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Home , Bing Crosby filmography, Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy, Boyd Raeburn, Bunny Berigan, Hughie Prince, Jack Kapp

NEWSLETTER JUMP

VOLUME XXVIII BIG BAND JUMP NEWSLETTER SEPTEMBER-OCTOBER 1993

MAXENE ANDREWS INTERVIEW

The Background

Maxene Andrews, the one generally on the left, recently went on tour to promote a book about the USO during WWII, and that was the occasion of our talk with her in a radio studio in Atlanta, GA. She arrived dressed casually, shepherded with great efficiency by her daughter, who carefully kept track of when she was supposed to be at different studios for promotional interviews. Revealing a good sense of humor, Maxene referred to Don Kennedy as Joe several times in the original interview for radio. When her daughter pointed out the mistake, she told Don he could call her Patty. (The radio version of the interview will be the basis for an hour of BIG BAND JUMP during the November-December scheduling.)

Maxene didn’t want to say much about Patty, the other remaining Andrews Sister, but did say they hadn’t been in touch in some time. She hinted, however, that some conflict with Patty’s husband was at the root of their troubles. LaVerne, the one usually on the right, died in the 70's.

The Interview

BBJ: The usual trite but important question: How did it all start?

MA: I don’t think you have enough space for me to Maxene today ______tell you all of it, but we were all born in , and mother said we were all born singing! Singing was radio called , and I guess LaVerne very natural to us. I was four years old when I first figured, “Well, I have two sisters and they sing and sang on the radio station in Minneapolis many years w e’ll have our own trio .” None of us had any formal ago. Patty was seven when my sister LaVerne started musical training because there was no money in the the trio. family as we were coming out of that terrible depres­ sion, but by the time LaVerne was six she played a BBJ: How did that idea come to LaVerne? mean piano. She used to fool around with it all the time, and she would try to recall some of the intricate MA: LaVerne was four years older than me. I was the parts of the Boswell Sister’s arrangements, and she’d middle child and LaVerne fell in love with a group on teach them to Pat and me. VOLUME XXVIII BIG BAND JUMP NEWSLETTER SEPTEMBER-OCTOBER 1993

BBJ: Did you sing the Boswell Sister’s famous BBJ: You came here to talk about your book. ? MA: Yes. During the war years there was a MA: That’s right! We also sang like and wonderful organization called the USO. It was a with . period of time when our country was so unified that everybody wanted to get in and do their bit. The USO BBJ: There’s a rumor that your first big hit, BEI MIR caused some 700 shows a week to be performed all BIST DU SHOEN, was a record you ladies didn’t over the world to our boys in different areas, whether want to record. it was the South Pacific, Alaska, wherever. We volunteered to go, and they sent us to , North MA: No, that story is wrong. What happened was, Africa and Sicily. It was probably the most beautiful the first record we made for Decca, nobody bought. experience of our whole life. I think three records were sold; LaVerne bought one, Patty bought one and I bought one. After that I BBJ: Can you describe the reception from the soldiers thought they were going to give us our contract back, when you walked out on the stage? because who wanted three girls who couldn’t sell records? Then about two weeks later we got a call MA: I can tell you about it, but you’d have to from the president of Decca, Jack Kapp, who said, experience it to know the thrill. The first show we did “I’ve got a good song for you girls to do, and it’s was in Casablanca. We were supposed to be in Naples, called NICE WORK IF YOU CAN GET IT. It’s Italy....not in Casablanca, but the boys took us off the going to be a big song and we want you to record it plane and told us they had 35 thousand boys there who immediately.” Well, in those days it was the A side needed entertainment, so they kept us there for three and the B side. We thought if we could find another days! It was something to walk out on the stage and great song to put on the B side, maybe we’d have a look at those faces. For the first time I realized how double hit record to make up for the one we missed. young they were. It was just wonderful. We couldn’t find one but one day a young man walked into our rehearsal and told us he had a great song for You had a feeling that you wanted to cry for them, but us to sing. He told us it was a Jewish lullaby his that’s the one thing they didn’t want. Incidentally, the mother used to sing to him. , who worked USO had some restrictions on music. They didn’t with us for twenty-some years, figured it out on the want you to sing “m other” songs, they didn’t want you piano and the melody was so infectious and so easy to to sing patriotic songs, they didn’t want you to sing any sing... .but the problem was there weren’t any English songs that would make the boys really homesick. lyrics. The young man who brought the tune to us They were homesick enough, but they had a big job to suggested he teach us the words in , and he did do, so they wanted the boys to feel happy and forget that phonetically. for a few minutes or hours while they were being entertained. We went ahead with the recording session with NICE WORK IF YOU CAN GET IT for one side, and BEI The USO also blue-penciled a lot of the comic’s MIR BIST DU SCHOEN for theother. Jack Kapp had material. They didn’t want any suggestive material. the recording sessions piped into his office, and in the Strange how we’ve changed, isn’t it? middle of the recording session he came down to the studio and asked us where we got that song. We all BBJ: You were a human letter from home in those thought we’d offended him, and we pointed to Lou USO appearances. Levy, the young man who worked out the lyrics, and asked Lou if it’d be alright to get and Sol MA: We always felt what we were doing was so small Chaplin to write an English lyric. They did, and two in comparison to what the boys were doing. Now, I days later we came back and recorded it. do concerts all over the country, and so many times the boys....I still call them “the boys”....will come back

