The Palomar

Etta James (Jan. 25, 1938 - Jan. 20, 2012)

milliondreamsago@gmail.com (George Spink) — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 22:56:00 +0000

by George Spink

The music world is mourning the passing of Etta James, who died today in Riverside, CA at the age of 73. In her later years, thanks to the use of her 1961 recording of At Last in the 1988 film Rain Man, Etta James enjoyed the success that had eluded her in her earlier years.

At Last - Etta James

Because I have been collecting big band records all of my life, I knew that At Last had been written by Harry Warren and Mack Gordon in 1941 for Glenn Miller and His Orchestra. You can hear a brief refrain of the song in Miller's 1941 film "Sun Valley Serenade" and an extended version of it in the opening sequence of the band's 1942 film, "Orchestra Wives." The vocals are performed by Ray Eberle and Pat Friday, whose voice is dubbed for Lynn Bari's in the film. "At Last" became one of the biggest hits for Glenn Miller and His Orchestra and to this day is regarded as one of Miller's greatest numbers.

At Last by Glenn Miller and His Orchestra
with Ray Eberle and Pat Friday (dubbing for Lynn Bari) on vocals.

Following the 1988 release of Rain Man, Etta James' 1961 recording of At Last took on a life all of its own. Etta sang it beautifully, becoming one of the biggest hits of 1988 and of the entire decade that followed. You heard Etta James' recording in many other movies and on TV shows, such as Melrose Place, throughout the 1990's. Etta made the song her own.

By 1990, I was living in Los Angeles. I attended a party in the Rancho Park neighborhood near Century City in 1992 hosted by a woman who had an extensive collection of CD's and a great sound system. I gave her a CD of Miller's music entitled Glenn Miller in Hollywood, which not only contained Miller's extended version of At Last but his other songs from his two films. She lived only three blocks from 20the Century Fox Studios. She was thrilled that this music had been recorded so close to her home!

At my suggestion, the first song she played was At Last. She loved it! Then she played Etta James' version. She had no idea the song had been written almost 50 years earlier for Miller and his Orchestra. Her party guests asked us about the Miller version, unaware that this was a song from another era.

Etta James touched all of us by her fondness for At Last. It is fortunate that the last two decades of her life brought her more success than she had ever known before.

We shall miss you, Etta. Rest in peace! You are in good company!

George Spink
Moderator - The Palomar
Los Angeles, California
Email Me

So! What's new?

milliondreamsago@gmail.com (George Spink) — Sun, 08 Jan 2012 17:29:00 +0000

Well, the answer is not a lot!

In spite of my personal efforts to promote big bands on our local community radio station on the internet it's been a difficult past year.

Here in the UK big band music is still only heard by small pockets of enthusiasts and unfortunately many of those are dropping off this mortal coil due to age.

I have manage to have a total of four listeners on one of my shows (we are able to monitor numbers world wide) which can be very depressing.

In a effort to attract more listeners I resorted to the practise of including some items that would truly make the prurists jump up and down in rage!

No matter, although, at the moment, due to some management upheaval in the recording studio we shall hopefully return with more one hour programmes later this year. Probably from a new station name but still on only the internet due to difficult UK licences.

Meanwhile, best wishes to those that did catch a broadcast over the twenty two weeks and thank you.

Lionel Leighton
Worthing
West Sussex
My correct email address is lionel@harmony177.plus.com

My website for other information is
www.sunnyworthing.co.uk

The current radio site is www.worthingonlineradio.com but may not be for much longer.

My thanks and best wishes to George Spink.

Big Band Theory

milliondreamsago@gmail.com (George Spink) — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 00:47:00 +0000

by Jack Fortes

There’s a Big Bang theory that has to do with the origin and evolution of our universe (and a TV sitcom).

Then there’s a Big Band theory that has to do with the kind of music that was featured at the recent 20th annual Big Band Hangar Dance in tiny DeLand, Fl. (population 20,000) with the Benny Goodman Tribute Orchestra performing.

That’s where THIS is going—why several hundred people would buy tickets to hear (and dance to) music first popular in the 1930s and 1940s, (also known as “Swing,”) as is the case with the Hangar Dance.

Considering just two big bands out of the many that were popular in that era—Benny Goodman and Glenn Miller—their music is alive and thrilling today.

Goodman continued playing into his 70s, up until his death of a heart attack in 1986. His music was featured in a 2010 documentary narrated by Dustin Hoffman.

Terry Myers, a clarinetist as was Goodman, and his 17 piece orchestra-- legally called “The Benny Goodman Tribute Orchestra”-- play “Moonglow,” “And the Angels Sing,” “Jersey Bounce” and many other tunes from the Goodman “charts” or library.

"Don't Be That Way"
Benny Goodman and His Orchestra

And Glenn Miller? The most famous critic and author of many books on big bands, including the best--“The Big Bands”—the late George T. Simon, said: “Of all the outstanding popular dance bands, the one that evokes the most memories of how wonderfully romantic it all was, the one whose music people most want to hear over and over again, is the band of the late Glenn Miller.”

Moonlight
Serenade/I Know Why
by Glenn Miller and his Orchestra with Pat Friday and John Payne
from "Sun Valley Serenade" (1941)

The top bands, in addition to Miller and Goodman, are generally credited to have been Artie Shaw, Tommy Dorsey, and Harry James. Others included Les Brown, Count Basie, Jimmy Dorsey, and Guy Lombardo.

So, what is the Big Band Theory? The view here is that it involves pretty ballads—love songs with words one could understand; up-tempo tunes for “Lindy” dancing or “jitterbugging,” Latin tunes and waltzes. EVERYONE could dance to one of those genres, and they are held in sweet memories today.

Jack Fortes
DeLand, Florida
Email Me

After the AAF Band, Part 2

milliondreamsago@gmail.com (George Spink) — Sat, 31 Dec 2011 19:12:00 +0000

by Jeff Karpinski

Last month I started to write about the later careers of some of the less well-known musicians who performed in Glenn Miller's legendary Army Air Forces Orchestra. In the second installment I'll take a look at a few more:

Like many other AAF alumni, drummer Frank Ippolito (yes, the band had two drummers because Mac also led the Swing Shift group) spent time with the postwar band led by Tex Beneke. By the 1950s he had switched over to mostly studio work and became involved in the New York percussion scene. A man named Bill Mather had operated a drum shop there for years. It was actually far more than just a store; it was a place where top-line percussionists like Gene Krupa and Lionel Hampton congregated to practice, to learn from each other, and to have Mather build custom equipment for them. Mather died in the early 1960s and Frank Ippolito was called in to preserve the late owner's legacy. He was initially reluctant because he didn't have any business experience but soon went beyond even what Bill Mather had accomplished. Frank Ippolito's Professional Percussion Center occupied 3 stories of a building on Eighth Avenue and offered not just the usual sales and service but also custom instrument manufacturing. It also boasted studios where nearly every major percussionist of the 1970s took or conducted master classes. The story ended sadly though, when Frank passed away in 1978.

Cellist Maurice Bialkin was another AAF alum who split his postwar career between classical and popular music. He briefly performed with the CBS and NBC Symphonies and was first cellist with the Brooklyn Philharmonia. Later he settled into studio work and teaching. During the 1960s and 70s he backed Tony Bennet, Perry Como, Astrud Gilberto, and Nina Simone as well as being a featured musician in a number of Broadway performances. Interestingly the personnel on several of his recording sessions featured other Miller alumni like Dale McMickle, Murray Kane, and George Ockner. Marice Bialkin performed less regularly after than and lived to the grand age of 91.

