel’ Radio Transcription 1949 Medley: How Deep is the Ocean? + I’m In The Mood For Love + Avalon + Close Sammy Kaye Orchestra ‘One Night Stand’ Hotel Astor Roof New York City AFRS Re-broadcast 27 Aug 1945 Set 2 Bob Crosby Open + Mama Why Don’t You Dance With Me Bob Crosby and The Modernaires (voc) Jerry Gray Orchestra ‘Club 15’ KNX CBS LA 25 Nov 1947 Don’t Forget Tonight Tomorrow Bob Crosby (voc) Bob Crosby Orchestra ‘One Night Stand’ Hollywood Palladium AFRS Re-broadcast 27 Aug 1945 Muskrat Ramble Bob Crosby Bobcats ‘Marine Corp Show’ Radio Transcription Hollywood 1950 Set 3 WGN Parade of Bands Home Recordings Open + Isn’t It Romantic Al Trace and his Shuffle Rhythm ‘WGN Parade of Bands’ Blackhawk Restaurant WGN Chicago c 1950 Marie + Linger Awhile Ted Fio Rito Orchestra ‘WGN Parade of Bands’ Chez Paree WGN Chicago c 1950 Bella Bella Marie + Medley: In My Dreams + I Love You So Much It Hurts Jimmy Featherstone Orchestra (voc) JF and Peggy Murdoch ‘WGN Parade of Bands’ Walnut Room Bismarck Hotel WGN Chicago c 1950 Set 4 Bea Wain East of the Sun Bea Wain (voc) Larry Clinton Orchestra ‘RCA Campus Club’ Glen Island Casino New Rochelle NY WEAF NBC Red NY 2 Jul 1938 Try, Try Again Bea Wain and Band (voc) Larry Clinton Orchestra ‘RCA Campus Club’ Glen Island Casino New Rochelle NY WEAF NBC Red NY 2 Jul 1938 Oh, You Crazy Moon Bea Wain ‘Your Hit Parade’ WEAF NBC Red NY 7 Oct 1939 Set 5 Swing Trumpet Stars on Ballads Cirribirribin (theme) + You’re In Love With Someone Else Harry James Orchestra (voc) Helen Forrest Hotel Astor Roof WABC CBS NY 28 Aug 1942 Oh What It Seemed To Be Erskine Hawkins Orchestra (voc) Jimmy Mitchell ‘One Night Stand’ Blue Room Hotel Lincoln NY AFRS Re-broadcast 1 May 1946 Goodnight, Good Neighbour Charlie Spivak Orchestra (voc) Irene Daye ‘One Night Stand’ Century Room Hotel Commodore NY AFRS Re-broadcast 25 Feb 1945 Clouds Henry Busse Orchestra (voc) Carl Grayson Radio Transcription Hollywood 1935 Set 6 Hal Kemp and Skinnay Ennis Sells Beauty Creme When Summer Is Gone (theme) + You’ve Got Me Crying Again Hal Kemp Orchestra (voc) Skinnay Ennis ‘Lavena Program’ Radio Transcription New York City 1934 Last Year’s Girl Hal Kemp Orchestra (voc) Skinnay Ennis ‘Lavena Program’ Radio Transcription New York City 1934 It’s Only A Paper Moon + Ad Hal Kemp Orchestra (voc) Skinnay Ennis ‘Lavena Program’ Radio Transcription New York City 1934 I Couldn’t Tell Them What To Do Hal Kemp Orchestra (voc) Skinnay Ennis ‘Lavena Program’ Radio Transcription New York City 1934 Set 7 1950s-60s Radio Swing Bands One O’Clock Jump + Blee Blop Blues Count Basie Orchestra ‘Stars in Jazz’ Birdland WNBC NBC NY 14 Jan 1953 Cohn’s Alley Woody Herman’s Third Herd ‘All-Star Parade of Bands’ Peony park WOW NBC Omaha 1954 Song of India Dorsey Brothers’ Orchestra Cafe Rouge Hotel Statler WRCA NBC NY Dec 1955 Flashback From The Future Duke Ellington Orchestra Aircheck 24 Oct 1965 Set 8 Mickey Mouse Bands Live and Transcribed Romance (theme) + We Just Couldn’t Say Goodbye Ray Herbeck and his Music with Romance Orchestra (voc) Lorraine Benson Trianon Ballroom WGN Chicago 24 Nov 1947 I’ll See You In My dreams Jan Garber Orchestra Radio Transcription 1941 Would It Make Any Difference To You? Carl Ravazza Orchestra (voc) CR Radio Transcription 1943 Can’t We Be Friends? Johnny Mesner Orchestra Radio Transcription New York City 1939