2 VOLUME XXVIII BIG BAND JUMP NEWSLETTER SEPTEMBER-OCTOBER 1993 and see me, and we’ll cry a little and laugh a little and MA: was tell some funny stories. It’s wonderful! written for by and for the picture with Abbott and BBJ: You could have easily written about the Costello called BUCK PRIVATE. Andrews Sisters. Why did you select the USO to write about? BBJ: Did it become a record success?

MA: By the time the war ended, the USO camp shows MA: It never became a big hit for us. There were had presented over 293 thousand performances to over so many wonderful songs in that movie, but nobody 161 million service men. Those faces I’ll never forget, was pushing them and so it really wasn’t until Bette and I waited and waited, but nobody ever wrote about Midler did it, moving us into today’s generation. the USO. wrote a book, but he wrote about For that, we’re very grateful to her. Bob Hope. I started looking around for a writer who would feel the same way I felt about writing the kind BBJ: What does the younger generation think of of book I wanted to write. It wasn’t until I heard from the Andrews Sisters? Bill Gilbert that I got the feeling someone understood what I was trying to say. M A: I get about fifty letters a month from a lot of kids from elementary school and high school who want to We started about a year and a half ago. One feeling do impersonations of the Andrews Sisters. They want I wanted to get in there was the period of time when me to send them harmony sheets. Well, there are no the country was so unified, and what it was like to sing harmony sheets for the Andrews Sisters because none for the and the camps before the boys were of us read music, so everything was done by memory shipped over; many of the boys hadn’t been out of their and just what we heard in our heads. home area their entire lives. BBJ: How difficult was that lack of ability to read There was a time in Seattle when they took us to the music when you were working with an orchestra? dock and we sang and waved goodbye to the boys as they were being shipped out. I didn’t realize until MA: It wasn’t difficult at all because we had Vic afterwards that maybe a lot of these boys weren’t ever Schoen who understood what we were doing, so he coming back, and it left me with a feeling I hoped I wrote the orchestral background to fit the harmo­ could get across. nies that we did. We recorded about 2,000 tunes.