Fred (Alfred) Aulwurm was a member of the violin section. After the war his career was almost exclusively in classical music. He returned to his home town of Oak Lawn, Illinois to perform and teach. In 1964 he led the formation of the Southwest Symphony, a regional orchestra based in Oak Lawn. He remained its conductor until his retirement in 1990.

Jeff Karpinski
King of Prussia, Pennsylvania
Email Me

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

milliondreamsago@gmail.com (George Spink) — Fri, 16 Dec 2011 23:47:00 +0000

A Charlie Brown Christmas - The Vince Guaraldi Trio

On behalf of the members of The Palomar, I wish each and everyone of you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

George Spink
Moderator - The Palomar
Los Angeles, California
Email Me

What came AAFter?

milliondreamsago@gmail.com (George Spink) — Mon, 28 Nov 2011 00:48:00 +0000

by Jeff Karpinski

When Captain Glenn Miller began selecting performers for what would become the spectacular Army Air Force Orchestra he was guided by the lessons learned in forming his two civilian bands. He knew all too well that despite the Air Force's access to some of the best-known names in jazz and classical music, an orchestra comprising only superstars would probably meet the same fate as his 1937 band, doomed by egos and differing views of the band's direction. Instead he began with a core of experienced players including a few members of what we now call the civilian band, then fleshed it out with a larger group of talented but less-established musicians who could be melded into a cohesive organization.

In looking back over the orchestra's final lineup, I realized that I wasn't familiar with the later careers of many of that second group of musicians. For all of the AAF members who were or became "household names", there were at least as many whom I knew very little about. That curiosity led me to the topic of this post and some planned future writings as well. In each one I'll pick 3 or 4 performers and try to track down a few tidbits about their later work, wherever the research leads me.

Bobby Nichols was one of my favorite musicians in the AAF band. He had a wild trumpet style that sometimes blew beyond even the broader and more swinging boundaries established for the AAF Band. After the war he retained some form of Miller connections for much of the remainder of his career, playing for two years with Tex Beneke, then going with Ray McKinley's early postwar band, and eventually working with both the Sauter-Finegan Orchestra and the revived Glenn Miller Orchestra with, again, Ray McKinley. He continued to play his swinging trumpet into the early 1960s but remained a sideman. Based on available biographical information, by the middle of that decade he had slipped into almost complete obscurity.

Violinist Dave Sackson split his later career between classical, pop, and jazz He performed with Jascha Heifitz, edited various violin works, and became the premier interpreter of American composer Henry Cowell's string compositions. On the flip side he backed Harry Belafonte on several 1954 recordings, and was the concertmaster for 2 albums by the Coltranes, John's Infinity (1972) and Alice's Reflections on Creation and Space (1973).

Vince Carbone was noted for his gutsy tenor sax, played with a split-reed style that presaged early rock-and-roll by nearly a decade. Like Bobby Nichols he continued with the postwar Beneke band for a couple of years as well as recording with Billy May and Tito Puente. By the 1950s he had moved into management. He was Tommy Dorsey's personal manager and handled many other famous entertainers including Bob Newhart, the Smothers Brothers, Al Hirt, and Frank Sinatra Jr. In addition he was active in preserving historic aircraft from the WWII era so he never lost touch with his early AAF experiences.

Let's see what I can find for next month's post. Keep 'em flying!

Jeff Karpinski
King of Prussia, Pennsylvania
Email Me

Just Thinkin'

milliondreamsago@gmail.com (George Spink) — Tue, 22 Nov 2011 12:06:00 +0000

I may be a bit young (HA!) to do this, here. I'm 62.

My earliest musical memory is sitting on a very high metal stool in my grandmothers kitchen, listening to Les Paul & Mary Ford's "I'm Sittin' on Top of the World." On that same morning radio show, I heard Frank Sinatra's new record, "I've Got the World on a String." That would make it 1953-ish. Music I still enjoy, today.

I credit my mom for my first interest in music, as she always had the
radio on, and I remember Art Hellyer, Howard Miller, and many other folks "selling" the great music of that era. Later, I had 13 years of Hammond Organ lessons. Even now, when I attend Church, my fingers are "playing" the hymns, along with the organist.

1953 was a great year for Eddie Fisher that included his first number
one hit, "I'm Walking Behind You (on your wedding day)", with the orchestra of Hugo Winterhalter. In about 1960 I really heard the words to that song for the first time. The lyrics end like this; "If things go wrong, dear, and fate is unkind Look over your shoulder, I'm walking behind." Today, Eddie would be arrested for being a stalker.

That year, Eddie also recorded, "O My Papa" that went to #1. I remember him singing that on his tv show. That tv show featured comedian "Lonesome" George Gobel, singer, Gisele Mackenzie and introduced a new dancer, named Mary Tyler Moore.

The big news story that year was the inauguration of the new President, Dwight David Eisenhower.

Tom Jurek
Grand Rapids, MI
Email Me

Hello

milliondreamsago@gmail.com (George Spink) — Sun, 20 Nov 2011 22:49:00 +0000

Hello. I'm new here. Thanks to Tony Agostinelli for letting me know about this blog. I am the leader of the Stan Kenton Alumni Band that actually still gets on the bus and tours all over the country. I look forward to chatting with others who love big band music.

Mike Vax
Dewey AZ
Email Me
Big Band Jazz

Moderator's Note: We welcome Mike Vax to The Palomar!

Mike Vax leads his own big band, known as the Mike Vax Big Band, and the Stan Kenton Alumni Band. You can read about both on the above web site.

You can also read about Stan Kenton and His Orchestra on our big band web site, Tuxedo Junction. Just follow this link:

http://www.tuxjunction.net/stankenton.htm

Enjoy!

George Spink

Remember Our Veterans on Nov. 11

milliondreamsago@gmail.com (George Spink) — Fri, 11 Nov 2011 08:01:00 +0000

When I attended St. Leonard's grammar school in Berwyn, Illinois during the late 1940's and early 1950's, our nuns taught us to remember the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month in the year 1918.

That was the time and day and month when World War One came to an end.

At 11 a.m. on Nov. 11th, my classmates and I and our nun stood at attention. We faced east. Each of us placed our right hand over our heart and prayed silently for all who died during World War One.

On Nov. 11, 1918, the war to end all wars was finally over, but at a very high cost to every nation who fought in World War One. It meant that, at long last, Johnny would soon come marching home....

When Johnny Comes Marching Home
Glenn Miller and His Orchestra
with Marion Hutton, Tex Beneke, and The Modernaires

Today, when it is 11 o'clock where you live, please pause and say a prayer for all who died during that horrible war. Then say a prayer for our service men and women who are fighting in Afghanistan and elsewehere -- and for those who have died for us there and in other wars.

This video will show you some things about another war, World War Two, that you might not have seen before.

Here's a photo of me during February 1944 taken outside our family home in Berwyn, Illinois, nine miles southwest of downtown Chicago. My Uncle Bob was serving in the Navy on the U.S.S. Bennington aircraft carrier in the Pacific. My Aunt Ruth worked at Illinois Bell in neighboring Cicero. And I was fighting the war my own way, often wearing my own sailor suit on special occasions. I was about three-and-a-half years old when my mother took this picture of us.