17 April 2018 Phantom Dancer – Johnny Green Body and Soul

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

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

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

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

Hear this week’s Phantom Dancer (after 17 April) and past Phantom Dancers online at radio 2ser.com

JOHN ‘JOHNNY’ WALDO GREEN

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

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

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

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

JAZZ STANDARDS

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

ACADEMY AWARDS

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

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

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

VIDEO OF THE WEEK

Your Phantom Dancer Video of the Week is a short film from 1935 of a Johnny Green Orchestra broadcast in action, with announcer Harry von Zell. I like the short scene of the ‘old radio listener’ slapping his knee with laughter. Enjoy…

Play List – The Phantom Dancer 107.3 2SER-FM Sydney, Live Stream, Digital Radio Community Radio Network Show CRN #311
107.3 2SER Tuesday 17 April 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 1944-46 ‘One Night Stand’ Radio
Theme + Boyd’s Nest	Boyd Raeburn Orchestra	‘One Night Stand’ Club Morrocco Los Angeles AFRS Re-broadcast 19 Aug 1946
Begin the Beguine	Bobby Sherwood Orchestra	‘One Night Stand’ Avadon Ballroom Los Angeles AFRS Re-broadcast 3 Jun 1946
A Fellow on a Furlough + Blue Skies	Bob Chester Orchestra	‘One Night Stand’ Panther Room Hotel Sherman Chicago AFRS Re-broadcast 8 Oct 1944
Set 2	1950s Hipster Radio
Bling, Bling!	Machito	‘Symphony Sid Show’ Birdland WJZ ABC NY 1951
Stuffy	Coleman Hawkins and Roy Eldridge	‘Stars in Jazz’ Birdland WNBC NBC NY 1952
Cherry Blossom + Close	Georgie Auld	‘Here’s To Veteran’s’ Radio Transcription Hollywood 1954
Set 3	Women Pop Singers on the Air
Open + Poor, Poor People of Paris	Giselle McKenzie	‘Airtime’ Radio Transcription Hollywood 1945
I Love You, Yes I Do	Ella Mae Morse	‘Here’s To Veteran’s’ Radio Transcription Hollywood 1954
Cry Me A River	Julie London	‘All-Star Parade of Bands’ The Cameo WRCA NBC NY 1956
Set 4	Johnny Green on 1930s Radio
Bio + Penny Serenade	Johnny Green Orchestra	‘Fitch Bandwagon’ WEAF NBC Red NY 9 Apr 1939
Out of Nowhere + I Want To Love (theme)	Johnny Green (voc) Ruth Etting	‘Oldsmobile Show’ WABC CBS NY 27 Feb 1934
Row, Row, Row	Johnny Green Orchestra (voc) Ray Bloch Swing 14	‘Rhymo’ WABC CBS NY 26 May 1940
Set 5	Eddy Howard Ballad Singer
Careless (theme) + Thou Swell	Eddy Howard (voc) and his Orchestra	Aragon Ballroom Mutual Network, Chicago 5 Dec 1945
I Wish I Was A Willow	Eddy Howard (voc) Dick Jurgens Orchestra	Radio Transcription Los Angeles 1938
Sailboat in the Moonlight	Eddy Howard (voc) and his Orchestra	Radio Transcription Los Angeles 1939
Medley + So Long For Now (theme)	Eddy Howard (voc) and his Orchestra	Aragon Ballroom Mutual Network, Chicago 5 Dec 1945
Set 6	1950s Radio Swing Bands
Blue Flame (theme) + Hollywood Blues	Woody Herman Orchestra	Blue Room Hotel Roosevelt WWL CBS New Orleans 1951
Hob Nail Boogie	Count Basie Orchestra	Birdland WNBC NBC NY 31 Aug 1952
Flager’s Drive	Dorsey Brothers’ Orchestra	Meadowbrook Ballroom Cedar Grove NJ WCBS CBS NY 1 Jan 1956
Summertime	Claude Thornhill Orchestra	‘One Night Stand’ Steel Pier Atlantic City NJ AFRS Re-broadcast 24 Aug 1956
Set 7	‘America Dances’ on the BBC
Open + Over The Waves	Bob Crosby Orchestra	‘America Dances’ New York City BBC London 1939
Every Tub + Song of the Wanderer	Count Basie Orchestra	‘America Dances’ New York City BBC London 1938
Body and Soul	Teddy Wilson Orchestra	‘America Dances’ New York City BBC London 1939
Two O’Clock Jump + Close	Harry James Orchestra	‘America Dances’ New York City BBC London 19 Jul 1939
Set 8	‘The Big Record’ TV Show
Intro + I’ve Got My Love To Keep Me Warm	Patti Page	‘The Big Record’ CBS TV NY 27 Nov 1957
Ad + Cry + Soliloquy of a Fool	Johnny Ray	‘The Big Record’ CBS TV NY 27 Nov 1957
Where or When + Tea For Three	Erroll Garner	‘The Big Record’ CBS TV NY 27 Nov 1957

