The Palomar

The "Other" Girls of Swing!

milliondreamsago@gmail.com (George Spink) — Fri, 10 Oct 2008 17:46:00 +0000

Star Eyes
Ina Ray Hutton and Her Orchestra
Stuart Foster (Vocalist)
1943-44 Spotlight Band Broadcasts
Recorded Sept. 18, 1943 - Batavia, New York
For the last year and half I’ve had the privilege to post a number of posts about the “swing era” and of those, a couple or so, about the women who participated with the big bands they were associated with such as Helen Forest, Anita O’Day, Sarah Vaughn, Ella a few others. The “Girls” of swing as they were known during that period in America, calling professional women as these ladies were, would have been a slap in the face of most women today.

Most of these women were vocalists as backup to the band leaders and the bands they sang with. BUT! There were the “Other” girls of the Swing Era that are very seldom mentioned and for all intents and purposes simply forgotten when it comes to speaking of the Big Band era.

For the most part after World War II began the big bands broke up and the band members went off to war. Big Band leaders like Glenn Miller, Artie Shaw and many others joined the military and some reformulated new bands under the direction and control of their branch of service. Miller with the Army, Shaw with the Navy and so on.

In support of our war efforts a new organization came about, the United Service Organizations Inc. (USO), was founded in 1941 in response to a request from President Franklin D. Roosevelt to provide morale and recreation services to U.S. uniformed military personnel.

Many people today would associate the USO as the “Donut Girls” often seen in news reels or with the many shows featuring Bob Hope and his entourage of pretty girls, skits and jokes of the day! But the USO had way more entertainment than just Bob Hope! Other bands and shows were also featured and some of these were the “All Girl” bands that toured for the USO and I thought you might enjoy seeing a few of those that played for our boys during the war.

Thelma White and her All-Girl Orchestra was a sassy young blond who could bring the house down with her energetic appeal!

Ada Leonard’s All American Girl Orchestra, a flashy former Chicago stripper who guided across the stage with the grace of a ballerina while the boys all were screaming “Take it off” entertains thousands for years.

Ina Ray Hutton and Her Melodears was one of the most popular big bands of the era. Her half-sister, June Hutton, sang with Charlie Spivak.

These were just a few of the most popular groups along with some of the better known women such as Blanch Calloway, sister to the great Cab Calloway, Rita Rio, Lorraine Page and Aileen Shirley and her Maids of Melody that could be seen around the world in support of our troops during the war.

It certainly was fortunate that some of this music survived and can still be found for your entertainment on YouTube. Hope you all enjoyed this little bit of history as much as I did!

Spencer "Wolf" Smartt
Dallas, Texas
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Billy Eckstine

milliondreamsago@gmail.com (George Spink) — Wed, 08 Oct 2008 02:21:00 +0000

Billy Eckstine

My Silent Love
Billy Eckstine and His Orchestra
Recorded Oct. 6, 1946 - Los Angeles

Tuxedo Junction's Billy Eckstine Juke Box Page is now online.

Those of you under 40 years old might ask "Billy who?"

Billy Ecsktine was one of the greatest singers in the United States during the big band and postwar years. He was a bass baritone singer who also played trumpet and trombone. My parents heard him sing in the early 1940's with Earl Hines and His Orchestra at the Grand Terrace Ballroom on Chicago's South Side.

Billy left Hines to start his own band in the mid-1940's -- and what a band it was! You can see some videos of Billy and his great band on You Tube.

As you listen to Billy's songs, you'll understand why he was the first major black male singer, paving the way for Nat King Cole and many others in the years that followed.

For any women who read this blog and might be feeling a little down, listening to Billy Eckstine will chase your blues away. I learned this from my own mother when I was a boy in the late 1940's and early 1950's. In her book, Billy Eckstine could do no wrong!

I bet that even though Billy sang a long time ago, the women who visit The Palomar today will love his singing as much as my mother did more than a half century ago....

George Spink
Moderator - The Palomar
Los Angeles, California
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Swing Sing and All That Jazz

milliondreamsago@gmail.com (George Spink) — Tue, 07 Oct 2008 04:54:00 +0000

As you may know, our Honorary Palomar Member Henry Holloway hosts a one-hour big band radio show every other Saturday on Fine Music Radio (FMR), 101.3 FM in Cape Town, South Africa at 5 PM local time.

Henry and Marilyn Holloway
at their home, Basildon,
in Caledon, South Africa.