Aunt Ruth was still single and lived with my parents and me, as did Uncle Bob when he was home, and my Aunt Dorothy. Those were the days when families really stuck together. Aunt Ruth began collecting records (78's) in the late 1930's. Today, I have them, cherish them, and keep them safe on shelves in a spare closet.

Here are a few songs from World War Two that were played often by Major Glenn Miller and His Army Air Force Band, performed here by the United States Air Force Airmen of Note:

I Sustain the Wings

American Patrol

The Army Air Corps Song

Over There

With My Head in the Clouds

Annie Laurie

Tail End Charlie

Long Ago and Far Away - Bobbie McCleary and The Crew Chiefs (Vocalists)

Here's a web page of mine that has what I think are a good selection of songs from World War Two:

World War Two Playlist

I hope you will enjoy it -- and again, think about all of those who gave their lives so that me may live as free men and women. If you lived through World War Two, have some Kleenex handy....

George Spink
Moderator - The Palomar
Los Angeles, California
Email Me

Beryl Davis (March 16, 1924 - October 28, 2011)

milliondreamsago@gmail.com (George Spink) — Tue, 01 Nov 2011 23:44:00 +0000

Moderator's Note: Our big band friend, Robert Robb, sent the following obituary information about the late Beryl Davis. -- George Spink

British-born Beryl Davis, whose eight-decade career included singing with Maj. Glenn Miller, Bob Hope and Frank Sinatra, died last Friday, Oct. 28th. She was 87.

Tommy Dorsey and Beryl Davis

The daughter of English band leader Harry Davis, she spent her formative years traveling with his Oscar Rabin/Harry Davis Band and was the band's featured singer by age eight. At age 12, she was booked with the Quintet of The Hot Club of France, which featured Django Reinhardt and Stephane Grappelli. Here she is with Django in 1939:

After touring for three years and multiple recordings, war broke out. She and Grappelli returned to England, and were joined by a young pianist by the name of George Shearing. That group performed in London clubs throughout the blitz.

Later, she rejoined the Davis/Rabin band and had her own BBC radio show. She soon came to the attention of Captain Glenn Miller and, on August 17, 1944 -— the day he was promoted to Major -- Beryl began singing with his band. She was the only British civilian ever officially attached to the Eighth Air Force, taking her orders directly from General James Doolittle. Her last broadcast with Miller was on December 12, 1944 at the Queensbury Club, and her final number was "I'll Be Seeing You." Three days later, Miller took his fateful flight over the English Channel.

After the war, Bob Hope invited her to come to the States to appear on his radio show. Six weeks after her American debut, she was preparing to return to England when Frank Sinatra invited her to join him on "Your Hit Parade" as his singing partner, leading to featured spots with Benny Goodman, Vaughn Monroe, David Rose and many others.

In 1948, she married Hollywood radio and television personality Peter Potter, who was host of "Peter Potter's Platter Parade" and later, the Emmy-winning nationally-broadcast "Jukebox Jury." The couple had three children and divorced in 1965. In 1954, Davis, along with friends Jane Russell, Connie Haines and Della Russell, performed a little-known gospel song entitled "Do Lord" for a church benefit. They recorded the song and it immediately went Gold, selling two million copies. Rhonda Fleming later replaced Della.

Russell and the group continued recording and performing their gospel-inspired show in the nation's top nightclubs and casino showrooms. As a solo act, Beryl performed in theaters and concert venues around the globe, and was a regular guest artist at music festivals and events honoring Reinhardt and Miller. She also performed on multiple cruise ships, including Princess Cruises, where she was known as "The First Lady of Song" for over 30 years.

She was long admired and respected by the many Big Band musicians with whom she worked. She was preceded in death by her life partner of 35 years, record executive and concert producer Buck Stapleton, in 2003. They were longtime residents of Toluca Lake, California, where she served as Honorary Mayor. The couple also resided in Palm Springs, California, where she received her star on the Palm Springs Walk of Fame.

On November 11, 2000, she was a special guest at the groundbreaking ceremonies of the National WW II Memorial in Washington, DC, where she sang "I'll Be Seeing You," by then her trademark song. Dignitaries that day included President Bill Clinton, who personally commended her performance at a post-event reception. She is survived by her children, Bill Moore, Merry Moore and Melinda Moore Garber; her sister, Lisa "Cherry" Davis; and grandchildren, Shannon Moore and Asher Ferguson. Funeral services are planned for 12:30 p.m. on Friday, November 4,2011 at Forest Lawn, Hollywood Hills, Church of the Hills. In lieu of flowers, the family suggests donations to the Alzheimer's Association(alz.org)

For additional information, please contact family representative Greg Purdy at 760-808-3650 or gmpurdy@dc.rr.com.

Moderator's Note:

Here are three songs by Beryl Davis from the war years:

I'm Old Fashioned
Beryl Davis with Geraldo and His Orchestra

Milkman Keep Those Bottles Quiet
Beryl Davis with The Squadronaires

Skylark
Beryl Davis with Geraldo and His Orchestra

There are several videos of Beryl singing recently with the Bill Baker Big Band at the Glenn Miller Festival at Twinwood, Bedfordshire, England. You'll have to watch them on the YouTube web site because these videos are not allowed to be posted elsewhere. Just follow this link:

Beryl Davis and Bill Baker Big Band

George Spink
Moderator - The Palomar
Los Angeles, California
Email Me

My interest has not diminished

milliondreamsago@gmail.com (George Spink) — Mon, 31 Oct 2011 15:28:00 +0000

Hi, it's been a long while since I last posted on the Palomar. This was due to a long period of ill health and other events leaving little time.

No matter, I've kept an eye on things from time to time and recently mentioned on the Swingera Yahoo! Group that I've got a Big Band Sounds programme on internet radio here in Worthing (the UK one in West Sussex).

It contains from week to week much of the usual big band content that others provide except that I often move away from the expected to offer a item of comedy from the likes of Spike Jones, Billy Cotton, Stan Freberg and others.

Vocals are featured provided enough big band backing makes it of interest.

I was placing a playlist on the Swingera Yahoo! Group and on Facebook, but I've been told I must not do this as it is against the license requirements here in the UK with regard to PPL.

I suspect in the USA things are a little more easier. Are they? It would be interesting to know.

My show goes out at www.worthingonlineradio.com at 9pm GMT ( 21:00hrs UTC) on Sundays and repeated on Wednesday same time.

I hope this has been of interest to you big band fans and many thanks to George Spink for keeping the Big Band Music alive.

Here in the UK it's not easy to find tuneful music where most of the time the pop music industry dominates and much of it relies on image instead of "can you whistle or hum it?"

Thank you for you time. Hope you can find time to listen.

Best wishes to all,

Lionel Leighton
Worthing
West Sussex
United Kingdom

Moderator's Note: Welcome back, Lionel! It's good to hear from you again! Please feel free to write anything you like about the big bands, the Swing Era for The Palomar.

George Spink - Los Angeles
Email Me

The Influence of Jean Goldkette

milliondreamsago@gmail.com (George Spink) — Sun, 30 Oct 2011 00:43:00 +0000

Jean Goldkette

by Jeff Karpinski

My previous feature on the Casa Loma Orchestra noted that it owed much of its success to the bandleader and impresario Jean Goldkette. His career has much in common with many other early names in what was referred to as "white jazz" back in the 1920s: First, his name is now almost forgotten, yet he was one of the so-called "incubators" who shaped the early careers of many better-known performers. Second, he was another immigrant who got his start in classical music but switched careers during the jazz explosion of the 1920s and 1930s.