27 March Phantom Dancer – Bunny Berigan and How Disease Effects Legacy

It never ceases to amaze me how disease can over-shadow the brilliant legacy of a person’s life. How much ‘expert’ blather was there about Stephen Hawking’s motor neurone disease as an excuse to avoid explaining and understanding his discoveries in physics? It’s belittling and disrespectful.

Louis Armstrong’s favourite trumpet player was Bunny Berigan. We’ll be hearing radio broadcasts by Bunny Berigan on this week’s The Phantom Dancer.

Even today, seventy years after his death, he is still considered to have been one of the top trumpet players in jazz.

But what I find additionally interesting is how his legacy has been marred by the alcoholism that affected the inventiveness of his playing in the latter part of his short thirty-three years and which ultimately killed him through cirrhosis of the liver.

On this week’s Phantom Dancer you’ll also hear a set of live vintage radio by Dave Brubeck, Jack Teagarden and women singers with their own radio shows – Lee Wiley, Peggy Lee, Dinah Show and Mildred Bailey.

 

THE PHANTOM DANCER is two hours of non-stop swing and jazz mixed from live 1920s – 1960s radio and TV by Greg Poppleton, Australia’s only authentic 1920s-1930s singer www.gregpoppletonmusic.com

Broadcast 12:04pm Tuesdays 107.3 2SER Sydney then over 22 radio stations and online.

HEAR The Phantom Dancer live-streamed and afterwards online on the Radio 2SER website. http://www.2ser.com/phantom-dancer/

HOW DISEASE EFFECTS LEGACY

When jazz musicians talk about Bunny Berigan, his alcoholism always comes up.

‘What might have been had he not drank?’, is usually the most positive musing. But to me, from a music perspective, his illness should have no bearing on his legacy. Surely it’s his trumpet playing and technique that’s important, the music played, the songs composed, the landmark recordings made. Louis Armstrong praised Bunny Berigan’s trumpet sound and jazz ideas both before and after Berigan’s death.

I have known jazz musicians, world-touring, who’ve died after long illnesses. They kept their illnesses private, performing to the very end. Even though everyone knew they were terminally ill, the particulars of their illnesses were never discussed. These musicians had the luxury and the determination to never be defined by their disease. Nowadays, when people talk about them, they talk about their music, the good times and their positive legacy. How they died, their disease, and their substance abuse (in one case) are irrelevancies.

However, other jazz musicians I have known, have had deaths after long, debilitating illnesses during which time it was impossible to perform. Others have died suddenly – a heart attack, an overdose, a bleed. Always, these musicians are discussed in terms of their deaths, their creative life work overshadowed by the fabula of their failing health or their fatal surprise.

I guess it’s easier to talk about sickness and death than music. The musical process is a specialist field. Feeling poorly and falling off the perch is something on which everyone has an expert opinion.

BUNNY BERIGAN…
…was the stage name of Roland Bernard Berigan.

He composed, sang, and most famously was a brilliant trumpet player. Of his compositions, we’ll hear a live recording of one, ‘Chicken and Waffles’, from a live 1936 radio broadcast on this week’s Phantom Dancer.

He was best known for his virtuoso jazz trumpeting. His 1937 classic recording of a song from a flop music, ‘I Can’t Get Started’ (which we’ll also hear in two live 1930s versions on this week’s Phantom Dancer) was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1975. ‘I Can’t Get Started’ was Berigan’s radio theme when he launched his own band in 1937.

