Big Band Bash

Hello everyone. November 19, 1905 is the birthday of the late bandleader and trombonist Tommy Dorsey. He also passed away on November 26, 1956. Since both these date occur in the month of November, I though I would like to revisit the music and career of the Sentimental Gentleman of Swing, Tommy Dorsey. I decided to play many of the classic Dorsey hits so I hope some of your favorites are on today's show which will conclude next week. We will also take a look at his amazing career so I hope you enjoy part one of my Tommy Dorsey salute.

Well, we're down to the last part of this series highlighting songs composed during the 1930's. We are highlighting the years of 1938 and 1939. There were some nice songs composed in these years and unfortunately I had to omit a few as there were more songs than I could fit in the amount of time. I have enjoyed researching and choosing songs for this series. As always, thank you for listening and supporting Big Band Bash.

There were some fantastic songs composed in the years of 1936 and 1937. Composers Gershwin, Rogers, Kern and Duke wrote many hit songs that are still being played today. Benny Goodman's big hit Sing, Sing, Sing was recorded in 1937 and I have included both parts. There was one song I didn't have time for but I only found one big band version. Someday My Prince Will Come is a popular jazz standard but was not recorded by many big bands. I hope you enjoy this potpourri of 1930's popular songs as played by many different big bands.

The 1930's was a time in popular music that saw many changes. Jazz standards are musical compositions that are widely known, performed and recorded by jazz artists as part of the genre's musical repertoire. In the 1930s, swing jazz emerged as a dominant form in American music. Today, we focus on the years of 1934 and 1935. The number of hit songs from these two years had dwindled down in part because of the Great Depressions. But nevertheless, there were some great songs composed then and we'll learn a little bit about them as we listen to performances by the big bands.

The 1930's was a decade of great songs by great American composers. For the next five weeks we'll be listening to those great standards performed by different bands. This is part 2 in the series as we examine those catchy songs from 1932 and 1933. The Great Depression was gathering momentum and it affected the song writers of Tin Pan Alley. The number of hit songs started to decrease as we'll see in the next few parts in the series. There were some great songs composed during 1932 and 1933 and I hope you enjoy the selections.

The 1930's was a decade of great songs by great American composers. For the next five weeks we'll be listening to those great standards performed by different bands. While putting this show together I tried to use recordings by bands that were not as popular as the ones who recorded the definitive version. On the show today we'll be listening to songs composed during the years of 1930 and 1931. There were some great songs composed then and I hope you'll join me as we listen to and learn about them.

This week, I'm going to be playing the third and final record in this three record set that features many hits from the RCA Bluebird record label. When I was a youngster my dad bought a three record set called The Big Bands. In it were songs that went along with a book by George T. Simon. Each record was devoted to a particular record label. The three labels were Decca, Columbia, and RCA Bluebird. It was a nice set with a lot of the hits from the big band era. I came across this set the other day and thought it would be great to hear all those great old songs again. We'll be hearing songs from Artie Shaw, Benny Goodman, Tommy Dorsey and many others. I hope you enjoy all the bands this week that were part of the RCA Bluebird family.

This week, I'm going to be playing the second record in the three record set that features many hits from the Columbia record label. When I was a youngster, my dad bought a three record set called The Big Bands. In it were songs that went along with a book by George T. Simon. Each record was devoted to a particular record label. The three labels were Decca, Columbia, and RCA Bluebird. It was a nice set with a lot of the hits from the big band era. We'll be hearing from Harry James, Duke Ellington, Benny Goodman and many others. I hope you enjoy all the bands this week that were part of the Columbia family.

Hello everyone. When I was growing up, my father had purchased a 3 record set call The Big Bands. What was unique about this set was that each of the records had hits from one of the record labels issuing records back then. Record one had hits issued on the Decca label, record two had hits from Columbia and record three had hits from RCA Blurbird. So for the next three weeks I hope you will enjoy leaning about those record labels as I present a potpourri of songs issued from those great record companies. I can just remember back and hear my dad playing those records and smiling at the many memories he must have had.

It has been awhile since I presented a program on the late Stan Kenton so I wanted to go back and revisit some of his music again. As a musician it was his band from the 1950's that I enjoyed listening to the most. However, on today's show I'm going back to those great Kenton classics from the 1940's. I have really come to enjoy the vocals of Anita O'day and June Christy when they were the vocalists with his band. I hope you will enjoy listening to this great music and learning about the career of the late Stan Kenton.

This week we will be celebrating the birthday of bandleader Bob Crosby. He was born on August 23, 1913 and led one of the most popular big bands during the dance band era. He had some very exciting sidemen in the band. Musicians like Bob Haggart, Ray Bauduc, Eddie, Miller, Irving Fazola, and Yank Lawson were some of the people who passed through the band. Bob was not an instrumentalist but rather a very good vocalist and front man. I hope you enjoy our Bob Crosby birthday salute.

This week's show is a look at some of the Big Band Theme Songs. Just as today's television theme songs identify the show, a big band's theme song helped to identify the band that was on the radio. Some theme songs were originals and some were borrowed from others. We'll be hearing lots of theme songs today on our show so I hope some of these are your favorites.

August 24, 1904 is the birthday of the late bandleader William Count Basie. To celebrate his birthday, I have pulled out a program I produced back in 2013. I decided to focus on the year of 1939 and play many of the songs recorded by the Basie band during that year. I am a big fan of the Basie band as my father had a couple of his records and as I grew older I began to explore the history and recordings of the man known as Count Basie. In addition to Basie, there were those great sidemen of his to spotlight. Musicians like Lester Young, Helen Humes, Buck Clayton, Dickie Wells, and Jo Jones make this a really great year for the Count. This is a good program and I hope you enjoy the music as well as a brief biography of the William Bill Basie known in the big band circle as Count.

Hello everyone. The Victory Parade of Spotlight Bands was the Coca-Cola Company’s big band legacy and its contribution to the war effort. An outstanding collection of 25 of America’s most popular big bands broadcasting live from military bases and defense plants from coast-to-coast during World War II. This week we will listen to four of these live radio remotes featuring the bands of Les Brown, Bob Chester, Jan Savitt, and Gene Krupa This is a glimpse back in time to hear four great bands on the radio at the close of WW2.

Hello everyone. I am working on some new shows that are not quite finished. So here is a show i produced back in 2013 and it features the vocal groups from the big band era. Some of the groups were solo acts and others sang as part of the band. Who could forget groups like the Andrews Sisters, the Ink Spots, the Mills Brothers, the Pied Pipers and the Modernaires? In addition, I tried to give a little history of each group.