It's hard to pin down Jean Goldkette's early life because both he and other family members regularly reinvented their biographies. His French first name and German family name would mark him as a probable product of the Alsace region of northern Europe, but most sources state he was actually born in Greece in 1893 to parents of Russian and Danish origins. He studied classical piano before emigrating to the US in 1910 or 1911. By the early 1920s he had settled in the Detroit area and made a name for himself as both a bandleader and booking agent.

The Victor Recording Orchestra

His own band recorded for Victor as the Victor Recording Orchestra (this was of course before the merger with RCA). During the period from 1924 to 1927 it contained a panoply of young musicians who either became stars then or who went on to later fame. At one point or another, Frankie Trumbauer, the Dorseys, Joe Venuti, Eddie Lang, and most famously Bix Beiderbecke performed under his direction. And as an agent, he promoted McKinney's Cotton Pickers as well as molding The Orange Blossoms into the Casa Loma Orchestra.

McKinney's Cotton Pickers

The bands he led or promoted were usually much larger than the 5 or 6 members typical of many groups at the time. According to at least a few authors, Jean Goldkette's influence went beyond just the men he made famous; he was one of the main forces in establishing what we now consider to be the template for a Big Band's instrumentation.

Jean Goldkette Orchestra -- "An Old Italian Love Song"

Goldkette's own orchestra fell on hard times during 1927 and was absorbed by Paul Whiteman's group. Jean continued to work as a booking agent and served as musical director of the Detroit Athletic Club. Additional financial problems forced him to leave the jazz world and return to classical performances. By 1939 he was back on his feet and founded the first incarnation of the American Symphony Orchestra. He worked in and around the New York area for many years after that but never regained his early influence. His stylings were featured in Billy Wilder's Some Like It Hot which led to Goldkette making a forgettable "comeback" LP in 1959. He passed away in 1962.

Jeff Karpinski
King of Prussia, Pennsylvania
Email Me

Injun Summer

milliondreamsago@gmail.com (George Spink) — Sat, 29 Oct 2011 06:59:00 +0000

Indian Summer
Glenn Miller with Ray Eberle

Indian Summer is a very special time. Many states in the Midwest, on the East Coast, and especially in New England are ablaze in beautiful autumnal colors during October. Leaves are falling to the ground. In those cities, towns, and villages that still allow the burning of autumn leaves, no aroma is more enchanting. I'm sure you've been humming the many songs about autumn, such as "Those autumn leaves...." and so on.

One of my favorite memories of autumn is John T. McCutcheon's beautiful illustration called "Injun Summer." My father read it to me in the Chicago Tribune on the last Sunday before Halloween, just as his father had read it to him when he was a boy. You see, the Trib first published it in 1907! It appeared on the front cover of the Sunday Tribune Magazine for many decades. And the Trib syndicated it to other newspapers from coast to coast! Chances are, you remember "Injun Summer," too.

But a few years ago, the Trib stopped publishing "Injun Summer." Why? Because a few Trib execs were afraid the illustration might offend a few Native Americans. The Trib bigwigs didn't care that by no longer publishing "Injun Summer" they would offend many hundreds of thousands of readers who looked forward to "Injun Summer" every year.

Well, I'm not afraid of offending Native Americans. Moreover, I bet most Native Americans would enjoy "Injun Summer" as much as everyone else!

You can read and enjoy "Injun Summer" on my big band web site, Tuxedo Junction. Just click on this link to do so:

http://tuxjunction.net/injunsummer.html

Enjoy!

And finally, for the first time since 1992, the Chicago Tribune published a small version of "Injun Summer" on Sunday, Oct. 16th. You can view it by clicking on this link:

Injun Summer

George Spink
Moderator - The Palomar
Los Angeles, California
Email Me

A Night at The Palomar with Anita O'Day

milliondreamsago@gmail.com (George Spink) — Thu, 13 Oct 2011 22:41:00 +0000

"A Night at The Palomar"

Presents the life and the music of

Anita O'Day

Miss Anita O'Day

with our featured guest

Miss Ginger Berglund

The show is live at 9PM EST.

Call in to join in the fun at 917-889-7819.

A Night at The Palomar with Anita O'Day

Your host,

Spencer "Wolf" Smartt
Dallas, Texas
Email Me

Art Hellyer Now on Internet Radio

milliondreamsago@gmail.com (George Spink) — Wed, 05 Oct 2011 21:33:00 +0000

My Chicago buddy Art Hellyer is now hosting an Internet radio show that will show you why he has been so popular in the Windy City for more than half a century. You can hear Art's new show by following this link each Sunday from 1:00pm-2:00pm Central Daylight Savings Time:

http://www.arthellyer.party934.com/

Here are a couple of videos that will whet your interest in Art:

These videos came out a couple of years ago when Art's book, Wake Up, Chicago!, was published. I have posted these two and six more on YouTube for your enjoyment.

I'm really glad that Art can now be heard weekly on the Internet. Please tune in whenever you can! I know you will love Art's show!

George Spink
Moderator - The Palomar
Los Angeles, California
Email Me

A Night at The Palomar with Miller on Mondays

milliondreamsago@gmail.com (George Spink) — Fri, 30 Sep 2011 18:21:00 +0000

A Night at The Palomar

Presents

"Miller on Mondays"

Monday October 3rd, 2011

9PM EST

This month the Panel of Experts

will discuss

The "NEW" Glenn Miller Orchestra

and his music recorded in 1938

Call in and join in the conversation!

Call in line is 917-889-7819

Show can be heard live at:

The Big Bands on Yester Year Radio

Your Host

Spencer Smartt

The Big Bands on Yester Year Radio

Glen Gray and the Casa Loma Orchestra

milliondreamsago@gmail.com (George Spink) — Sun, 25 Sep 2011 22:50:00 +0000

by Jeff Karpinski

As my childhood fascination with the Swing Era expanded beyond the Dorseys, Shaw, Miller, and Ellington I soon discovered the music of Glen Gray's Casa Loma Orchestra. It didn't hurt of course that my favorite radio station WRCV used selections from the Casa Loma library as part of their "bumper music", to use today's terms, and that a couple of the station's DJs were fans of the orchestra as well. It took me a long time in those Net-less days to discover just why the band was called the Casa Loma Orchestra but the answer turned out to be as interesting as the music.

The Casa Lomans had started out way back in 1927 as a Detroit-based group called The Orange Blossoms that was sponsored by the legendary Jean Goldkette (aha! - another topic for another day. See how it works?). A short while later the Orange Blossoms landed an eight-month engagement at Toronto's famous Casa Loma Hotel. Casa Loma ("Hill House" in Spanish) had been built as the residence of a wealthy financier and at the time of its construction was the largest private home in Canada. By the 1920s it had been converted to a 5-star hotel whose luxury was known around the world. The Orange Blossoms matched the hotel's luxury with their elegant tuxedos and (usually) refined demeanor.