Bunny Berigan had learnt violin and trumpet and was playing in local bands by his mid-teens. In 1930 he joined the Hal Kemp Orchestra and soon came to notice. He became a sought-after studio musician in New York as well as playing in the orchestras of Freddy Rich, Freddy Martin, Ben Selvin, Paul Whiteman and Benny Goodman. In fact, Goodman’s manager only got ‘that ace drummer man’ Gene Krupa to join the band by telling him Berigan was already on board.

After leaving Goodman, Berigan began to record regularly under his own name and to back singers such as Bing Crosby, Mildred Bailey, and Billie Holiday. We’ll hear him this week with the Tommy Dorsey Orchestra in early 1937. His solo on ‘Marie’ became one of his signature performances. We’ll hear a 1940 radio version. And, of course, a critic describing Berigan’s trumpet on the 1940 show had to bring up his alcoholism.

After leaving Goodman, Berigan began to record regularly under his own name and to back singers such as Bing Crosby, Mildred Bailey, and Billie Holiday. We’ll hear him this week with the Tommy Dorsey Orchestra in early 1937. His solo on ‘Marie’ became one of his signature performances. We’ll hear a 1940 radio version. And, of course, a critic describing Berigan’s trumpet on the 1940 show had to bring up his alcoholism.

MUSICAL ADVICE FROM BERIGAN
And instrumentalists PLEASE TAKE NOTE. There’s nothing more irritating to a singer than an instrumentalist taking too much air during the singer’s solo, or cramping the singer’s freedom of expression by trying to steer the improvisation…

Your Phantom Dancer Bunny Berrigan singing and playing trumpet on ‘Until Today’ with Freddy Rich’s Orchestra in 1936 . Enjoy!

Play List – The Phantom Dancer 107.3 2SER-FM Sydney, Live Stream, Digital Radio Community Radio Network Show CRN #308 107.3 2SER Tuesday 20 March 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 22 other stations. Set 1 Swing on 1940s Radio Theme + Girl of My Dreams Randy Brooks Orchestra ‘One Night Stand’ Roseland Ballroom NYC AFRS Re-broadcast 17 Nov 1945 K.C. Caboose + Are You Happy? John Kirby Sextet ‘One Night Stand’ Aquarium Restaurant NYC AFRS Re-broadcast 18 Jul 1944 They Didn’t Believe Me + Blue Moon (Close) Eliot Lawrence Orchestra ‘One Night Stand’ Roseland Ballroom NYC AFRS Re-broadcast 26 Jul 1945 Set 2 Big Bands on 1950s Radio Theme + I’m Walking Johnny Richards Orchestra ‘ABC Dancing Party’ Birdland WABC ABC NYC 1957 If I Had You Ted Heath Orchestra ‘International Bandstand’ London NBC/BBC 2 Mar 1959 It’s All In The Game Ray Anthony Orchestra ‘One Night Stand’ Cafe Rouge Hotel Pennsylvania AFRS Re-broadcast 1952 Set 3 Bing Crosby Radio Open + Pistol Packin’ Mama Bing Crosby ‘Kraft Music Hall’ KFI NBC LA 16 Dec 1943 Too-ra-loo-ra-loo-ra Bing Crosby ’Philco Radio Time’ KECA ABC LA 19 Nov 1947 Ukulele Lady + Green Grow The Lilacs + Close Bing Crosby + Rosemary Clooney (2nd song) ’Bing Crosby-Rosemary Clooney Show’ KNX CBS LA 19 Oct 1961 Set 4 Chamber Music Society of Lower Basin Street Open + Dixieland One-Step Henry Levine Octet ‘Chamber Music Society of Lower Basin Street’ WJZ NBC Blue NY 1 Sep 1941 O Sussanah Diane Courtney ‘Chamber Music Society of Lower Basin Street’ WJZ NBC Blue NY 1 Sep 1941 Cheery-Beery-Bee The Tune Toppers ‘Chamber Music Society of Lower Basin Street’ WJZ NBC Blue NY 1 Sep 1941 Dangerous Mood Paul Lavalle Woodwinds ‘Chamber Music Society of Lower Basin Street’ WJZ NBC Blue NY 1 Sep 1941 Set 5 Trombonist Jack Teagarden Announcer’s Blues Paul Whiteman Orchestra ‘Paul Whiteman’s Music Varieties’ WJZ NBC Blue NY 19 jan 1936 Mr Jessie Jack Teagarden Orchestra Panther Room Hotel Sherman WMAQ NBC Chicago 22 Nov 1941 You Took Advantage of Me + Tea For Two + Close The Three T’s (Jack and Charlie Teagarden and Frank Trambauer) Hickory House WEAF NBC Red NY 9 Dec 1936 (1936 Home Recording) Wolverine Blues + Close Jack Teagarden Orchestra Panther Room Hotel Sherman WMAQ NBC Chicago 27 Dec 1941 Set 6 Women Singers With Their Own Radio shows Somebody Loves Me Peggy Lee ‘Peggy Lee Show’ KNX CBS LA 1947 Beg Your Pardon Dinah Shore ‘Dinah Shore Show’ KNX CBS LA 4 May 1948 Too Good To Be True Lee Wiley ‘Lee Wiley Sings’ WABC CBS NY 1 Jul 1936 Summertime Mildred Bailey ‘Mildred Bailey Show’ WABC CBS NY 12 Jan 1945 Set 7 Bunny Berigan I Can’t Get Started (theme) + Organ Grinder’s Swing Bunny Berigan Orchestra ‘Norge Program’ Radio Transcription New York City 1937 I Can’t Get Started (theme) + Ay, Ay, Ay Bunny Berigan Orchestra Manhattan Centre WNEW NY 26 Sep 1939 Marie Tommy Dorsey Orchestra (Bunny Berigan tp feature) Meadowbrook Ballroom Cedar Grove NJ WABC CBS NY 9 Mar 1940 Runnin’ Wild + Chicken and Waffles Bunny Berigan Orchestra ‘Saturday Night Swing Club’ WABC CBS NY 31 Oct 1936 Set 8 Dave Brubeck This Can’t Be Love Dave Brubeck Aircheck Jan 1954 The Song Is For You Dave Brubeck Basin Street WCBS CBS NY Mar 1957 Stardust Dave Brubeck ‘Symphony Sid Show’ Birdland WJZ ABC NY Dec 1953 All The Things You Are Dave Brubeck Basin Street WCBS CBS NY Feb 1956

