Big Band Bash

This week we continue our look at the recordings made by Benny Goodman for the RCA Victor label. We start with some songs from Volume Two and move into Volume Three. I also continue with my look at the career of Benny Goodman. Thia show also introduces the Goodman Quartet with the addition of vibraphonist Lionel Hampton. Most of these songs were recorded in 1936. There are a lot of favorites for all the fans of Benny and his Orchestra. I hope you are enjoying the recordings that Benny made for RCA Victor at the start of his career.

Benny Goodman's orchestra was the first big band that I ever listened to. Another big band show that I listing to just did a five week series on the life and music of Benny Goodman tracing his recordings from the earliest to the last ones. I wanted to do a series on Benny but I didn't want to duplicate what David Miller did on his show Swinging Down the Lane. Luckily, I have in my collection a series of albums from the 1970's released by RCA Victor call the Complete. Well, I have all eight double albums so I thought I would play many of the Victor recordings of the Goodman band. There are lots of great songs in this series and we will also trace the career of Benny Goodman. I hope you enjoy Part One of the RCA Victor Recordings of Benny Goodman.

Happy New Year to everyone as we welcome in the New Year. On the show today is repeat of a program I produced in 2016 called New Year's Radio Dance Party 1945-1946. The Armed Forces Radio Service gave a real treat to American troops still stationed around the world in the aftermath of World War II---live performances, by remote hookups from their respective New Year's Eve hotel and/or ballroom performances. We'll get to hear some of the titans of the time in American jazz and popular music. Including but not limited to Harry James, Count Basie, Louis Armstrong, Jimmy Dorsey, Artie Shaw (with guest Roy Eldridge), Stan Kenton, Benny Goodman, Duke Ellington, and---of course!---Guy Lombardo. It was a gift to our troops then and it's a perfect gift for our troops---and New Year's Eve shut-ins---today.

There are many popular Holiday songs through the years, but the 1930's through the 1950's produced many of them. We will take a look at why this was and enjoy some unique Holiday songs from this period on Part Two of Holiday Songs on the Radio. I want to take this opportunity to wish each and everyone of you a Happy holiday season. Be safe and enjoy yourselves this year. Seasons greetings everyone and I hope you enjoy the selections from this week's Big Band Bash. I forgot to give credit in the podcast, but the information I got was from the National Review and vocativ.com websites.

I would like to celebrate the holidays with a program I call Holiday Favorites and the Radio. Imagine you have been transported back in time to the 1940's and are in your living room or den or bedroom listening to the radio. These are some of the holiday songs you might have heard. In addition to the songs from back then, I would like to give a little history on the importance of radio from that era. Happy Holidays everyone and I hope you enjoy the selections from this week's Big Band Bash.

On the show today we remember two important dates from the past, December 7th 1941 and December 15th 1944. The former was the day that Japan attacked the US Naval Fleet stationed at Pearl Harbor and the latter was the day that Glenn Miller disappeared while flying over the English Channel. I decided to play some assorted songs and clips associated with Pearl Harbor and I also have two broadcasts from Glenn Miller's "I Sustain The Wings" radio show. The first is from December 11, 1943 and is about 30 minutes and then the next one is a 15 Miller broadcast. I hope you enjoy the music as we pay a tribute to the men and women who lost their lives on December 7, 1941 and also as we remember Major Glenn Miller.

We continue this week with the second part of the Time-Life Swing Era volume 1942-1944. I first discovered this series when I made a trip to the local library and found a couple volumes in the set. They were on vinyl lps and so I checked them out and transferred them to cassette (kudos to anyone who remembers cassette players and vinyl lps). After I started working at our radio station, someone donated the whole set in the series to us. It's a challenge thinking up topics for the show so I thought this would be an interesting way of remembering all those great hits from the big band era. I hope you enjoy the original recordings from "The Swing Era" 1942-1944 Part 2.

Welcome to this encore presentation from the Time-Life series, "The Swing Era". Today we return with the volume from the years of 1942-1944. These were the war years but there were still some great recordings made. As I have done in previous shows from the Time-Life series I am playing the original recordings. We'll be hearing from Harry James, Tommy Dorsey, Benny Goodman, Gene Krupa, Les Brown and more. This is a fantastic set with lots of great music. I hope you enjoy this volume in the series, "The Swing Era". Thanks so much for listening.

This week concludes the Great Big Band Singers set from Reader's Digest. I have picked one song from each singer in the set to play. It is sad that this set is no longer available but I have seen it listed on Ebay. If you are a fan of the big band singers you might want to see if you can buy it there. The puzzler is back this week. I hope you enjoy the songs and singers on this program.

This week's show is a continuation of the series The Great Big Band Singers that I started last week. Some new vocalists make their way into the show: Dick Haymes, Bob Eberle, Helen O'Connell, June Christy and Peggy Lee. This is a great set which unfortunately is no longer available. In addition to the featured singers I will be reading from the booklet that came with the set. Also, the big band puzzler is back. I hope you enjoy the music from The Great Big Band Singers.

Reader's Digest records has put out many collections of Big Bands in the past. One that I have in my collection is called The Great Big Band Singers. I found that when I started to play these CDs that the songs were not the same old songs associated with the singers but different versions. For example, there are live reordings and lesser known recordings in addition to the hits. I hope you enjoy this set from Reader's Digest. This series is for all the vocal fans.

Halloween will be in a few days and so to do something different on the program this week, I have picked out some songs that are scary or eerie sounding or have a scary word in the title. And to make things a little fun I put in a different sounding background to get us in the mood for Halloween. This is the first show I have produced with a Halloween flavor so I hope you enjoy this little bit of eeriness and scary big band sounds.

This week I am going to conclude our look at the V-Disc Program by playing some more songs from the Time-Life four disc set on the V-Disc program. Since I read from two internet sites that told about the V-Disc program on parts one and two, I am not going to do much discussion other than to announce the various songs. As usual the Puzzler will be back. I hope you enjoy this collection of songs as we wind up or look at the many recordings that were part of the V-Disc series.

This week we continue our look at the World War Two recording program known as V-Discs. We are playing from a collection of 4 cds from Time-Life Records. This is a great set which has many varied performers. Some of the V-Discs we will be listening to include Kay Starr, Jimmie Lunceford, Red Norvo, Bea Waid, Slim Gallaird, and others. I also have another short history of V-Discs from another source different than the one in Part One. I hope you enjoy this look at the program from World War II known as V-Discs.

This week I am going start a three part series on the V-Disc program. I have done shows on V-Discs before but they were recorded long ago and I thought I would like to revisit these recordings. The songs from this series come from a four disc set from Time-Life Records. I will also tell about the history of this unique program. Many of the songs in this series I have not presented before. I hope you enjoy this look at the program from World War II known as V-Discs.