Big Band Bash

When Wally Heider the recording engineer, learned that the Big Bands had made recordings specifically for use on radio broadcast only-and that these recordings had never been commercially released-he made it his business to track them down. It took him years, as part of his quest included getting permission from the band leaders or their heirs to release the recordings, he finally amassed a superb...

One aspect of the big bands that we are going to explore on this week's show is the small groups. They could be any size from a trio to a sextet. Each band seemed to have a featured small band and some of them had colorful names. We'll be hearing from groups such as the Gramercy Five, the Clambake Seven, the Bobcats, the Woodchoppers and others. There is some great music on today's program and I h...

The year was 1973. I was starting my senior year of high school when I tuned into the nightly jazz program on a local AM radio station. The host had just anounced that jazz drummer Gene Krupa had passed away and that he would be playing Krupa recordings for his entire show in memory of Gene. Luckily, I had a tape recorder and I taped the show so I could listen to those great sides. That was my int...

Happy Holidays everyone as we continue this week with "A Fireside Big Band Christmas Part 2." As in Part One, I tried to present holiday songs from the 1930's and 40's. There are many of your holiday favorites on the show along with this week's Big Band Puzzler. So from all of us here at KTXK Radio in Texarkana, Texas I want to wish you all a Very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. Please visit...

This week on the show, I invite you to come in out of the cold and pull up a seat next to me over here by the fireplace as we enjoy some 1940's holiday favorites. This is part one of a show I call A Fireside Big Band Christmas. I tried to play many of the holiday songs from the 1930's and 40's as I could find. Many of your favorite bands are on the show today as we get into the holiday season. And...

This week on Big Band Bash I'll be taking a look at many of the vocal groups that sang with the big bands and on their own. There were several popular groups back then and we'll be hearing from The Andrews Sisters, The Ink Spots, The Mills Brothers, The King Sisters, and The Pied Pipers. In addition to recordings, I'll be giving a short history of each group many of which are quite interesting. I...

This week's show is a special program that I've had in my collection for many years. I played it on Big Band Bash a long time ago and I thought I would play it again this week. I don't have the exact date on when this show was produced or aired but it is called "Sounds of the Swinging Years." It was hosted by Ronald Reagan a long time before he became president. He explains about the swing bands a...

This is the last part of my series on bandleaders who played the same instrument. Today we wind up with the trombonists and these were some of the most popular bands. We'll be hearing from Tommy Dorsey, Jack Teagarden, Glenn Miller, Buddy Morrow, Will Bradley and a few others. It is a good program with some toe-tapping music. I hope you enjoy this program especially if you are a fan of the trombon...

On Part Four of my series on band leaders who played the same instrument, I'll be looking at the trumpet playing band leaders. There were a lot of them so I'll be playing some recordings by some of the famous trumpeters in addition to the not so famous. Some of the band leaders will be hearing from include Harry James, Bunny Berigan, Charlie Spivak, Sunny Dunham, and Randy Brooks. If you are a fan...

This week's show is a continuation of the theme started two weeks ago. We are going to be listening to some of the Big Band Leaders who played the piano. There were many bandleader-musicians that were pianists and after I listened to this show I realized that I forgot to include Stan Kenton. I will try to include some of his music in a later show. Today's show is one that I put together back in 20...

This week on our program I am revisiting a series I did way back in 2011. I got the idea from a fellow big band broadcaster from North Carolina whose show I happened hear. His series was about a group of bandleaders who played the same instrument. Last time we heard some of the bandleaders who played the clarinet and today we will be exploring those leaders who played the saxophone. Some of the ba...

On our show this week, I am going back to the Big Band Bash vault to pull out a series of shows I did way back in 2011. Back then I produced a 5 part series grouping each show by the bandleader's instrument. Today we will be listening to the clarinet playing bandleaders. Then in the weeks to come, we'll be focusing on the trumpeters, the saxophonists, the pianists and finally the trombonists. Ther...