20 March 2018 Phantom Dancer – Miff Mole Pioneer 1920s Jazz Trombonist

Miff Mole was a trombone player who became famous in the jazz world of the 1920s. And we’ll be hearing radio broadcasts by Miff on this week’s The Phantom Dancer.

The Phantom Dancer is two hours of non-stop swing and jazz mixed from live 1920s – 1960s radio and TV.

Now in its 33rd year, The Phantom Dancer is produced and presented by Greg Poppleton, Australia’s only authentic 1920s-1930s singer.

On this week’s Phantom Dancer you’ll also hear a set of live vintage radio by Nat King Cole, Marion Hutton and Charlie Spivak.

Broadcast 12:04pm Tuesdays 107.3 2SER Sydney then over 22 radio stations and online.

HEAR The Phantom Dancer live-streamed then online on the Radio 2SER website.

 

MIFF MOLE…

…was the stage name of Irving Milfred Mole (March 11, 1898 – April 29, 1961).

He was a jazz trombonist and band leader. He created ‘the first distinctive and influential solo jazz trombone style.’

Miff Mole’s soloing style had rapid-fire cadenzas, octave-leaps and shakes. He was a big influence on later trombonists Bill Rank, Glenn Miller, Tommy Dorsey, and Jimmy Harrison.

His heyday was the mid-1920s when he recorded popular and critically acclaimed records with such stars as Sophie Tucker (Red Hot Mama (1924)) and Bix Beiderbecke (Davenport Blues (1925)).

Miff Mole studied classical violin and piano as a child. He picked up the trombone age 15. He was playing professionally by 1920 and went on to play in some of the greatest New York City bands in the Jazz Age.

TROMBONE

Miff Mole played in the Original Memphis Five (1922), and with Ross Gorman, Roger Wolfe Kahn, Sam Lanin, Ray Miller and many others. With cornetist Red Nichols, he led Miff Mole and His Little Molers, recording from 1926 – 1930.

Miff Mole waxed sides with a lot of Red Nichols ‘aggregations’: The Red Heads, The Hottentots, The Charleston Chasers, The Six Hottentots, The Cotton Pickers, Red and Miff’s Stompers, and Red Nichols and His Five Pennies.