Thanks to the magic of the Internet, you can hear it online by visiting the FMR web site and clicking the "listen live" at the top of the page. Here are the corresponding times you can catch it on the United States mainland:

11 AM - Eastern
10 AM - Central
9 AM - Mountain
8 AM - Pacific

You also can listen by copying and pasting these streaming URL’s in your media player a few minutes before the broadcast begins.:

Media Player

http://infant.antfarm.co.za/fmr/asxgen.asp

http://infant.antfarm.co.za/fmr/fmr_24.asx

Winamp or iTunes

http://infant.antfarm.co.za/fmr/fmr.pls

Another way you can hear Henry's show is by visiting:

http://tuxjunction.net/holloway.htm

Since Sept. 6, 2008, I've been posting Henry's show on this page, allowing you to listen to it whenever you wish.

To whet your interest, here is Henry's show from Saturday (Oct. 4th):

Enjoy!

George Spink
Moderator - The Palomar
Los Angeles, California
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Blossoms for Tony

milliondreamsago@gmail.com (George Spink) — Sat, 04 Oct 2008 02:30:00 +0000

Tony Pastor

A couple of weeks ago I offered up a piece on one of the all-time greats of Jazz, Stan Getz. As a follow up I wanted to feature another great saxophonist who didn’t quite reach the fame of Getz and a band leader who never reached the heights of Miller, Shaw, Goodman or the other greats of the time. He never charted on Billboard, never had a hit record and as far as I know only produced three or four records under his own name during his career. He started in the 1920’s as a musician, became a singer and a bandleader, and his own band outlasted most of the big bands of the time, becoming one of music’s most beloved artists.

Antonio Pestritto "Tony" Pastor was born in Middletown, Connecticut in 1907. As a teenager, Pastor played tenor saxophone in a number of east coast-based bands, sometimes with Artie Shaw who was a neighbor. He worked with the Wesleyan Serenaders in the mid-1920s, John Cavallaro in 1927, Irving Aaronson from 1928 to 1930, and Austin Wylie around 1930.

He formed his own orchestra based out of Hartford, Connecticut in 1931. The group struggled, and in 1934 he disbanded it. He toured with Smith Ballew in 1935 and played briefly with Joe Venuti and Vincent Lopez before joining Artie Shaw in 1936.
With Shaw's band, he became one of its featured soloists and an occasional singer. He appeared on a number of the band's most popular records, including "Indian Love Call" and "Rosalie". When Shaw decided to quit the band business in late 1939 and ran off to Mexico, Pastor was asked to head the orchestra. He turned down the offer and formed his own band instead.

After leaving Shaw, Pastor’s new band met with considerably more success than his first attempt. Thanks to a series of radio broadcasts, Pastor and his band became well known and sufficiently popular to survive the winter of 1947 that saw so many big bands fold.

Pastor went all out when it came to buying charts for his book. His orchestra featured some of the most modern jazz arrangements of its time. It outlived just about all the other swing bands, finally breaking up in the late 1950's. Pastor was both honest and friendly, well loved by his musicians and fans. His sax playing and his vocals were the highlights of each performance.

Among the singers he hired were the sisters Betty and Rosemary Clooney (who went on to become a star in her own right). Other singers that Pastor hired included Johnny McAfee, Dorsey Anderson, Kay Little, Eugenie Baird, Virginia Maxey, and Dolores Martel.

In the 1960’s, Pastor organized a small group that played the Las Vegas circuit. The new band featured his three sons, Tony Jr., Guy, and John -- the Pastor Brothers, at one point in their career, they were featured on a world tour with Pearl Bailey. All of the boys were involved in their father's music at times.

Pastor became very ill in the late 1960's, quit the music business, and died in 1969.

Pastor never reached the level of his contemporaries but was quite an artist and a great musician! It is a shame he didn't leave more of his music for us to enjoy!

Spencer "Wolf" Smartt
Dallas, Texas
Email Me

Sources:

1. http://www.parabrisas.com/d_pastort.php
2. http://www.oldies.com/artist-view/Tony-Pastor.html
3. http://tonypastor.com/CV.html

50 Years Ago.... The Soft Sounds of Peter Gunn and Henry Mancini

milliondreamsago@gmail.com (George Spink) — Tue, 30 Sep 2008 15:19:00 +0000

Can it be that long ago?

Can a half-century have passed by already?

Where does the time go?

As we finish September 2008, I am thinking back to September 1958. I rode the train from Chicago to attend my first semester at the University of California at Santa Barbara (UCSB).

