Big Band Bash

During The 1930's and 40's, trains were a popular mode of transportation. There were many songs written about trains in many different styles. This week I have put together a show with the Big Bands playing songs about trains with trains in the title or something similar. There are many train songs, in fact, Duke Ellington composed a number of songs about trains. He was a big fan of trains and his...

There is something catchy about the sound of a big band boogie woogie number. Maybe it's the driving left hand of the pianist, or the 12 bar blues pattern but what ever it is it is sure to get your feet tapping. This week on Big Band Bash we continue our look at some of the great boogie woogie numbers played by the big bands. Starting with Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy and ending with a Harry James numb...

Boogie Woogie has been a big part of the big bands. It seems that every ban d had a boogie number or two. Starting with Pinetop Smith's Boogie Woogie we'll be listening to a variety of numbers and all of them have boogie woogie in common. I have been doing Big Band Bash for 16 years but have never produced one on Boogie Woogie. I hope you enjoy part one of Boogie On Down a look at Boogie Woogie pe...

Bunny Berigan, his orchestra and trumpet, is the subject of this first program of the new year. It has been awhile since I last presented a program on Bunny. He was one of the most in demand trumpeters before he started his band. I'll be taking a look at his career and playing some oh his band's music as well as some of those great numbers he recorded with Benny Goodman and Tommy Dorsey. I hope yo...

Continuing a repeat of a Holiday show from 2017, This is part 2 of a 1940's Christmas Traditions. Merry Christmas and Happy New Years everyone. Welcome to Part 2 of my 1940's Christmas Traditions show. Last time in between the music I read some holiday traditions started in the 1940's. On the show today, I am going to be reading some Stocking Stuffers from the Associated Press. Stocking Stuffers i...

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays everyone. For the holiday season I am rerunning some holiday shows I produced in 2017. This is part one of a program I call 1940's Christmas Traditions Part 1. Many of the ways we celebrate Christmas were started in the 1940's so I thought it would be interesting to learn how some of these traditions started. I am going to start the show with a segment from Frank...

For the 79th anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor, I have pulled out a radio remote from Glenn Miller. Broadcast on Nov 22, 1941 this show was part of Glenn's Sunset Serenade series. There aren't that many recordings and remotes from December 7th 1941 so I decided to play this show which has some patriotic moments from Glenn and his orchestra. I hope you enjoy the music from Glenn Miller as w...

In all the time I have been producing Big Band Bash, I have never produced one on the band of Ralph Flanagan. Ralph Flanagan led a very popular band in the early to mid 1950's. He led the Glenn Miller revival starting in the early 50's. Ralph started out as a pianist and then became an accomplished arranger with Hal McIntyre, Sammy Kaye, Blue Barron and Charlie Barnet. I hope you enjoy this look a...

This week wraps up my 500th show celebration. Today's bandleaders are Harry James, Les Brown, Jimmie Lunceford, and Stan Kenton. I think I have picked out some songs by each bandleader that you will enjoy. I have some new shows planned and in the works. It has been an honor to be able to go into your homes each week and play music from these great bandleaders.  I hope I get to have a 1000th show c...

Today's show is part 2 of my 500th Big Band Bash celebration. This is a three part series where I have picked twelve of my favorite bands and divided them up into four bands per show. Then I further subdivided them by choosing four sides per band. It has been an interesting week trying to pick my favorites but I think I have chosen songs that you will enjoy as well.  Today's show features the band...

Big Band Bash is a show I created to replace another show that had ceased production. The first show went on the air in 2004. I was very rusty back then but I think I have gotten better. Today's show is part one of a three part series where I have chosen some of my favorite songs from twelve different bands. I broke up my favorites into three shows, four bands per show and 4 songs per band. I had...

Lucy Ann Polk was one of the most acclaimed jazz big band vocalists of the early 1950's having won the Downbeat girl singer poll two years in a row, in 1951 and 1952, when she sang for Les Brown's band. She only recorded about 3 albums so there is not much recorded material by her. I managed to find enough of her recorded output to pay tribute to this great singer. She left the business around 196...