But Miff’s style became ‘old-hat’ when Jack Teagarden arrived in New York in 1928. Teagarden brought a more legato, blues-oriented approach to jazz.

After the 1920s, Miff Mole took to radio as an NBC studio musician until 1938 when he joined Paul Whiteman’s orchestra. By then, even Mole had been influenced by Teagarden. He was in Benny Goodman’s orchestra from 1942-43 and led various dixieland bands, one of which we hear on today’s Phantom Dancer – his Nixieland Six – from 1942-47. He worked in Chicago in 1947–54 when bad health reduced the amount of playing he did. He died in 1961.

Miff Mole’s records have been used in the soundtracks of two twenty-first century movies.

His 1928 recording of ‘Shim-Me-Sha-Wabble’ with the Little Molers was used in Russell Crowe;s movie, Cinderella Man.

His composition ‘There’ll Come a Time (Wait and See)’, is heard in the Academy Award-nominated movie, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button.

Your Phantom Dancer Miff Mole Video of the Week – Miff Mole hanging out on a hotel rooftop in 1943. Enjoy!

Play List – The Phantom Dancer 107.3 2SER-FM Sydney, Live Stream, Digital Radio Community Radio Network Show CRN #308 107.3 2SER Tuesday 20 March 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 22 other stations. Set 1 The Lesser Known 1940s Dance Bands Straighten Up and Fly Right (theme) + Sunday + Ad + Wildroot Creme Oil Song Nat King Cole Trio (voc) NCK ‘King Cole Trio Time’ KFI NBC LA 6 Mar 1948 Open + Little Joe From Chicago (theme) + Boogie a la King Nat King Cole Trio (voc) NCK Radio Transcription 1959 Go Bongo + Close Nat King Cole Trio (bongos) Jack Costanza ‘Just Jazz’ Shrine Auditorium LA AFRS Re-broadcast 1945 Set 2 1950s Modern Jazz Radio Leap Frog (Theme) + At Sundown Les Brown Orchestra ‘Treasury Bandstand’ Hershey Park Ballroom WLAN ABC Lancaster PA 1957 Always Kai Winding ‘All-Star Parade of Bands’ Birdland WNBC NBC NY 2 Sep 1952 Perdido Ray Anthony Orchestra ‘Jubilee’ AFRS Hollywood 25 Dec 1952 Set 3 Hot Music on 1930-32 Radio Coca Cola Waltz (theme) + So Sympathetic Leonard Joy and the Coca Cola Orchestra ‘Coca Cola Top Notchers’ WEEI NBC Boston 26 Mar 1930 Bugle Call Rag George Olsen Music ’Lucky Strike Orchestra’ WEAF NBC Red NY 1 Dec 1932 Whistling in the Dark + Sweet and Lovely (close) Gus Arnheim Orchestra ’Cocoanut Grove’ Radio Transcription Hollywood 1931 Set 4 Pop Singers 1950s-60s Radio Open + Baby, I Want It Frankie Laine ‘Navy Star Time’ Radio Transcription Hollywood 1952 Cheek to Cheek Rosemary Clooney ‘Bing Crosby Show’ KNX CNS LA 19 Oct 1960 I Get a Kick Out of You + Period (close) Sarah Vaughan ‘All-Star Parade of Bands’ Birdland WNBC NBC NY 21 Apr 1952 Set 5 Marion Hutton sings on 1938-39 Radio Oh, Johnny, Oh! Glenn Miller Orchestra (voc) Marion Hutton Meadowbrook Ballroom Cedar Grove NJ WJZ NBC Blue NY 5 Dec 1939 The Jumping’ Jive Glenn Miller Orchestra (voc) Marion Hutton NBC Radio Baltimore 5 Sep 1939 I Just Got a Letter Glenn Miller Orchestra (voc) Marion Hutton Meadowbrook Ballroom Cedar Grove NJ WJZ NBC Blue NY 6 Dec 1939 In a Russian Foxhole Glenn Miller Orchestra (voc) Marion Hutton Meadowbrook Ballroom Cedar Grove NJ WJZ NBC Blue NY 18 Apr 1939 Set 6 Charlie Spivak on 1940s Radio After I Say I’m Sorry Charlie Spivak Orchestra (voc) The Stardusters including Marion’s sister June Radio Transcription New York City 1941 Stomping Room Only Charlie Spivak Orchestra Palladium Ballroom KNX CBS Hollywood 4 Apr 1948 20 May 1940 Besume Mucho Charlie Spivak Orchestra ‘One Night Stand’ Century Room Commodore Hotel NYC AFRS Re-broadcast 1944 Massenet’s Elegy Charlie Spivak Orchestra Palladium Ballroom KNX CBS Hollywood Apr 1948 20 May 1940 Set 7 Miff Mole Davenport Blues Red and Miff’s Stompers Comm Rec New York City 11 Feb 1927 Peg o’ My Heart Miff Mole Nixieland Six ‘For The Record’ WEAF NBC NY 30 Oct 1944 Nobody’s Sweetheart Irving Mill’s Hotsy Totsy Gang (tb) Miff Mole ‘Brunswick Brevities’ WABC CBS NY Oct 1928 Waiting For The Evening Whistle + Bugle Call Rag Eddie Condon Group (tb) Miff Mole ‘Eddie Condon Jazz Concert’ Town Hall WJZ Blue NY 30 Sep 1944 Set 8 Charlie Barnet Makin’ Whoopee Charlie Barnet Orchestra Casino Gardens Ocean Park Ca KECA ABC LA Dec 1946 Come To Baby Do Charlie Barnet Orchestra (voc) Lena Horne ‘Jubilee’ AFRS Hollywood 1945 Strolling Charlie Barnet Orchestra Aircheck Dec 1945 Dear Old Southland + Close Charlie Barnet Orchestra ‘Spotlight Bands’ Ft Devon, Mass Blue Network 15 Oct 1945