My father died a year earlier, and my mother remained in Chicago because she had a job at the nearby Hotpoint plant. Her brothers and sisters already had moved from Chicago to Santa Barbara. She hoped to join them one day soon.

I can still recall my days at UCSB as though they were yesterday. I lived in Sequoia Hall for my first semester. Like other campus dorms, Sequoia Hall had been a Marine barracks during World War Two.

There was a large "living room" as you entered each dorm, and each one had a television set. One of the most popular new series that autumn was a detective show called "Peter Gunn" starring Craig Stevens. Peter Gunn hung out at a hip local nightspot called "Mother's." His girlfirend, Edie (Lola Albright), sung with the jazz combo at Mother's.

Yes, a jazz combo -- on network TV!

In fact, music was central to "Peter Gunn," just as it would be to another detective show, "Miami Vice," a quarter of a century later. The music was composed, arranged and conducted by Henry Mancini. "Peter Gunn" made Mancini famous, very famous, and opened the door to his long movie career. Remember "The Pink Panther" (1964) and its sequels?

What those films and "Peter Gunn" had in common besides Mancini was their producer, Blake Edwards.

For half a century now, I have loved the music featured on "Peter Gunn." It sounds as fresh and as exciting to me today as it did back in Sequoia Hall in 1958. One reason is that Henry Mancini hired the best jazz musicians in L.A. to be in the orchestra, jazz giants like Shelly Manne and the Candoli Brothers (Pete and Conte). Just give it a listen!

Peter Gunn 1

Peter Gunn 2

George Spink
Moderator - The Palomar
Los Angeles, California
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Connie Haines - Farewell

milliondreamsago@gmail.com (George Spink) — Sat, 27 Sep 2008 20:25:00 +0000

So soon after the loss of Jo Stafford, another of Tommy Dorsey's great vocalists has joined the Concert in the Sky. Connie Haines (1921-2008) passed away on September 26th at the age of 87.

Connie Haines and Frank Sinatra

Oh, Look at Me Now!
Tommy Dorsey, Frank Sinatra,
Connie Haines and The Pied Pipers
Recorded Jan. 6, 1941

Let's Get Away from It All!
Tommy Dorsey with Jo Stafford, Frank Sinatra,
Connie Haines and The Pied Pipers
Recorded Feb. 17, 1941

Interestingly, Connie's career path with name bands parallelled that of Frank Sinatra - her first major job was with the Harry James band, where she recorded songs such as "Comes Love" and "I Can't Afford to Dream". Tommy heard her with James at Frank Dailey's Meadowbrook and was immediately impressed with her talent. Harry was having some financial troubles that forced him to lay off some performers including Connie, so Tommy stepped in and the rest, as they say, was history. Sy Oliver's arrangements shifted her style more to swing and jump numbers rather than ballads. The little gal singer with the big voice soon had a string of hits including "Oh, Look At Me Now", "Let's Get Away From It All", “What Is This Thing Called Love?”, and "Snooty Little Cutie." She even took a chance on the off-key novelty piece "Friendship", where she exaggerated her native Georgia drawl as a pretend hillbilly! When all was said and done she had over 2 dozen major hits totalling sales of well over one million discs.

Connie Haines

Like Sinatra, her work with the Dorsey band led to a movie career. She made a couple of films with the band, including Ship Ahoy and Las Vegas Nights. After leaving Tommy she appeared in a three more films as both an actor and singer. She cut her last major album in the late 1950s, and made regular appearances on top TV variety shows well into the 1960s. She later returned to the road where she pleased fans for almost three more decades. Her last public appearances were in 2006.

Connie's ancestry was French - her birth name was Yvonne Marie Antoinette JaMais. The word "jamais" means "never" in French, but I'd prefer to remember her "toujours" ... "always."

Jeff Karpinski
King of Prussia, Pennsylvania
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Looking Back: New Year's Eve

milliondreamsago@gmail.com (George Spink) — Fri, 26 Sep 2008 15:04:00 +0000

by Doug Clark

Photo: The ball that drops in Times Square on New Year's Eve.
Broadcast: New Year's Eve 1945
Few of today’s big band fans recall the glories of New Year’s Eve, when a plethora of dance bands took over the airways of two networks from 11:00 pm to 3:00 am. Only CBS broadcast that late. I spent several such late evenings, while most were out at parties, dancing the new year in. As for me, I wanted to see how many bands I could recognize, their venues, and their music.