It’s not a sad book; it’s a happy book, and it evokes a BBJ: There’s something about I’LL BE WITH lot of wonderful emotion. YOU IN APPLE BLOSSOM TIME tied in with w eddings. BBJ: What other names come to mind when you think about the USO performers during WWII? MA: More people during the Second World War got married to that tune than got married to the MA: We had people like A1 Jolson, Ingrid Bergman, traditional wedding march. Lots of those couples Marlene Deitrich who I think became the darling of the still come up to me and I ask them how it worked troops, Katherine Grayson....a lot of people from out. They always say, “Well, we’re still together!” MGM that weren’t making the big tours their studios sent out for bond raising. I don’t think I ever knew one BBJ: What’s a parting shot from you? performer who refused to go into the USO and go overseas. MA: My big wish is that we all remember that this is one world and we all have to get along. Through BBJ: How did BOOGIE WOOGIE BUGLE BOY our own personal strength, this country has got to come about? unite and get together. 3 VOLUME XXVIII BIG BAND JUMP NEWSLETTER SEPTEMBER-OCTOBER 1993

LETTERS TO THE BBJ NEWSLETTER TIME AROUND, Etc. They all seem to add more punch in these new arrangements. Letters are condensed to make maximum use of space, but the meaning is preserved. We try to answer letters We ’re scheduled to do a MAILBAG program of BBJ personally, but the ones judged to be of most general in the next couple of months, and we ’ll put your interest are selected for this column. Questions or selections in the lineup. See UPCOMING BBJ comments connected with both the BBJ NEWSLETTER PROGRAM TITLES. and the BIG BAND JUMP radio program may be sent to: Mr, & Mrs. Baker We are enclosing a stamped Warren, PA self-addressed envelope for BBJ NEWSLETTER your use in sending us a Box 52252 listing of the upcoming programs that were omitted Atlanta, GA 30355 from the July-August newsletter. That listing is one of the reasons we subscribe to the newsletter in that we George E. Feldman I can’t understand why there can plan our activities to avoid missing programs that Ashland, VA has been so little attention are of special interest to us. paid to the MERRY MACS. This group was in the forefront for many years in Your program is in part a time machine and has recordings, movie appearances, concerts and radio. transported us back many times giving us hours of Not only did they record extensively on their own, but missed moments. We like the older recordings of the they also worked with Bing and , Judy rather jumpy tunes. Our interests are in the airchecks. Garland, Ray Noble and Glen Gray, to name a few, and Also, what are transcriptions? Might be a good article were on everybody’s radio show. The HUT-SUT for the newsletter. SONG was written by one of the MACS. Phew! The Baker’s letter isjust one of many complaining To those who can’t quite place the MERRY MACS, the about the omission o f BBJ Program Titles. We had no movie RIDE ‘EM COWBOY is now idea they were so meaningful, fo r they were originally available on video, with both the MERRY MACS and put in the newsletter years ago when we were short on ELLA FITZGERALD featured and in fine voice. material and needed to fill space; we inserted the listings at the time with considerable trepidation about reader’s We haven’t come up with any albums by the MERRY reaction. Creative programming and pre-planning just MACS that are currently available. We suggest you don’t go together, we’ve been advised by the less check the used record shops. SERENDIPITY RECORDS structured members o f our group. in Guilford, CT at (203) 457-1039 said they ’d be on the lookout for you. YESTERDAY’S MUSIC in At­ Great idea about an article on transcriptions. It’s in lanta, GA said they hadn’t seen a MERRY MACS this issue. album fo r years, but get “new ” used records regularly. They’re at (404) 233-7413. John B. Lizza As a long-time reader of the Detroit, MI BIG BAND JUMP NEWS­ R.G. Nelson A note to tell you that BIG LETTER, I know that you’re Worcester, NY BAND JUM P is the highlight up to date on the latest records and books. Somebody of my week. There are two told me there is a fairly recent biog­ recordings I just can’t find and wonder if you could raphy and as a long-time Berigan fan, I would play them on your program. I CAN’T STOP LOVING certainly appreciate the information confirming that YOU by about 1949 and SHANTY IN if you are able to obtain same. OLD SHANTY TOWN by Johnny Long. In a sequence of good fortune (as opposed to good I enjoy all your programs, but hearing the new bands is planning) we received information about the Berigan best. SYD LAWRENCE, SPITFIRE, THE SEVEN­ book a week after getting Mr. Lizza’s letter. It’s TEEN, KIT McCLURE, PAT LONGO, SECOND reviewed in this issue, with ordering information. 4 VOLUME XXVIII BIG BAND JUMP NEWSLETTER SEPTEMBER-OCTOBER 1993