6 February 2018 Phantom Dancer – Yes! Serious Music Can Be Entertaining. Proof.

The Phantom Dancer, presented by 1920s-1930s singer and band leader, Greg Poppleton, since 1985, is your non-stop two hour mix of swing and jazz from live 1920s – 1960s radio and TV.

This week, you’ll hear 8 sets including folk singer Susan Reed, dixieland by Kid Ory and Turk Murphy, a set of vocal harmonists including The King Sisters, a set hit songs by Woody Herman and Count Basie from the Avadon Ballroom – all from live radio broadcasts, of course.

You can hear this show online for the next 4 weeks after the 6 Feb broadcast at radio 2ser.com

BLACK, BROWN AND BEIGE

Duke Ellington’s longest and most ambitious orchestral work is heard in part on today’s Phantom Dancer.

From an April 1945 WJZ NYC ‘Date With The Duke’ broadcast out of the 400 Club in New York City we’ll hear live, Work Song and Spiritual.

Duke Ellington introduced it in his first concert at Carnegie Hall, January 23, 1943. He wrote it as “a parallel to the history of the Negro in America.”

It was first performed as a preview at Rye High School in Westchester County, New York, the day before its premiere at Carnegie Hall.

Another performance at Boston’s Symphony Hall on January 28 are the only known performances of the complete work.

Thereafter, Duke Ellington only performed pieces of it, as we’ll hear on today’s Phantom Dancer.

Following ‘Black, Brown and Beige’ on the Armed Forces Radio Service re-broadcast disc, Joya Sherill singing the pop ditty, ‘Accentuate The Positive’. Something of a statement by the AFRS editor, I’m suspect.

The first movement, ‘Black’, is divided into three parts, the Work Song, the spiritual Come Sunday , and Light.

‘Brown’ has three parts, West Indian Dance or Influence; Emancipation Celebration, and The Blues.

‘Beige’ covers “the Afro-American of the 1920s, 30s and World War II,” wrote Leonard Feather in the liner notes of the 1977 release of the original 1943 performance.

Duke Ellington mentions his Carnegie Hall performance of ‘Black, Brown and Beige’ in an interview with Frank Sinatra before playing Solitude at the piano on this week’s Phantom Dancer Video of the Week. A scratchy ‘Songs By Sinatra’ radio broadcast from 1943. He’s then joined by Raymond Scott and the CBS Radio Orchestra.