It will probably be boring to some, but I would like to give you a list of the bands I heard, along with a few comments. Does anybody recall all these names? I certainly don’t, especially the territory bands outside New York City.

The year was 1935, and 1936 was about to be ushered in with a blaze of glory. CBS and NBC had lined up, in fifteen minute segments, bands to usher in the new year, begining at 11 PM Eastern Time. As midnight approached, the announcers gave a countdown, usually to the tune of “Auld Lang Syne,” when 1:00 am arrived the scene shifted to Chicago, where the festivities were in full swing and bands at the Palmer House, Aragon Ballroom, Blackhawk Restaurant and elsewhere were waiting their turn. Sometimes a station would drop down to Cincinnati or Cleveland for a single band.

Next in line was Denver, where the scene was repeated at the Brown Palace Hotel, Elitch’s Gardens, and elsewhere. Finally the west coast was ready to go, and it was already 3:00 a.m in New York City.. . By now the east coast parties was waning. One night a network shifted to the Royal Hawaiian Hotel. To be accurate, it was several hours before the land of aloha would see the new year arrive.

Unfortunately. I failed to list the venues of the following orchestras, And the names of some bands, unknown to me, may be spelled wrong., I should also note I surfed around between NBC and CBS in order to hear the maximum number of orchestras. They are as follows, in the same order I copied them from my journal.

Dick Gasparee, Ted Lewis, Johnny Johnson, Anson Weeks, Henry King, Hal Kemp, Paul Martell, Enric Madriguera, Jan Garber, Joe Reichman. Lucky Millander, Ruby Newman, Ray Noble, Jean Goldkette, Irving Aaronson, Enrico Pukette, Freddie Palmer, Harold Stern, George Olsen, George Emery, Joe DiCorsi, Howard Woods, Henry Halstead, Julie Wertz, Lucky Roberts, Guy Lombardo, Johnny Ulrich, Isham Jones, Eddy Duchin, Emil Coleman, Tommy Dorsey, Art Kassell, Ozzie Nelson, Jerry Blaine, Leonard Keller, Vincent Lopez, Kay Kyser, Earl Hines, Herbie Kay, Shep Fields, Leon Belasco, Mitch Boroff, and Eddie Ryan.

Out of 65 different bands, I recall, 72 years later, about half of them.

This was my final time to follow what was later called "The New Year’s Eve Dancing Party." By September, I was enrolled in college and the demands of study left little time for hearing orchestras. As I followed the more serious concerns of life, the music largely faded away, only to return with a vengeance in my final retirement years. I now have hundreds of CDs and other mementos to enjoy to the fullest. Strange as it may seem to younger fans, I have no difficulty recalling the lyrics to a large percentage of tunes played by the bands.

What did I learn from this Night of Music in 1936? I learned that the bands all sounded pretty much alike, with a few exceptions. In addition I learned that they did not sound their best in celebrations where fans dancing by were yelling out, in drunken words, “Happy New Year.’

It was near the end of an era. While at Times Square hundreds of thousands jammed together to watch the slowly dropping ball denote a new year has arrived, the bands are gone, the venues are gone, and probably nearly all the people who celebrated them are also gone.

Doug Clark
Spring Hill, Florida
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Ted Heath (1902-1969)

milliondreamsago@gmail.com (George Spink) — Tue, 16 Sep 2008 16:00:00 +0000

by Jack Fortes
Along with the American bands that continued into the 1950s, A British band known as “Ted Heath and His Music” made what George T. Simon called “the first and successful American tour of an English jazz band.”

Ted Heath

Simon said Heath was “a dignified, dedicated Englishman (who) organized his beautifully rehearsed and often high-swinging outfit near the close of the Big Band era, creating a furor with its London Palladium concerts, regular concerts, and a succession of outstanding recordings.”

Heath, born in 1902, played the trombone in his early teens, and, because of his father’s ill health as “the Great War” (World War I) drew to its close in 1918, the youngster would play in the streets to earn pennies to help his family. One of the “venues” was outside the Savoy Hotel in London. Years later, he was to play inside its palatial suites with his big band.

He played in London bands during the 20's and 30's and was able to keep a band together during World War II. He had a successful 10-year stint, 1945-55, including a long-term Delta recording contract. Early in 1956 the band became the first British musical act to tour America since the end of World War II. A reciprocal agreement landed the Stan Kenton Orchestra on British soil.

