Big Band Bash

August 10th is the birthday of one of the most creative bandleaders in big band history, the late Claude Thornhill. He was an American pianist, arranger, composer, and bandleader. He composed the jazz and pop standards "Snowfall" and "I Wish I Had You", the latter recorded by Billie Holiday. I had never heard of Claude when a fellow Big Band lover asked me if I had ever listened to his music. I ob...

This past August 3rd was the 90th birthday of the great vocalist Tony Bennett. This program is a celebration of his life with many of his recordings and a look back at his career. I hope you enjoy the music from one of the greatest vocalist of all time, Mr. Tony Bennett. Please visit this podcast at http://www.fgmiller.com/bbb/

I'm a little late with this episode but I wanted to remember all the men and women who took place in the D-Day Invasion by playing some of the music that would have been in the jukeboxes and on the radio in 1944. June 6, 1944 was the anniversary of the invasion of Normandy so along with the music I found some interesting facts about that historic day. The "D" in D-Day stands for Day as the planner...

This week we conclude the series Three by Three with a birthday salute to the late Rosemary Clooney. Rosemary was born on May 23 1928 and got her start singing with the band of Tony Pastor. She came to prominence in the early 1950s with the novelty hit "Come On-a My House", which was followed by other pop numbers such as "Botch-a-Me", "Mambo Italiano", "Tenderly", "Half as Much", "Hey There" and "...

This week we continue our birthday celebarations with a salute to the great Kitty kallen. She was born on May 25, 1921 and her career spanned from the 1930's to the 1960's. She performed with some of the most popular bands of the 1940's. She was voted the most popular female singer of 1954 by Bilboard and Variety magazines. I hope you enjoy this look at the career of the fantastic vocalist, Kitty...

This week starts a three week birthday celebration of three great Big Band female vocalists Helen O'Connell, Kitty Kallen, and Rosemary Clooney. They all have their birthdays around the same time so I thought it would be interesting to learn about these three great vocalists as well as listen to their fantastic recordings some of which are the best from the big band era. We'll start off this week...

Glen Gray, leader of the Casa Loma Orchestra, was born on June 7th 1906. The Casa Loma Orchestra was a popular American dance band active from 1927 to 1963. When the big bands went into decline after World War II the orchestra disbanded in 1947. Glen Gray started out playing saxophone in the band and then went on to become its leader. In 1956, he went back into the studio to record the first of wh...

April 29, 1899 is the birthday of one of Big Band's greatest composers Duke Ellington. I have been an Ellington fan for over 40 years and continue to discover new music by him that I have never heard. I last paid tribute to Duke during Black History month of 2015. Rather than produce a new program, I elected to run this one again. This show focuses on the years of 1940 and 1941 2 of Duke's most pr...

This week is part 2 of the Big Bands Live series that I started last week. This week we will be hearing the bands of Artie Shaw, Les Brown, Bob Crosby, and Larry Clinton. Artie's show is from sometime in late 1938 or early 1939. Les Brown's set is from his early band when he was billed as Les Brown and his Duke Blue Devils. I don't have a date for the Crosby and Clinton broadcasts. There are some...

This week I am going to start a two part series called Big Bands Live. This comes from a Reader's Digest Records set that I have. There is anywhere from 5-6 selections from each band and these were all recorded live off the radio. There are some exciting performances and this week we will be hearing the bands of Tommy Dorsey, Jimmy Dorsey and Woody Herman. Also, the big band puzzler makes it's ret...

April 3rd of this year marks the 92nd birthday of vocalist and actress Doris Day. Before she gained fame as an actress, Doris sang with a few big bands notably Les Browns. To celebrate her birthday I have gone back into my collection and pulled out a show I produced three years ago. Most of the songs on this show are ones that Doris recorded with the band of Les Brown. There is some great music in...

As we wind up Black Histoy Month on the program today, we are going highlight four African-American male vocalists who sang with the big bands. The four singers are Jimmy Rushing, Louis Jordan, Billy Eckstein, and The Mills Brothers. There is some great music today and we'll also learn a little bit about their careers. Please visit this podcast at http://bigbandbash.libsyn.com