When Major Glenn Miller disappeared over the English Channel in December of 1944, his Army-Air Force Orchestra continued to perform. On the show today, I will be presenting the last two performances by that great orchestra. The first is the last program of "I Sustain The Wings" from October 1945 and the final performance is from November of 1945 before a live audience. Sgt. Jerry Gray is the condu...

This week I would like to focus on a bandleader and orchestra that was not as well known as others but still produced some great music. Andy Kirk led a fantastic band and his band was almost a twin of Jimmie Lunceford's band. Although he was the leader of the band, he did not solo but instead utilized the talent in his band for the spotlight instead. Featured on many of the recordings is the fanta...

This week we continue with more of the Big Band vocalists. This will be a potpourri of many different vocalists from many different bands. I tried to limit each singer to one song so we could hear as many of the different styles as time permitted. Some of the vocalists on this show include Jack Leonard, Helen Ward, Dick Haymes, Louis Armstrong, Helen O'Connell and others. I hope I play some of you...

Today's show is from the Big Band Bash archives and is one that I did on the popular vocalists who sang with the big bands. Most big bands had at least one singer and some had two. If you were a really popular band then you might have a vocal quartet. I've tried to present quite a few different vocalists and there were so many good ones that I had enough for two shows. So it's a singer potpourri f...

On Part 2 of the Birth of Swing, I would like to play some recordings by some of the other big bands that were recording and playing between 1934 and 1936. Some of the bands that were together during those years include The Casa Loma Orchestra, Jimmie Lunceford, Benny Carter, Duke Ellington, The Dorsey Brothers, and Andy Kirk. This is just a sample and if I have missed a certain band I will probab...

August 21, 1935 is sometimes referred to as the birthday of Swing. It was on this date that the Benny Goodman orchestra, after traveling across the country, opened their engagement at the Palomar Ballroom in Los Angeles, California. They started the night playing it safe with stock arrangements but when they started playing their special arrangements, the kids went wild. These were the numbers the...

This week we celebrate the birthday of the multi-talented Benny Carter. He was a composer, arranger, saxophonist, and he played the trumpet too. He was also a great bandleader. He was born on August 8, 1907. My title comes from a cd that Benny recorded with fellow saxophonist Phil Woods. It was a double CD set and each musician wrote a song and dedicated it to the other. Benny's song was called My...

Every week on Big Band Bash I try to present a variety of bands and formats. Sometimes the leaders are well known and sometimes they are not but I always try to present good music from the bands of that era. Today's show is on an excellent trumpet player who led a big band but who didn't quite achieve the fame of some of the other leaders. Today we are going to spotlight the band and trumpet of So...

During the swing era, many of the record companies and music publishers kept track of a song's weekly standings in the polls. Just as they do today, bandleaders hoped that their recordings would reach the number one spot in the lists. But, sadly, some only made it to the number two position and then no higher. On the show today, we are going to be listening to songs from the years of 1940 and 1941...

On this week's show, instead of focusing on bandleaders or musicians, I would like to take a look at the career of one of the greatest of the American lyricists Johnny Mercer. John Herndon Mercer was an American lyricist, songwriter and singer. He was also a record label executive, who co-founded Capitol Records. He is best known as a tin pan alley lyricist, but he also composed music. He was also...

On this week's show I am going to take a look at the area of New York City known as Harlem. There have been many songs written about that particular area so I thought it would be interesting to learn about it and explore some of the many songs that have Harlem in the title. Some of the bands we'll be hearing from include Duke Ellington, Mildred Bailey, Stan Kenton, Gene Krupa, Bunny Berigan, and E...

This week I am going to continue with Part-two of "Into the 50's" from the Time Life series "The Swing Era". Today's show focuses on songs from the the late 1940's and early 1950's. There are only a couple more volumes in this set and the producers of the series stopped using individual years and lumped several years together. So today, we'll be hearing from the bands of Benny Goodman, Ralph Flana...

This week I am going back to another set in the Time Life series "The Swing Era". Today's show focuses on songs from the the late 1940's and early 1950's. There are only a couple more volumes in this set and the producers of the series stopped using individual years and lumped several years together. So today, we'll be hearing from the bands of Tommy Dorsey, Stan Kenton, Glenn Miller, Harry James,...