After leaving the Casa Loma Hotel the band decided to change its name to that of the hotel. They also adopted a particularly unusual business model by operating the band as a fully-established corporation. Musicians held stock in the band as well as serving as its board of directors. Performers were expected to follow a set of rules of behavior commensurate with the probity of Casa Loma Hotel itself. In keeping with the band's corporate operations its music director was elected from among the musicians rather than "owning" the band as most leaders did. Its first leader was violinist Hank Biagini but the de facto director was its saxophone player Glen Knoblaugh.

It was once said of Arthur Fiedler that he "looked like a conductor from central casting" and the same was true of "Spike" Knoblaugh. His handsome face and pencil mustache gave him the look of a 1930's movie star, and on stage he wore a tux as if he'd been born to it.

The only problem was the name. "Knoblaugh" derives from the German word for garlic and no matter what else, a nickname like "Spike" hardly fit the band's image. The nickname went, his middle name replaced the last name, and "Glen Gray" joined Casa Loma on the marquee. For a while he continued to play in the sax section but in 1937 the musicians overwhelmingly asked him to become the leader in name as well as in fact.

The Orchestra played a mixture of swing and ballad tunes like many other bands of the time. Arranger Gene Gifford targeted his charts at performers like trumpeter Sonny Dunham, trombonist Pee Wee Hunt, and clarinetist Clarence Hutchinrider. The ballads did better than the swing numbers because the musicians' creativity and looseness sometimes fell victim to the band's strict operating rules. Nevertheless they had a number of jazz hits including No Name Jive, Casa Loma Stomp, and Maniac's Ball. They were regularly featured on the Camel Caravan radio show where the languid tune Smoke Rings became their theme.

The band remained popular and continued to turn out sets of attractive, danceable recordings despite being eclipsed by the bigger-name groups that weren't constrained by a corporate format. By the war years most of the original members had left, leading to dissolution of the corporation and reorganization on more standard lines with Glen Gray owning both the band itself and rights to the Casa Loma name. It was joined by the now barely-remembered vocalist Eugenie Baird whose strong alto voice complemented the group's evolving style. The Casa Lomans continued to perform and record all the way until 1950 when they too fell victim to changing economics and musical tastes.

But it was not the end of the Casa Loma Orchestra! During the mini-revival of interest in swing during the mid-1950s Capitol Records lured Glen Gray out of retirement to make a series of LPs featuring both original members of the Casa Loma Orchestra plus some of the best studio musicians of the day. The new band hit store shelves in 1956 with the album Casa Loma in Hi-Fi.

The debut album was followed by more re-recordings of the original band's hits as well as a few more contemporary songs. The discs sold surprisingly well which led Capitol to fund a second series called Sounds of the Great Bands. The new Casa Lomans recreated dozens of the most famous songs of the Swing Era ranging from more of their own tunes to the aforementioned Dorseys, Shaw, Miller, and Ellington as well as lesser-known bands like Bennie Moten and Bob Crosby.

Even though they were classed as "nostalgia albums" the Sounds series sold so well that Capitol offered to fund the group as a touring band. Gray however had come to like the comforts of retirement and approaching the age of 60 had little desire to go on the road again. He did agree to front the studio Casa Loma group for more LPs but by this point it seemed that the bean-counters were trying to over-milk the concept. Capitol had them record two LPs called Today's Best and More of Today's Best that featured arrangements of current pop tunes (e.g. More, I Wanna Be Around) performed as if they had been written and arranged in the 1930s. A second and rather more strained series featuring Latin-flavored arrangements of Swing-Era standards was to follow

but Gray was now suffering from the cancer that took his life too soon at age 63. Arrangers Larry Wagner and Billy May led the studio group to finish out the albums, then disbanded. By the mid-1960s the Casa Loma name and music belonged to history.

Jeff Karpinski
King of Prussia, Pennsylvania
Email Me

Bob Wills - The King Of Western Swing

milliondreamsago@gmail.com (George Spink) — Fri, 23 Sep 2011 23:44:00 +0000

Re-posted by request

When I was growing up in the southern Appalachian mountains of Tennessee during the late forties and the early fifties, my mother was one of the hippest swingers of the time (not the same as “swingers” of today!). She could really bop to Benny Goodman and was as good as they came when it came to dancing to swing. Mom also liked country music because that was the music she grew up with.

My dad was a dyed-in-the-wool country and western music lover. When he wasn’t driving a coal truck delivering coal to the TVA (Tennessee Valley Authority) or running moonshine to Atlanta or Augusta, Georgia, he spent his time working part-time at the local radio station playing the latest country music hits of the time. Now don’t let me mislead you here. Radio stations in rural Tennessee during that period would let just about anyone with the nerve get on the radio and be a DJ.

What he loved about that job was getting to meet those that were out on the road promoting their own songs by delivering their own records to the radio stations personally and asking the DJ on the air to play their records. One of his proudest moments was when Hank Williams came to his little station and asked my dad to play his music. He still has a picture of Hank and him in front of that little radio station holding Hank's new hit record with their arms over each others shoulders.

Dad was a pretty good guitar player and singer in his own right at the time and spent many weekends at the local Juke Joints playing and singing with his little four-piece band. But I think his most favorite music, that of which mom liked the most, was playing the music of his all time favorite Bob Wills. That was the “Swing” that my dad enjoyed.

James Robert (Bob) Wills (1905-1975) was born in Kosse, Texas in 1905 and was considered to be the father of what we all know as “Country Swing”. Bob’s father and grandfather taught young Bob to play the fiddle and the mandolin at a very young age. Bob spent much of his youth picking cotton and listening to cotton picker’s songs.

During the 1920’s, "Jim Rob," as he was called at the time, became a barber as his trade, married, and moved first to Roy, New Mexico then to Turkey, Texas ( can you imagine living in a place called Turkey?). Soon Jim Bob grew restless and moved to Fort Worth to pursue a career in music. It was while performing in a medicine show in Fort Worth that he learned comic timing and some of the famous "patter" he later delivered on his records.

Wills made his professional debut as a blackface singer along the lines of Al Jolson who was also a big hit during this time. Bob was a big fan of Bessie Smith and once rode 50 miles on horseback just to see her perform live.

Wills formed The Wills Fiddle Band in 1930 when Milton Brown joined his group as lead vocalist. Brown brought a sense of innovation and experimentation to the band. They became the “Light Crust Doughboys” sponsored by the makers of Light Crust Flour. Bob was despised by his superiors at the flour company because they considered his music as "hillbilly music."

Wills and his best friend, Tommy Duncan, his then lead singer, left the Doughboys in 1933 after Wills had missed one show too many due to his sporadic drinking, which finely lead to his death in 1975.

Bob Wills continued throughout the years adding to his band the music of the times and of the south where he played. I could go on with page after page about the music and the man. However, you can read up on the life of Bob Wills at Wikipedia and other internet sites about his life.

My dad, now in his early 80’s, lives in Denver with his wife, Rosemary, whose brother was a songwriter in Nashville. He wrote a couple of songs for Buck Owens during the 1960’s. They still talk about Buck when he was rising to fame in Phoenix and the many friends that they knew over the years in country music like Chet Adkins and Ernest Tubb. Dad and Rosemary were friends with other country music greats like Merle Haggard and Wayland Jennings who they also met in the 1960’s in Phoenix through Buck.

When I was growing up my old man often had his friends over to play their music, drink and sing their songs. To me, they were just a bunch of country singers trying to make it big in the country music business. I didn’t think much about it at the time, but as the years have passed by, I’ve looked back at the time they spent out on the patio and wish I had paid more attention to who they all were.