An LP recording featured such tunes as “On The Alamo,”Charleston,” “Stars Fell On Alabama,” and “St. Louis Blues.” An Album called “Ted Heath at Carnegie Hall” included “Memories of You,” “Perdido,” “Autumn in New York,” “Carioca”, plus 9 other tunes.

Ted Heath and his music has a prominent place in the history of the big bands.

Jack Fortes
DeLand, Florida
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Big Bands of the 1950's

milliondreamsago@gmail.com (George Spink) — Thu, 11 Sep 2008 14:48:00 +0000

by "Bill" Schaaf

Moonglow/The Theme from "Picnic"
Ray McKinley and The New Glenn Miller Orchestra

Arnold Dean Interviews Ray McKinley
"One Night Stand with the Big Bands" - September 1976

Sometimes, people of today think that with the release of Bill Haley's "Rock Around The Clock" in May 1954 all other music just dried up and blew away!

That wasn't the case at all! In fact, the great dance bands continued to flourish. They still drove the highways of America and played dances and concerts all over the USA and Canada. They continued to make and sell records. They appeared on television and radio. They enjoyed a lot of success.

And, even though a number of Big Bands ceased to exist, there were many others who started and succeeded. Oh yes, many of the bands of the pre-war years were no longer performing, were they really good enough to continue to have an audience? Some of the lesser known bands just simply ceased to be, but others continued and many new bands came on the scene.

Let's look at what happened in the 1950's. New bands came into being like Ray Anthony, Billy May, Buddy Morrow, Ralph Flanagan, Ralph Marterie and the Sauter-Finegan Orchestra to name a few. Other popular bands of the pre-war and wartime years folded, but regrouped after a few months to continue to enjoy success. Some of these bands included Tommy and Jimmy Dorsey, Count Basie, Duke Ellington, and Stan Kenton. Even many of the "Sweet Bands" continued to succeed. Bands like Sammy Kaye, Russ Morgan, Blue Barron, Eddy Howard and Tiny Hill were still on the air, in the ballrooms and on records. Many other bands popped up on the airwaves and in the hotels that were "sons" of other bands.

Let's look at Tex Beneke with a revitalized Glenn Miller Band (with strings, no less) that played not only the pre-war favorites, but also introduced the Army Air Force band arrangements that many people had never heard before, because they were being played to the servicemen and women in the United Kingdom during the war. They also had charted new hits that were very popular.

Then there were Jerry Gray, Paul Weston, and Eddie Sauter and Bill Finegan's Orchestra. Eddy Howard had left the Dick Jurgens Band and was filling the ballrooms and record shops with much good music.

There even was a guy who played the accordian and had a polka band that was continuing to be very popular by the name of Lawrence Welk.

When the 1950's came along, many bands were entertaining the stay-at-home crowd on a new invention called Television. Bands like Wayne King, Freddy Martin and Vaughn Monroe were weekly guests in millions of homes.

No, the 1950's didn't really sound the death knell for the Big Bands. It was just that many listeners preferred to hear the simpler and (some say) noisier thing that was first called "rockabilly" and later called "Rock and Roll."

As a young teenager, I didn't cotton to that new stuff. I still listened to my parents old 78s and bought new 45 RPM record releases by Harry James, Ralph Marterie, a band called The Commanders and some others by alumni of still other bands from the past. There were still bands out there that still made the hearts flutter. Bands like Claude Thornhill, Kay Kyser and a drummer named Spike Jones who liked to play dixieland with different results.

No, the bands didn't die. Many of them, like Stan Kenton grew musically into a new stratosphere that wasn't readily accepted by the "mickey-mouse" followers. Mr. Kenton soared into the ether's ever higher atmosphere with a thing called "Progressive Jazz." Later he went even higher into a thing called "Innovations In Modern Music." This invited even more people to strive for recognition...people like Johnny Richards, Shorty Rogers and former sidemen like Buddy Rich and Maynard Ferguson.

The Les Brown "Band Of Renown" enjoyed some of its greatest glory during the 1950's with his 'All Star' Orchestra that was filled with super-talented people. Les must have paid his boys well, because they stayed with him for years... Guys like Ronnie Lang, Dave Pell, Ray Sims, Wes Hensel, Don Fagerquist, Jack Sperling, Frank Comstock, perennial Henry "Butch" Stone, lovely Joanne Greer and, of course, little brother Clyde "Stumpy" Brown.