The Count Basie Orchestra of the 1950's and 1960's was the orchestra that backed many of the great singers from those decades. On the show today, we'll be listening to several of those vocalists backed up by the Basie band. Some of the singers we'll be hearing include Frank Sinatra, Ella Fitgerald, Sammy Davis Jr., Sarah Vaughn and others. I hope you enjoy this potpourri of singers with the great...

The first song I ever heard by Bob Crosby and his Orchestra was The South Rampart Street Parade. I was hooked on the joyous sound of their music. I didn't know that one of my earliest jazz clarinet listening masters was influenced by Irving Fazola who was the clarinetist in the Crosby band. I admired Bob because although he was the front man he didn't get in the way of his musicians. I hope you en...

If he had been born ten years earlier, Elliot Lawrence might have been one of the more significant bandleaders of the swing era. As it worked out, he was a bit of a prodigy, leading a strong dance band when he was only 20, but by then (1945), the swing era was ending. Today's show features music from the Hindsight record, The Uncollected Elliot Lawrence 1946. This show is chocked full of songs fro...

This week we continue with part two of The War Sound Track. The War was a 2007 documentary by filmmaker Ken Burns. He used music from the 1930's and 1940's to underscore this film on World War 2. When the film was finished, Sony sent the soundtrack to us at the radio station I work at. It has many of your favorites and I thought I would bring back this show I did shortly after the release of the s...

In 2007 Ken Burns, the noted documentary filmmaker, produced a series on World War 2 called The War. In it he used lots of songs from the big band era. Sony sent the soundtrack of the show to us at the radio station. It came on four cds with lots of music from the show. I have reached back into the Big Band Bash archive to pull out a two part show that I produced featuring the music from the Burn'...

From Hindsight Records comes another selection for this week's program. Today we'll be presenting The Uncollected Stan Kenton 1941. These are some early Kenton broadcasts from Balboa Beach in California. Many of these selections were never recorded commercially by Stan so it is a treat to hear them. Red Dorris and Chico Alveraz are two of the early Kenton band members to stand out. The Big Band Ba...

Today's show is a look at another famous venue for the big bands, The Cotton Club. Let's go back to the sounds of The Cotton Club as we hear from some of the bands that used to perform there. We'll be hearing from such bands as Duke Ellington, Cab Calloway, Fletcher Henderson, and Jimmie Lunceford. We'll also take a look at the history of the Cotton Club. I hope you enjoy this look at a very famou...

Today's show is a look at a very famous venue for he big bands, The Savoy Ballroom. We'll learn about the place they called, The Home of Happy Feet. I've picked four bands that were considered the head line bands that played at the Savoy to feature on our show. The bands are, Chick Webb, Erskine Hawkins, Cootie Williams, and Lucky Millander. There is some great music in this program and I hope it...

Today we look at the music and career of the great bandleader, Cab Calloway. He was an American jazz singer, dancer, bandleader and actor. He was associated with the Cotton Club in Harlem, New York City, where he was a regular performer and became a popular vocalist of the swing era. His niche of mixing jazz and vaudeville won him acclaim during a career that spanned over 65 years. He led a top no...

Johnny Mandel passed away on June 29th 2020. He was 94 years old. As a composer he wrote some endearing songs that are still being played today. He was also a very fine arranger. Staring in 1949, Johnny arranged for several big bands as well as played trombone in them. We are going to take a look at his life and listen to some of his arrangements and compositions on the show today. I hope you enjo...

This week has more songs from the records of the series The Uncollected. Today I am featuring The Uncollected Raymond Scott 1944 and The Uncollected Skinnay Ennis 1946-1948. Raymond Scott's music is some of the most heard in the world after he sold his catalog to Warner Bros. and Carl Stalling used it in his cartoons. Skinnay Ennis was a popular vocalist who after launching his career in the Hal K...

July the 4th is an important day for us here in the United States. We think of July 4, 1776, as a day that represents the Declaration of Independence and the birth of the United States of America as an independent nation. I tried to put some patriotic music together to celebrate this date. There is not that much patriotic music before World World 2 but what I could find I tried to include in this...

The Uncollected series by Hindsight records has many recordings from the Big Bands. I started playing from this set a few weeks ago but I am going back to the series for the show today. There are three volumes by Les Brown in the series and I have picked a few songs from each disc. The highlight is hearing Doris Day singing live with the band performing their big hit Sentimental Journey. I hope yo...