The one thing they all seemed to say back then was that the greatest of them all, when it came to showmanship, was the king himself, Bob Wills. How I wish we could have known him!

I want to thank my dad for those great memories and for the love of country music that he instilled in me. I also want to wish him and all fathers a belated happy Fathers Day! Thanks, dad.

Spencer "Wolf" Smartt
Dallas, Texas
Email Me

From the 1974 album Fathers and Sons featuring songs by both Bob Wills and His Texas Playboys and Asleep at the Wheel:

Bob Wills and His Texas Playboys

San Antonio Rose
Trouble in Mind
Miss Molly
Time Changes Everything
Big Beaver
Can't Go On This Way
The Convict and The Rose
Roly-Poly
Back to Tulsa
New San Antonio Rose

Asleep at the Wheel

Choo Choo Ch'boogie
Jumpin' at the Woodside
Miss Molly
Blood-Shot Eyes
Dead Man
Don't Ask Me Why (I'm Going to Texas)
The Kind of Love I Can't Forget
Last Letter
Our Names Aren't Mentioned (Together Anymore)
You and Me Instead

milliondreamsago@gmail.com (George Spink) — Fri, 23 Sep 2011 13:50:00 +0000

A Night at The Palomar
Presents
Bob Wills and his Texas Playboys

September 26th, 2011 at 9PM EST - 8PM CST

http://www.blogtalkradio.com/thebigbands

Our Special Guest to talk about Bob Wills, his life and his music

Dwight Adair

http://www.dwightadair.com/1.html

Your Host

Spencer K. Smartt

An American in Paris!

milliondreamsago@gmail.com (George Spink) — Wed, 07 Sep 2011 00:59:00 +0000

Popular American music, much more than any single social force, was intoned by racism as early as the 1830s with the advent of the Minstrel show. “Jump Jim Crow” a popular musical piece of the time that was based on the mockery of African Americans became so well known not only in the United States but internationally that in 1841 the US ambassador to Central America, John Lloyd Stephens, wrote that upon his arrival in Mérida, Yucatán, the local brass band played "Jump Jim Crow" under the mistaken impression that it was the US national anthem.

Throughout the next 100 years this new music was to grow and expand across the country from the banks of the Mississippi river and the wharfs of New Orleans. Written and composed by visionary composers such as Steven Foster, the “father of American music,", and performed by musicians like E. P. Christy, the founder of the blackface minstrel group “Christy's Minstrels”.

It began as dance music in the red-light districts of American cities such as St. Louis and New Orleans years before being published as popular sheet music for piano. It was a modification of the march made popular by John Philip Sousa, with additional polyrhythm’s coming from African music. The ragtime composer Scott Joplin became famous through the publication in 1899 of the "Maple Leaf Rag" and a string of ragtime hits that followed. [1]

Maple Leaf Rag Played by Scott Joplin
By 1917 and our entry into the First World War, the music had taken hold and with the help of Edison, Marconi and Tesla the whole world was about to awaken to a new social force that was to transcend race and social status.

Billiard Hall on Beale Street Memphis circa 1939

As the music began to move throughout society, the shadow of Jim Crow would still hang over black America and much of the music itself. A wave of racially driven commercial advertising flooded the landscape when film and radio burst onto the American scene in the new century. These conditions had a disastrous effect on the early development of the music and loss of much of the earlier music contributed by black artists.

As the black artists began to feel the effects of the blatant Jim Crow laws of the Roaring 20s many would migrate to the less racially lifestyle of France and Europe where many had served. Most felt no need to return to the discriminating life they had to endure in America.

The gay and happy lifestyle of Europe, after the war had ravaged the continent for four years, had brought many blacks to Paris where they enjoyed life as pampered guests of the city. This new music was a rage in Paris and was enticing to the people who were hungry for more than the gadjo and bal musette music they had listened to for decades. It was the happy years and they enjoyed.

Cafe De Paris (1929)

By far the most famous black entertainer on the “gay Paris” scene was Josephine Baker! Most noted as a singer, Baker also was a celebrated dancer in her early career. She was given the nicknames the "Bronze Venus" or the "Black Pearl", as well as the "Créole Goddess". She became a French citizen in 1937.

Sidney Bechet the pre-eminent clarinetist of the time lived and played in Europe from 1925 to 1929. While living in Paris, Bechet got into a dispute with another musician and a gun fight broke out. Three people were wounded and Sidney spent a year in a French jail as a result of the fracas. He was deported upon release from prison and went to Berlin, Germany. He could not stay in France and he would not get a visa for England so he stayed in Berlin till 1931 then joined the Noble Sissle Orchestra and returned to America. [2]

In 1934 Coleman Hawkins accepted an invitation to play with Jack Hylton's band in London, and toured Europe as a soloist until 1939, memorably working with Django Reinhardt and Benny Carter in Paris in 1937. [2]

Benny Carter left the U.S. for Paris in 1935 to join the Willie Lewis band on trumpet and alto before moving to England. In the summer of 1937 he played a season at a Dutch seaside resort leading a big interracial and international band, the first successful unit of its kind in jazz history. Before returning to the U.S. in 1938 he also spent time in Scandinavia and France, recording with Coleman Hawkins, Django Reinhardt, Stephane Grappelli and other American and European Jazzmen. [2]

Oscar Aleman although not American, but was colored, in the 1930s, having discovered American Jazz via Eddie Lang and Joe Venuti, moved to Paris where he was immediately hired by Josephine Baker to lead her band, the Baker Boys at the Cafe de Paris. This provided him an incredible opportunity to play regularly with American Jazz musicians who would come to see Josephine and sit in with her band. [2]

As a contemporary and friend of Oscar Aleman one of the most famous Parisian entertainers was already there! Django Reinhardt!

But we must give a round of applause to a very farseeing Frenchman and an early jazz aficionado, Charles Delauney an early co-founder of the Hot Club of France and one the first European record labels, Swing records. Thanks to Delauney much of European Jazz was saved from the oncoming World War which would bring an end to the era!

Spencer “Wolf” Smartt
Dallas, TX.

1 . http://www.jimcrowhistory.org/resources/lessonplans/hs_es_popular_culture.htm
2. Wikipedia

The Nicholas Brothers

milliondreamsago@gmail.com (George Spink) — Sun, 04 Sep 2011 17:25:00 +0000

by George Spink

During the mid-1970's, Chicago's Biograph Theater showed a week-long festival of 20th Century Fox musicals, including the two starring Glenn Miller and His Orchestra, Sun Valley Serenade (1941) and Orchestra Wives (1942). I had seen both films on TV a couple of times, but never on the big screen. What a thrill that was for me!

One of the highlights of both films were performances by the Nicholas Brothers, one of the finest dance teams who ever lived. They were already well-known by the time they made these films. And she joined Harold Nicholas in marriage in 1942, which lasted until 1951.

In Sun Valley Serenade, the Nicolas Brothers, along with Dorothy Dandridge. sang and danced to "Chattanooga Choo Choo." In Orchestra Wives, the Nicholas Brother performed with the band on "Kalamazoo." Fortunately, thanks to the magic of You Tube, we can view both performances right here:

"Chattanooga Choo Choo"

"Kalamazoo"

The Nicholas Brothers began singing and dancing when they were children. Fayard, born in 1914, and Harold, born in 1921, were naturals, as this early video shows:

Their parents were musicians who often worked at the Standard Theater in Philadelphia. By the time he was 10, Fayard had seen many of the top black vaudeville acts at the Standard.