Oh sure, there were a lot of the bands that ceased to be. The lack of recording contracts, dance venues, advancing age, tiring of the grind of playing one-nighters, TELEVISION and rock 'n roll led a lot of the leaders to turn their trumpets into table lamps, but many still are out there today. Eighty-six-year-old Buddy Morrow is still leading his Tommy Dorsey Orchestra and 72-year-old Larry O'Brien is still performing 300 dates a year with his Glenn Miller Orchestra. You still see a Sammy Kaye band, a Russ Margan band, even a Hal McIntyre band. And their popularity continues to draw crowds to concerts and dances all over the country.

Did you ever notice that when Public TV goes on their marathons to raise money that they always feature some Big Bands to get the phones ringing? They certainly don't have that much success with the Rock Groups of today!

No, the Big Bands haven't died. And as long as there are people out here who still enjoy listening and dancing to "good music," it never will.

William "Bill" Schaaf
Crawfordsville, Indiana
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Jan Slottenäs Storband – Sveriges Glenn-Miller Orkester

milliondreamsago@gmail.com (George Spink) — Sun, 31 Aug 2008 00:49:00 +0000

A few years ago I had the pleasure of spending a few days in Stockholm. There was a lot of publicity for a concert of "Music in the Glenn Miller Mood" by the Jan Slottenäs Orchestra. I'd never heard of them before and was scheduled to leave before the day of the performance, so I chalked it up to a missed opportunity but not as serious as missing a Larry O'Brien or (in earlier times) a Tex Beneke concert in the U.S. Was I ever wrong…

The Jan Slottenäs Orchestra
at the 2007 Glenn Miller Festival in Clarinda, Iowa.
After coming home I searched out information on the band and found that it's considered to be not just the best swing band in Scandinavia but also one of the top four or five interpreters of Miller's music in the world!

Jan's story is remarkable in a number of ways, not the least of which is that he formed his first orchestra in 1985, at the age of 15, and by just 19 he had "gone professional" leading a dance band full-time. He has set out to (if my pitiful knowledge of Swedish has let me translate things correctly) "… re-create as closely as possible the original orchestration and sounds of the Glenn Miller band." He's recently expanded that wonderful goal to include full performances of many AAF Band arrangements by adding the same configuration of 21 string players, all selected from top symphony orchestras just as Maj. Miller had done so many years before.

Unfortunately the Jan Slottenäs Orchestra doesn't often perform in the U.S.; the only recent appearance was at the annual Glenn Miller Festival in Clarinda where I understand they brought down the house. I was at least able to order a CD taken from some of the AAF concerts and found the sound to be amazing - he's spot-on with almost everything, and is willing to take a chance on performing some of the less frequently-heard arrangements such as "Jeep Jockey Jump" and otherwise unavailable pieces like Harry Katzman's very contemplative version of "Over the Rainbow". Although, I have to admit it was a bit jarring to hear familiar lyrics sung with a Swedish accent!

Official website of The Jan Slottenäs Orchestra

Jeff Karpinski
King of Prussia, Pennsylvania
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The Sound

milliondreamsago@gmail.com (George Spink) — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 02:56:00 +0000

I was listening to KAAM radio yesterday while driving to my jobsite when they played a piece from one of the greatest saxophonist’s to ever pick up that instrument.

The list is so long it’s really quite unfair to list those below and not to mention all the others, but to make the point about the really greats that we all know and love, they had to be mentioned to place this man among them; Julian Edwin "Cannonball" Adderley, Charlie Barnet, Sidney Bechet, Leon "Chu" Berry, Benny Carter, Serge Chaloff, John Coltrane, Eddie "Lockjaw" Davis, Jimmy Dorsey, Coleman Hawkins, Woody Herman, Johnny Hodges, Illinois Jacquet, Zoot Sims, Willie Smith and the list goes on and on. But the one name that stands alone as probably the greatest “Sound” was that of Stan Getz.

I came to love his music the first time I heard him in 1963 as a teenager in high school when he made his first big solo hit “Desafinado” with Charlie Byrd. Stan won his first Grammy Award for that piece as well. At that time in my life I was just silly kid that was into rock and roll, the Beatles, the Beach Boys and so on, but that piece of music really made such an impression on me that it has stayed with me from then on till today.

