Big Band Bash

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...

This is part two of our 100th birthday salute to Miss Peggy Lee. Last time, I played recordings from her early days in the 1940's. Today I'll be playing some assorted cuts off of her many albums from the 1950's and 1960's. Also I have a couple of clips from NPR. There is a lot of good music in this show. I hope you enjoy the music from one of the great vocalists as we celebrate her 100th birthday,...

May 26th 1920 was the birthday of Peggy Lee. She got her start singing with Benny Goodman's orchestra and went on to world wide fame. This is part one of a celebration of the music that Peggy recorded. This episode is mainly from the 1940's and next week will be selections from her many albums. We'll learn about her career on the show today as well. I hope you enjoy this look at the music of Peggy...

Our birthday salute continues this week with part two featuring Artie's performances on the Victory Parade of Spotlight Bands. In August 1942, Coca Cola entered into an agreement with the Blue Network to launch the revised Spotlight Bands series. The Blue Network was the former NBC Blue Network. The name of the program was changed to The Victory Parade of Spotlight Bands. The weeknight programs we...

May 23, 1910 is the birthday of the late Artie Shaw. To celebrate his birthday I have put together a show from a CD set that I have. In 1945, Artie appeared on the Victory Parade of Spotlight Bands five times. This set has all five shows on it. I really like this set because, in addition to a superb band, the sound is really good. So on part one we'll be hearing the first two shows with many of yo...

Greetings Everyone. Today's program is a show I recorded in 2013. I had to have some outpatient surgery this week and did not have time to produce a new show. So I have gone back into the Big Band Bash Archives and pulled out I show I did on Louis Armstrong. This features the Louis Armstrong Big Band and recordings he made between 1935 and 1946. There is a lot of the great Armstrong Trumpet in the...

The Casa Loma Orchestra was an American dance band active from 1929 to 1963. Until the rapid multiplication in the number of swing bands from 1935 on, the Casa Loma Orchestra was one of the top North American dance bands. I am continuing the Uncollected series this week with the Casa Loma Orchestra. The recordings in this set span the years of 1943 - 1946. There are some special guests recording w...

Ozzie Nelson led a big band from 1930 until 1944. He had a good musicians in the band and toured extensively during the 1930's. Today I am playing music from a series of records called "The Uncollected" The music was recorded between the years of 1940 - 1942. There is some good music in this set and we'll find out about Ozzie's career leading up to the beginning of the radio series. I hope you enj...

You must feel sorry for some great musicians when their birthday rolls around, because some of them share April 29th the same anniversary as Edward Kennedy “Duke” Ellington, America’s greatest composer, born in Washington. D.C. in 1899. For almost a half-century, Ellington wrote music of the highest order of art that also appealed to the general public. On the program today we celebrate Duke's bir...

On the show today I am presenting two exceptional bands from the 1950's and 60's. I have some of these recordings and I have to say they are really good. We will be learning about Ralph Marterie and Sy Zentner and if you have never heard of them you are in for a treat. The first half features Ralph's band and he plays most of the trumpet solos and then in the second half we'll feature the big band...

Hello everyone. Today's program is part two of Chart Toppers of the 1930's and 40's. This was a show that I originally produced back in 2008. I kept all the music and redid some of the introductions. Also, the puzzler is back and it is a little challenging if I do say so. I hope I play some of your favorites on the show today. I hope everyone is well and safe. Remember, if you are practicing socia...

Chart Toppers is a show I did back in 2008. I have updated it and added in the Puzzler. These were the songs that were leading the charts back in the thirties and forties. This is a two cd set that i have and this is where the music comes from. Today's program is kind of a best of show with, i hope, many of your favorites. I didn't spend much time explaining the music as I do on some of the other...