Bev Dowell While not on your mailing list, I Metcalf of Roanoke responds with a tape. There are Herndon, VA have enjoyed the BBJ NEWSLET­ some thoughtful, generous and great people in our TER through a friend for several years. country! For a far longer amount of time I have searched for an answer regarding “fibre needles”. I refer to a series Our thanks to all who so generously responded, for we of home recordings, apparently in the 40’s which my also received tapes and offers o f tapes from scores o f father made on the organ. They are made on Remsen readers.... unfortunately too many to list. Mr. Parker is Discs. It is recommended the use only of fibre absolutely correct in his assessment ofU.S. citizenry. needles....if I could locate such, I wonder if they’d work on modern equipment. Jack Baranowski I am writing to you with a Milwaukee, WI problem. I will be retiring the We doubt if fibre needles are available commercially, end of August and but we used to use cactus points which worked OK, if moving to a community 15 miles north ofTucson, AZ. I need your help as to the time and station your you can find a friend who ’ll let you clip them off program comes on in the Tucson area. I will not have their plant. They fit into the old-fashioned tone arms a happy retirement unless your show is a part o f my 1 ife with the set-screw, and will not fit into modern as it has been for the past years. equipment. We suspect, but don’t know for certain, that you could get one or two good plays out of a This is an easy one. One of the first stations to diamond or sapphire stylus as used on currently broadcast the syndicated version o f BIG BAND JUMP available equipment, and tape as you playback to was KGVY, Green Valley /Tucson, at AM 1080. They capture whatever sound you can generate. schedule it at 3 to 5 PM each Saturday.

Maybe our readers can help. They came through in William Rogers Enclosed is some bio material massive numbers for a question posed by a reader in , PA on the late Vaughn Monroe. I always remembered that he our last issue. Please see the Mercer Parker letter graduated from Jeannette High School in 1929, here in below. Western Pennsylvania. You indicated in the BIG BANDS OF THE WAR YEARS TAPE that he was a Richard Guy Any recordings available New England native. San Diego, CA of Randy Brooks or Boyd Raeburn? Our thanks for the material, and for the correction. We should have known better. See RECORDS TO CONSIDER for a recent Randy Brooks release. (Randy Brooks was featured on a RECORDS AND BOOKS TO CONSIDER recent BBJ program titled THE TRUMPET PLAY­ y ERS.) Boyd Raeburn’s band has been released on at RANDY BROOKS AND HIS ORCHESTRA least three labels, and may be purchased from BIG 1945-1947 BANDS in Los Angeles. Phone them toll-free at 1-800- Circle CCD-152 845-2263. There are twenty-two cuts on his magnificently re­ Mercer Parker I really appreciate your stored compilation of radio transcriptions made by Dallas, TX assistance in getting a re­ trumpeter Randy Brooks, with most cuts arranged by sponse to my request for a the silent partner in the band, John Benson Brooks, copy of I’VE GOT THE WORLD ON A STRING by who was not related to Randy. . I received my copy of the BBJ NEWS­ LETTER on Saturday at 4 PM and got a phone call In the mode of radio transcriptions, there’s a spoken at 5 PM offering me a tape. Then I received a call on intro by Randy Brooks over the theme, HOLIDAY the following Monday from a William Wert of Harris­ FOREVER, that evokes the kind of nostalgia for Big burg, PA offering me the same proposition, then Jack Bands it should if you’re in that frame of mind.