Play List – The Phantom Dancer 107.3 2SER-FM Sydney, Live Stream, Digital Radio Community Radio Network Show CRN #302 107.3 2SER Tuesday 6 February 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 22 other stations. Set 1 Dance Bands on One Night Stand Theme + Kentucky Gay Claridge Orchestra ‘One Night Stand’ Chez Paree Chicago AFRS Re-broadcast 21 Aug 1944 Laura Tony Pastor Orchestra (voc) Dick Dyer ‘One Night Stand’ Hollywood Palladium CBS/AFRS Re-broadcast 15 May 1945 Saturday Night Is The Lonliest Night Of The Week + Sweet Dreams Sweetheart Freddy Martin Orchestra (voc) The Martin Men and Artie Wayne ‘One Night Stand’ Cocoanut Grove Ambassador Hotel LA AFRS Re-broadcast 3 January 1945 Set 2 Susan Reed Folk Singer The Continental Harry Sosnik and the Savings Bonds Orchestra ‘Guest Star’ Radio Transcription NYC 7 Dec 1947 The Soldier and the Lady / Turtle Dove / Danny Boy Susan Reed – Zither, Irish Harp, ‘the Everloving’ ‘Guest Star’ Radio Transcription NYC 7 Dec 1947 Two Guitars + Close Harry Sosnik and the Savings Bonds Orchestra ’’Guest Star’ Radio Transcription NYC 7 Dec 1947 Set 3 A Date With The Duke Working Song ‘Black, Brown and Beige’ Suite Duke Ellington Orchestra ’A Date With The Duke’ 400 Restaurant WJZ Blue NYC 30 Apr 1945 Spiritual ‘Black, Brown and Beige’ Suite Duke Ellington Orchestra ’A Date With The Duke’ 400 Restaurant WJZ Blue NYC 30 Apr 1945 Accentuate The Positive Duke Ellington Orchestra (voc) Joya Sherill ’A Date With The Duke’ 400 Restaurant WJZ Blue NYC 30 Apr 1945 Set 4 Stars For Defence Theme + You ‘Ol Son-of-a-Gun + Love Look Away Rosemary Clooney (voc) Buddy Cole Music ‘Stars for Defence’ Radio Transcription 8 Feb 1959 Civil Defence Leo A Hoig ‘Stars for Defence’ Radio Transcription 8 Feb 1959 Two Little Girls + Always Together + Close Rosemary Clooney (voc) Buddy Cole Music ‘Stars for Defence’ Radio Transcription 8 Feb 1959 Set 5 Harmony on 1930s-40s Radio People Will Say We’re In Love Nillsen Twins (voc) Spike Jones City Slickers Aircheck 1944 A Stairway To The Stars The Inkspots WFIL NBC Red Philadelphia 12 Jul 1939 Everybody Loves My Baby King Sisters Radio Transcription Los Angeles 1947 Chi-Baba Chi-Baba Herman McCoy and The Hamp Tones (voc) Lionel Hampton Orchestra Casa Mañana Culver City CA KFI NBC LA 20 Jul 1947 Set 6 Woody Herman Hits Open + Apple Honey Woody Herman Orchestra (Gene Krupa opens) ‘Timex All-Star Jazz Show’ NBC TV New York City 30 Dec 1957 Woodchoppers’ Ball Woody Herman’s Third Herd ‘All-Star Parade of Bands’ WOW NBC Omaha 1954 Four Brothers Woody Herman Orchestra Blue Room Roosevelt Hotel WWL CBS New Orleans 10 Nov 1951 Golden Wedding Woody Herman Orchestra (drums) Dave Tough ‘One Night Stand’ AFRS Re-broadcast Oct 1944 Set 7 Turk Murphy and Kid Try On KCBS Radio Bay City (theme) + Down Home Rag Turk Murphy Easy Street KCBS San Francisco 2 Dec 1958 St James Infirmary Kid Ory Club Hangover KCBS San Francisco 10 Oct 1954 Sadie Green, The Vamp of New Orleans Turk Murphy Easy Street KCBS San Francisco 9 Dec 1958 Milneburg Joys + Close Kid Ory Club Hangover KCBS San Francisco 30 Oct 1954 Set 8 Count Basie at the Avadon Hobnail Boogie Count Basie Orchestra ‘One Night Stand’ Avadon Ballroom Los Angeles AFRS Re-broadcast 1946 Lazy Lady Blues Count Basie Orchestra (voc) Jimmie Rushing ‘One Night Stand’ Avadon Ballroom Los Angeles AFRS Re-broadcast 1946 Andy’s Blues Count Basie Orchestra ‘One Night Stand’ Avadon Ballroom Los Angeles AFRS Re-broadcast 1946