In 1943 Jack Teagarden took Stan under his wing as his ward due to his age and because Stan’s truancy officer was making him return to school. After a short stint with Jack, Stan had the fantastic opportunity to play with some of the greats of the time such as Stan Kenton, Jimmy Dorsey, and Benny Goodman, but in 1947 Getz became a soloist with Woody Herman and became “The” sound of “The Second Herd”. The band's saxophonists, who were known as 'The Four Brothers', were Stan, Serge Chaloff, Zoot Sims and Herbie Steward. After Getz created a big hit with his rendition of "Early Autumn" Getz left “The Second Herd” to launch his solo career.

By the 50s, Getz had teamed with other jazz greats like Horace Silver, Johnny Smith, Oscar Peterson, and many others. Two of his first quintets included Charlie Parker's rhythm section of drummer Roy Haynes, pianist Al Haig and bassist Tommy Potter. In 1953 he and Dizzy Gillespie formed a Sextet which featured Oscar Peterson, Herb Ellis, Ray Brown and Max Roach. They were making “cool jazz” and that group began setting a new pace for jazz lover’s worldwide! Oscar, who we lost last year, and Stan could talk to each other through their instruments! But Stan was now ready to move on to a new level in his career.

It was now the 60’s and Stan and Charlie Byrd teamed up to bring on a new sound to jazz! They were probably most responsible for bringing the “Bossa Nova” sound into vogue around the world as anyone was. After “Desafinado” Stan teamed up with Joao Gilberto and his wife Astrud and produced another big hit "The Girl from Ipanema" which won him another Grammy Award.

But Getz, like many other jazz greats, had become involved with drugs and like the others he had his share of problems to deal with that went along with his drug problems. Broken marriages, contract problems, children, martial affairs, medical problems etc. the list is long and varied.

As I have written about on numerous occasions, most people are aware of the many others with the same set of problems such as Gene Krupa, Anita O’Day, Billie Holliday, Serge Chaloff, Charlie Parker, and Miles Davis most of whom succumbed to the use of heroin! What beautiful and talented people with fabulous skills wasted and lost to us because of drugs. Thank goodness they all left us with their recordings to enjoy!

Sex, Drugs and Rock and Roll as the saying goes, was just as much a problem back then as it is today! Thanks Stan for the wonderful sound!

Spencer "Wolf" Smartt
Dallas, Texas
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Dean Hudson: Moon Over Miami

milliondreamsago@gmail.com (George Spink) — Sat, 23 Aug 2008 20:31:00 +0000

by Jack Fortes
Many remember the pretty tune, “Moon Over Miami” (I was born in that named town and have loved the song for many years), but many probably do not remember the band that used it as a theme: Dean Hudson, out of the University of Florida in the late 1930's and into the 1940's.

Here’s what George T. Simon says about Hudson in his book, The Big Bands.

“Dean Hudson, personable, handsome and ambitious, emerged from the University of Florida in 1941 with a good band, to which he soon added two impressive kid musicians, Tommy and Jimmy Farr, and a good singer, Ruthie Vale, and in 1944, after Dean, first of the leaders to enter the service, was discharged as an Army Captain, fronted another good unit, which spotted his singing and that of Francis Colwell.”

A discography of recordings Hudson made included, in addition to his theme, “Stardust” and “Straighten Up and Fly Right.”

The Flat Hat, a campus newspaper at the College of William and Mary, Williamsburg, Va., dated Oct. 7, 1947, had a banner headline: “Dean Hudson to Return for Homecoming.” The article went on to say that “Dean Hudson and his sidemen…will be making their seventh appearance at a William and Mary formal.”

Little else about Hudson’s life could be found, but in a book, “The Biggest Boom in Dixie: the Story of Band Music at the University of Florida,” author and longtime University of Florida leader of the famous Gator marching band, Harold B. Bachman, said that when a college band leader graduated and perhaps later leaves the band business, the band continues under the same name but with a different leader. Perhaps such was the case with Dean Hudson.

Jack Fortes
DeLand, Florida
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Rambling Reminiscences of the Big Band Era

milliondreamsago@gmail.com (George Spink) — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 01:14:00 +0000

by Doug Clark

How many of you remember or even heard of the three orchestras that emerged during the Great Depression whose leaders were known as a new brand of singers, often derisively known as “crooners”?

The first of these was that of Rudy Vallee and his Connecticut Yankees.

Rudy Vallee
Rudy played saxophone and clarinet. Shortly after graduating from the University of Maine, Vallee began playing at the Heigh Ho Club in New York City. I believe our family had the first radio on our block. I recall the excitement with which we took turns adjusting the dials. When I was in brief control, I caught some music I liked and heard Vallee sing something like “Deep Night.” I was hooked! I became an immediate follower of the dance band era, as Isham Jones called it.