The Nicholas Brothers became the featured act at Harlem's Cotton Club in 1932, when Harold was 11 and Fayard was 18. By 1940, they were in Hollywood, appearing in "Down Argentina Way":

In 1943, the Nicholas Brothers appeared with Cab Calloway singing
"The Jumpin' Jive" in "Stormy Weather," once again amazing audiences around the nation with their remarkable talent:

In early July 1980, I began work as entertainment coordinator for the Mayor's Office of Special Events in Chicago. Jane Byrne was Mayor, Chicago's first and only female to hold that post. She wanted our office to produce a variety of festivals and other events that would rock the city. We did.

Two Senior Citizens Picnics were scheduled for later that month, one in Marquette Park on the southwest side, the other in Lincoln Park on the north side. Knowing how seniors loved to dance when they were young in the 1930's and 1940's (and some still did!), I brought in the Nicholas Brothers from Los Angeles to entertain at both festivals, which were scheduled a week apart.

Harold and Fayard Nicholas were then in their sixties. I backed the Nicholas Brothers with Roger Pemberton and His Orchestra, comprised of the finest jazz and studio musicians in Chicago. They played big band jazz on Monday nights at Wise Fools Pub on Lincoln Avenue in the same way that Thad Jones and Mel Lewis played one night a week in Greenwich Village in New York City. Both bands loved playing big band jazz. The Nicholas Brothers brought their own arrangements, which the band loved playing.

My mother, then 64 years old, attended the festival in Lincoln Park with some of her friends. They lived nearby in a seniors building. The Nicholas Brothers, who were about the same age as the seniors, gave terrific performances both times. Local TV stations covered both picnics and the Nicholas Brothers.

I tear up when I think about how good the Nicholas Brothers were at those festivals. So was the band, which obviously enjoyed a chance to back this great dance team.

This is one moment in time I will cherish in my book of memories forever.

Harold Nicolas died in 2000; Fayard in 2006. I will never forget them....

George Spink
Moderator - The Palomar
Los Angeles, California
Email Me

A Tribute to Bon Bon Tunnell

milliondreamsago@gmail.com (George Spink) — Sat, 27 Aug 2011 20:14:00 +0000

by Jeff Karpinski

One of the underlying themes in several of my posts has been the role that jazz and swing played in breaking down the racial and religious segregation that had contaminated our country for all too long. And as an (almost) life-long resident of the Philadelphia area I have a special sense of pride that it was a guy from my home region who knocked down one of those color barriers by becoming the first black vocalist with a major white big band while making some really good music in the process.

Not many people today recognize the name George Tunnell, but in the 1930s and 1940s all you had to do was mention his childhood nickname to any swing fan and they could tell you who “Bon Bon” was. He had a slow start in the 1920s as a pianist and singer with his own group, Bon Bon and His Buddies. The group never had a recording contract and broke up during the Depression. A year later he formed a new group, The Three Keys, which had some success with a small number of recordings including Someone Stole Gabriel's Horn and Nagasaki. Their high point was a late-1933 appearance at the Palladium in London.

The Three Keys unfortunately didn’t survive the Depression either, but when the Swing Era took off Bon Bon accepted an offer from another Philadelphian, Jan Savitt (who I profiled a while back) to join his band as the featured male vocalist.

Bon Bon and Jan Savitt

They knew it was a risk – while audiences in the larger cities were becoming comfortable with seeing black and white musicians together, it was different in other parts of the country. Some years later Al Leopold, the Top Hatters’ lead trombonist, recalled:

"… when we went on the road and we got a little west or a little south or something, there was just no hotel, no restaurant, very few where he could go in with the band. … most of the time, if he couldn't eat there, we wouldn't eat there. We would wait 'til we found something where … we could."

It’s hard to say whether it was in spite of or because of the novelty of a white band with a black singer who was just “there” like every other musician, but Bon Bon Tunnell’s happy tenure with the Savitt organization lasted until the early 1940s. His most popular recordings included the jaunty It's a Wonderful World and Rose of the Rio Grande, topping out with the band’s major hit 720 In The Books.

720 in the Books
Bob Bon George Tunnell with Jan Savitt and His Orchestra

Good Morning, Good Morning
Bob Bon George Tunnell with Jan Savitt and His Orchestra

In 1941 and ‘42 Tunnell made a few recordings with a septet that again carried the name Bon Bon and His Buddies. The group had no direct connection to the original Buddies but was notable for featuring guitarist Eddie Durham. Following WWII he went solo. Sadly the three dozen or so records he made were all with small, now-forgotten labels like Beacon and never really caught on.

In the early 1950s Bon Bon Tunnell moved back to southeastern Pennsylvania. He made infrequent personal appearances and did occasional interviews with local DJ’s like Pat Landon and Jack Pyle, but was effectively retired from the music business until passing away in 1975.

Jeff Karpinski
King of Prussia, Pennsylvania
Email Me

The Joker Is Wild at the Green Mill

milliondreamsago@gmail.com (George Spink) — Fri, 19 Aug 2011 20:48:00 +0000

At the corner of N. Broadway and West Lawrence Avenue in Chicago, not even a block away from the enormous and extravagantly decorated Aragon Ballroom, sits a quaint little restaurant and nightclub called “The Green Mill”. It’s a one-of-a-kind place adorned with shell-shaped “Art Deco” moldings with high backed, well worn velvet green upholstery with muraled walls, sporting scenes of a babbling brook flowing under a stone bridge and an antiquated mill.

Bullet holes in the outside walls still remain and the piano that was behind the bar has been replaced with an organ, but other than that the place still stands as reminders of a bygone era.

It was opened in 1907 as Pop Morris’s Roadhouse until 1910 when it became the possession of the Chamelas brothers (Who were hardly model citizens) who decided to rename it out of admiration for the famed Moulin Rouge in Paris, The Green Mill.

Al Capone’s right hand man “Machine Gun” Jack McGurn took over operation of the club for Capone during Prohibition; he was the leading figure in the St. Valentine's Day Massacre.

Al Capone

The cops raided the place often when they (cops) didn’t get their bribe money and The Mill’s infamous “Trap” door provided VIP’s a quick departure for those that “were where they weren’t supposed to be!”

Capone’s favorite comedian, “Joe E.” Lewis was playing at the club and got into a contract dispute with McGurn. Joe E. refused to “sign on” because he had been offered more money by a rival gang to appear at their own club, "The New Rendezvous"

In November 1927 in his 10th floor Hotel room, Lewis was attacked by an unknown assailant, part of his tongue was cut out and his vocal chords were slashed and his mutilated body was left for dead. His story is the subject of the movie The Joker is Wild (1957).

Al Capone went ballistic when he heard about the assault! However he stopped short when it came to taking any action against McGurn. He did however provide Lewis with a $10,000 check that allowed him to recover properly and eventually resume his career.

Several years later, his buddy tracks him down and tries to help him with little success. That attempt, though, leads to Lewis meeting Letty Page (Jeanne Crain). They fall in love and she inspires him to follow up on an offer to become a comedian (a result of his buddy's failed attempt to rejuvenate his singing career).