5 VOLUME XXVIII BIG BAND JUMP NEWSLETTER SEPTEMBER-OCTOBER 1993

STOMPIN’ AT THE SAVOY is an arrangement like members and associates to craft this scholarly picture no other you’ve heard, played in loping rhythm, but of a man who was extremely likeable and warm­ no less appealing than the faster versions, just differ­ hearted. Those charming qualities were offset by his ent. Harry Prime, Kay Allen, Lillian Lane and Bill lack of business sense and his alcohol addiction, Usher provide the vocals; J.B. Brooks provides the leading to failure of his own band and an early death unusual sound, far ahead of its time. Combine that at age 33. The remarkable fact is that because of his with the clean trumpet of Randy Brooks, not the same early talent, Bunny Berigan performed on hundreds of but not unlike the James’ trumpet in sweetness, and recordings and was heard on countless radio broad­ you have a gem of a moment in time. casts as a valued musician in the studios. This in addition to being a featured soloist with the early bands Available from: CIRCLE RECORDS -1206 Decatur of and as well as Street - , LA 70116 leading his own organization for a short time.

TED WEEMS AND HIS ORCHESTRA One chapter is devoted to a comparison between 1940-41 Bunny Berigan and , the earlier trend­ Hour JH-1032 setting trumpet player who also left the scene early as a result of his drinking habits. In the process of There just isn’t much recorded sound of Ted Weems digging out personal events in Berigan’s life, Robert these days. We hear HEARTACHES as nearly the Dupuis gives us insight into other key names in the Big only Ted Weems music on the air, and this new CD Band and jazz world. changes that. The Jazz Hour people have carefully restored 22 cuts taken from the old radio program Must reading for serious jazz and Big Band enthusiasts. BEAT THE BAND, emceed by Gary Moore. $24.95 - Louisiana State University Press CALL OF THE CANYON, FAITHFUL FOREVER, Should be available in any good book store, or may be DEVIL MAY CARE, HINDUSTAN, CANADIAN directly ordered from the author personally autographed CAPERS, BLUEBERRY HILL, DARK EYES and and sent post-paid for $29.00 to: Robert Dupuis - 725 HEARTACHES are included. Vocals are by the pre- Lincoln Road - Grosse Pointe, MI 48230-(313) 886- RCA Victor . Four of the 22 cuts are bonus 7888. tracks lifted from early Ted Weems perfor­ mances on the FIBBER McGEE AND MOLLY radio program. It's historic material not available elsewhere.

Order from: JazzHour-Box 84108-Pembroke Pines, FL 33084

BUNNY BERIGAN: ELUSIVE LEGEND OF JAZZ Bunny Berigan Biography Robert Dupuis - 368 pages

It’s beyond belief that no one has written a biography of jazz trumpeter Bunny Berigan before this. You recall most vividly his solos on MARIE and SONG OF INDIA, the two sides of a late thirties Tommy Dorsey recording. Most recalled is his own band’s theme I CAN’T GET STARTED which featured not only his trumpet, but his matter-of-fact vocal style. Author Weems & Como on album cover. Dupuis interviewed over thirty of Berigan’s family 6 VOLUME XXVIII BIG BAND JUMP NEWSLETTER SEPTEMBER-OCTOBER 1993