In the early days of radio, many programs were “sustaining,” that is, commercial-free, put on by the stations to fill up time. Venues such as the Heigh Ho Club provided musical entertainment at virtually no cost. Popular music was always appreciated by the public.

Vallee went on to fame, producing records and movies such as “The Vagabond Lover” which nearly 80 years later are remarkably preserved and available on DVD through Netflix.

The Vallee orchestra was unimpressive by modern standards, but the personality of the leader, skilled in saxophone, clarinet, and song, was a hit. Later orchestras owed a debt of gratitude to Vallee for his promotion of dance music. Many of the songs of this era are still recognized today: “My Time is Your Time” (theme song), “As Time Goes By,” “Life is Just a Bowl of Cherries,” "Louise,”, and “There Is a Tavern in the Town.” During the recording of this tune, Vallee broke out in laughter. His sense of humor is quite obvious on the finished record.

“The Connecticut Yankees" (as the band was called) played commercially on “The Fleishmann Hour” and in the movies. It is estimated there were about 30 films, most of which are gone and forgotten today. When I was only 12 years old, I was able to see Rudy in person as he autographed records in white ink at the A&S Department store in Brooklyn. In later years, I saw the orchestra in person at a movie theatre, at Manhattan Beach bandstand in Coney Island, and at the Hollywood Restaurant

As his band faded from the scene, Rudy Vallee appeared in radio programs as emcee of a variety show, as well as in a Broadway stage hit, “There’s No Business Like Show Business." He died at the age of 84 in 1985.

A recent account cites a failed attempt of fans to name a street after him in prestigious Paradise Valley, Arizona. The street was planned to be named “Rue de Vallee”. It was a clever idea but the city council probably had no idea of who he was or the contribution he made to American music.

Russ Columbo
Russ Columbo was the second of the crooners. Vallee and Columbo were in competition with each other. In Brooklyn, the Paramount and Fox theatres were virtually side by side. Promoters decided to feature Vallee and Columbo at the same time in the two theatres. It was a “Battle of the Crooners.”

Columbo was a huge success. Some of his hits were “Can’t We Be Friends," “You Call It Madness," “Prisoner of Love,” “Sweet and Lovely,” and “Street of Dreams.” His promising career ended abruptly when at the age of 26 he was accidently shot and killed by a friend who was displaying a pistol.

The story is told of an aged grandmother in Italy who so loved young Russ that the family decided not to inform her of his death. She was sent records, accounts from older newspapers, and letters presumably by him, telling her of his business and love. She died never knowing the truth.

The music of Russ Columbo and his orchestra is available on a CD contaning all his recorded hits. When Bing Crosby appeared on the scene some time later, people speculated if he would have ever achieved his fame were Columbo still living.

Will Osborne
Will Osborne was the third of the crooners. His voice sounded so like that of Rudy Vallee that he was used as a substitute when Vallee was in Hollywood making pictures. Some listeners were unable to distinguish the difference between them. This led to a so-called feud between Vallee and Osborne, probably arranged by their publicists. I never had any problem with telling one from the other. To be truthful, I actually preferred Osborne to Vallee. I saw Will Osborne one Sunday morning at the WMCA studio, where he had a commercial program. I was surprised at his small size.

Music critics said he had a good hotel-style band and had a stroger voice than Vallee. One summer he played at the Playland Casino in Rye Beach, New York. The band was featured nightly on a local radio station. I heard it dozens of times. His theme song was “Beside An Open Fireplace." In later years, he changed it to “The Gentleman Awaits.”

Osborne modified his music style when he decided to feature “glissing trombones," calling the switch “Will Osborne and His Slide Music.” The band was featured on the "Abbott and Costello" radio show. The band made many recordings. To the best of my knowledge, they have not been put on CD as yet.

So the three crooners set the stage for Bing and Frank Sinatra. However, these singers were not band leaders, and the term “crooner’ seldom applied to them. We owe much gratitude to these three men and their orchestras.in their prime before the Swing Era, leading the way for Goodman, James, and Miller and all the others.

Listen to Rudy Vallee, Russ Columbo, and Will Osborne:

Rudy Valley -- "As Time Goes By"
Russ Columbo -- "Sweet and Lovely"
Will Osborne -- "Listen to the Glissin'"
Doug Clark
Spring Hill, Florida
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