Lewis has problems, though. The assault that nearly cost him his life also helped turn him into an alcoholic and an inveterate gambler.

These two character defects become the basis for his act and help to make him a smash success.

Capone’s portrait still dons the wall at the lounge.

Frank Sinatra

Lewis, a long time friend of Sinatra’s, turned down a reported $150,000 from MGM for the film rights to his story after Art Cohn's book The Joker is Wild: The Story of Joe E. Lewis was released in the mid-'50s. Subsequently Paramount agrees to finance the independent feature film headed by Lewis and Sinatra along with director Charles Vidor and author Art Cohn. Each of the four partners was paid a reported $400,000, along with 75% of the film's net profits.

The New York Times would report that Sinatra's share was in the region of $125,000 along with 25% of the film's profits.

Frank Sinatra - Scene from the Joker Is Wild

The filming of the movie was mostly done later in the day, Sinatra preferring to work at that time and the filming schedule being tailored around this. He insisted that all the musical scenes in the film and songs therein be recorded live on set to keep the performances more genuine.

Frank Sinatra: "When I do a concert and someone coughs, I like that," Sinatra remarked. "I like the scraping of chairs. You get the feeling that it's really happening. I've always thought Lewis was one of only about four or five great artists in this century - one of them was Jolson - and I remember him screaming like the devil when he made a soundtrack." (from All the Way: A Biography of Frank Sinatra)

Frank Sinatra - All the Way

Playing at the Chez Paree! Isham Jones took the stand in 1920, and Charlie Elgar in 1922. Little else is known about local musicians. The Batsis brothers took over “The Mill” in 1942 and the current decor likely dates from this period when the club was remodeled to install air conditioning.

In the late 1940s The Mill widely regarded as Chicago's most important Jazz club, undertook a startling revival with Joe Segal at the helm.

Lewis survived and continued his successful career in California. Lewis died in 1971 and was buried in Cedar Park Cemetery, Emerson, New Jersey.

Dave Jemilo, the owner since 1986, has taken great pains to restore some Chicago splendor to the old joint. When I called Dave to ask him some questions about The Green Mill he was rather leery of my call but when I explained the purpose of the call and the reason for writing this piece, Dave opened right up and was very receptive. He certainly sounds like a great guy to get to know.

Dave said he still has Capone's framed portrait keeping an eye on things from behind the bar. He finely got around to having a website (http://www.greenmilljazz.com/) and the cover has still remained rather modest. As he says, It's about the same as what'd happen if someone called in 1952. We're just here doing our music." In any case, mobsters were part and parcel of the scene. Still hanging over the bar, an enigmatic poem - illustrated with showgirls in sequined gowns, club carrying policemen, and gun-toting gangsters, all hints of some more of the gruesome incidents in the Mill's past.

Outside the Green Mill

The Green Mill Jazz Club is located at 4802 N. Broadway in Chicago, on the site of a much bigger Green Mill Gardens complex, which was an outdoor music gardens fashioned after The Moulin Rouge Gardens in Paris. It was a sunken gardens area, surrounded by a wall and featured nightly entertainment during the summer months. It also featured a dining room which was later converted to the Green Mill Cocktail Lounge during construction of the Uptown Theatre on the former site of the outdoor music gardens.

The Green Mill Jazz Club still hosts top jazz performers. Patricia Barber, internationally-acclaimed jazz performer, plays there most Monday nights, as she has for many years. Kurt Elling also stops by occasionally with his current band when they are in town. The Green Mill also hosts a weekly Poetry Slam as one of the many events at the Green Mill.

I wrote to our moderator and asked him what he thought of the Green Mill, here’s his response;

“It looks like an attractive, neighborhood bar with space in the back of the club for small or large jazz groups. I heard Count Basie and His Orchestra at the Green Mill several times. Other clubs of similar size in Chicago have presented big bands over the years. There is a lot to be said for the intimacy of a club like the Green Mill. Now I'm getting homesick!” - George Spink

For those who want to visit Dave and take in a show or have dinner at the Mill here is the address and phone number:

The Green Mill
4802 North Broadway Street
Chicago, IL 60640
Phone: 773-878-5552

Hope you enjoy your visit!
A special thanks to George Spink and his recommendation of the Green Mill and to Dave Jemilo for being so kind to take a few minutes out of his busy day to chat with me,

Spencer "Wolf" Smartt
Dallas, Texas
Email Me

Benny Carter

milliondreamsago@gmail.com (George Spink) — Sun, 14 Aug 2011 23:03:00 +0000

by George Spink

Benny Carter died in Los Angeles on July 12, 2003. He would have turned 96 the following month. For seven decades, he was the best, playing alto saxophone and trumpet. Carter was highly regarded as a musician, composer, arranger, and orchestra leader. He was indeed a musician's musician.

In July 1995, I heard Carter play a few numbers with Med Flory's Supersax at a Sunday afternoon outdoor concert at the John Anson Ford Amphitheatre in the Hollywood Hills in Los Angeles. Carter was in his late 80s.

It was a testament to his stature in the jazz world to see the four members of Supersax's reed section, each a highly talented reed player and jazz musician in his own right, watch in awe and admiration as Carter played.

The last time he played in public was in March 1998 at the Catalina Bar and Grill, also in Los Angeles, not far from Carter's home.

Shortly before his death, when Carter was asked if he would perform again in public, he replied, "Oh, no. Not a chance. I'm retired now!" He and his wife, Hilma, lived in the Hollywood Hills, where Carter moved from New York City in the early 1940s.

Our Benny Carter Juke Box Page on Tuxedo Junction offers some 40 selections of his music, dating back to McKinney's Cotton Pickers in 1929 in New York City, to many recordings there in the 1930's, as well as some he made in London, Paris, and The Hague in the mid-1930's, and back in the States with his own big band in the late 1930's and 1940's, and with smaller groups in the 1940's and 1950's.

Here is my favorite song by Benny Carter, Malibu, which I think of every time I drive along Pacific Coast Highway through Malibu, especially late in the evening on a moonlit night:

George Spink
Moderator - The Palomar
Los Angeles, California
Email Me

Benny Carter's Website
http://www.bennycarter.com/

Benny Carter's Wikipedia Page
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benny_Carter

A Deck of Cards

milliondreamsago@gmail.com (George Spink) — Sat, 06 Aug 2011 22:20:00 +0000

by George Spink

My parents, aunts and uncles, and neighbors spent many evenings in the 1940's and 1950's playing cards, often five-card stud, sitting around the kitchen table in our Chicago home, drinking beer, smoking, and on Fridays and Saturdays staying up until 1 or 2 a.m., sometimes later.

I was about 10 years old when I learned how to play. I could only join the "big folks" on week nights, not on Fridays or Saturdays. That was OK. On Saturdays I watched "Your Hit Parade" and other shows I really liked!

Looking back at all of the fun we had in those days, I remember a song my father introduced me to in 1948: A Deck of Cards by Tex Ritter.

Tex Ritter

Tex sang about a soldier fighting in North Africa who is reported for looking at his deck of cards during a Sunday church service. Listen to Tex tell this amazing story:

A Deck of Cards
by Tex Ritter (1948)

This remains one of my favorite stories. In 1959, a young Wink Martindale recited "A Deck of Cards" on the Ed Sullivan show. Perhaps you saw it, too. Here it is:

George Spink
Moderator - The Palomar
Los Angeles, California
Email Me