THOSE SWINGING YEARS were called Tempo Di Raga it might win honors more Autobiography of Charlie Barnet speedily. Ragtime will find its way gradually into the with Stanley Dance - 225 pages works of some genius and will therefore be canonized.” Say what? Charlie Barnet recalled events so vividly in his inter­ **************** views with co-author Stanley Dance that we get to see directed that all the royalty money his (and by extension jazz) development from the earned from his song (in twenties on through the end of the Big Band Era. The excess of a half million dollars) be assigned to the Boy free-wheeling Charlie Barnet’s escapades, both per­ and Girl Scouts of America. sonally and with the members of his band lend both color and entertainment to this close-up picture of In addition about ten million dollars in income from a man who was a living myth, and continues to be since Berlin’s Broadway and Warner Bros, screen musical his death. Much of the recollection is in the form of THIS IS THE ARMY was assigned to the United direct quotes from Charlie Barnet, evidently taken States Army Emergency Relief. from the miles of tape resulting from hours of inter­ **************** views in preparation for the book. This informality Bing Crosby’s recording of Irving Berlin’s seasonal combined with the stories of nearly unbelieveable classic WHITE CHRISTMAS sold over 26 million proportions make for an extremely readable book. copies. The song itself has been recorded over 300 times selling some 50 million copies. The song’s sheet music Paperback $12.95 - Da Capo Press sold over four million copies in 115 arrangements. In bookstores or available directly from Da Capo at **************** (800) 321-0050. The use of the megaphone by early band singers produced the curious deadpan and emotionless manner A BBJ program including an interview recorded just of expression which was to form the basis of the six months before Charlie Barnet’s death is scheduled. “crooning” style that developed after microphones Please see UPCOMING BBJ PROGRAM TITLES. and amplification were introduced.

HANK MORGAN’S CORNER Examples: , Bing Crosby, Etc. **************** These musings by Morgan pop up every couple o f issues. Hank Morgan is a sportscaster and Big Band enthusiast who likes to collect random facts from the music scene. Since those facts form valuable and fascinating bits o f information, we pass them on to you.

Ragtime, one of the main forerunners of Jazz and , was all the rage in America at the turn of the century, but it aroused a great deal of controversy.

How about the following for those of us who have trou­ ble abiding today’s rage of hard rock, soul and rap?

An editorialist for the MUSICAL COURIER in 1899 wrote: “A wave of vulgar, filthy, suggestive music has inundated the country. It is artistically and morally depressing and should be suppressed by the public and the pulpit.”

At the same time, Rupert Hughes wrote: "If ragtime The crooning Bing

7 VOLUME XXVIII BIG BAND JUMP NEWSLETTER SEPTEMBER-OCTOBER 1993

As part of the first cross-country radio broadcast in 1927, that’s “blanding-out” radio, and many other businesses. Paul Whiteman’s Orchestra, playing in New York, accom­ One of the satellite services purported to be music of the panied a vocal in by movie star Delores Del Rio. 40’s, 50’s and 60’s plays nothing but music from the The song was RAMONA. (Gilbert-Wayne.) Billboard Magazine top ten charts of past years, limiting themselves to “tried-and-true” mostly weepy vocals George and ’s big hit THEY CAN’T TAKE from the fifties when the music industry was in turmoil THAT AWAY FROM ME from the 1937 motion picture and besieged with little boys and girls singing little boy SHALL WE DANCE starring and Ginger and girl songs with little boy and girl voices and dinky Rogers gained an Oscar nomination, but Harry Owen’s chording piano and do-wah singers in the background. SWEET LELANI won the Oscar from the , which starred Bing Crosby. Not all of the top-ten selections in any given month of any year are good listening over the long haul. This reliance COMMENTARY BY HAGEN WILLIAMS on someone else’s taste__ on the numbers on paper....absolves programmers from responsibility. These are self-serving comments, for they refer to the Rather than having faith in themselves in selecting a style change in format of so many Big Band stations over the past of music, they rely instead on someone’s top-ten survey, couple of months... .changes made by the accountants and making the music they play not style-based, but calendar- lawyers who operate the larger stations in the nation today. based, resulting in driving listeners with good taste away These changes reflect the lack of imagination and/or and depressing further the taste of others. pioneering spirit rampant in radio today. Is there a risk involved in this kind of programming? You bet there is. The programmer puts him or herself A few months ago CKLW, an international clear-channel on the line. Ifyou’re selecting from someone else’s list, 50,000 watt powerhouse serving the Detroit area from determined from numerical status on a piece of paper, Ontario, Canada, dropped their Big Band oriented pro­ you simply blame the list if it doesn’t work. If your gramming to join the throng of follow-the-leader sheep selection doesn’t work, you have to take the heat. There who program talk radio. This is not, please note, an are some magnificent new performers, both instrumen­ objection to talk radio, which performs a valuable service tal and vocal, in the style we all espouse. There are also and is appealing to many of us. It is an objection to the some brand new recordings and old originals of the lack of diversity in today ’ s broadcast spectrum as a result 40’s, 50’s and 60’s that aren’t very good, whatever their of so many lemming-like owners and operators. place in the charts of past musical history. It’s up to an astute programmer to pick a mix of the old and the new A couple of weeks ago KFRC in San Francisco, at the that fits together and flows. That’s not easy, but it can time one of the most respected Big Band and 40’s style result in good, listenable, imaginative and sometimes music programmers in the nation, changed format as a thrilling programming. It may not work, but most often result of a change in ownership. Another of the 50,000 it does__ and both listeners and programmers should be watt powerhouse radio signals, KFRC’s new owners willing to take that risk; otherwise we’re all fossilizing. decided to reduce the diversity of radio programming in the San Francisco market by simply duplicating their FM The satellite services, with some refreshing exceptions, counterpart’s music of the 60’sand 70’s__ simulcasting are for the most part supplying list-generated repetitive music already heard in some form on other stations in the programming to their mostly automated stations, think­ market. The new manager expressed regret that the Big ing they’ll reach a maximum number of listeners. Band and 40’s programming was no longer available to Maybe they will, but they’ 11 certainly not be charting any listeners. He’s quoted as saying, “....unfortunately we fresh, new territory. They are doing just the opposite, have been unable to find anyone else broadcasting this destroying the imaginative, vital, creative sound that music in Northern California at this time.” If it’s so radio can and should be. damn “unfortunate” why doesn’t this guy have the intestinal fortitude to take KFRC to new heights with Hagen Williams is a free-lance radio producer who has their established format, rather than run a parallel line been in every phase o f radio and in some TV during his from the FM studio to the AM transmitter. still active career. He's also very difficult to get along with, fo r he expects more from people in the electronic It’s this repetitive reliance on what everyone else is doing media than they ofien are able to give. 8 VOLUME XXVIII BIG BAND JUMP NEWSLETTER SEPTEMBER-OCTOBER 1993

UPCOMING BBJ PROGRAM TITLES didn’t know it at the time, when we conducted this inter­ view, Charlie Barnet was suffering from some memory SOUND TRACK M USIC So much of the excellent loss. As so often occurs, though, he recalled vividly events Sept. 4-5, 1993 music composed in Am­ of decades earlier. We benefit from those memories, and erica is written for mo­ listen to the pace-setting music. tion pictures featuring the stars in the Band firmament. We lift some of that sound track music, both vocal and instru­ ROMANTIC RECORDS We used to call these ballads mental, spanning movies from the early forties through the October 2-3,1993 “ slush” in the earlier days of late eighties. Bob W ilber’s remarkable copies of the late radio, but they’re all familiar 20’s Duke Ellington is heard from THE COTTON CLUB, melodies that’ll bring forth memories of some of your ’s Orchestra is featured, is romantic moments. If you haven’t had any romantic heard singing the first song he ever performed in the movies moments lately, maybe you’ll be helped along by Duke and we even hear former star Cliff Edwards Ellington’s SOPHISTICATED LADY and SATIN DOLL, direct from the PINOCCHIO sound track, plus Dick Powell, ’ YOU’VE CHANGED or YOU MADE Crosby & Armstrong, A1 Jolson and Crosby & Hope. ME LOVE YOU, the Miller Band with MOONLIGHT COCKTAIL and MOONLIGHT BECOMES YOU, DIXIELAND/JAM M IN’ The most frequent re- Tommy Dorsey’s GETTIN’ SENTIMENTAL and Sept. 11-12,1993 quests in listener let­ THERE ARE SUCH THINGS, and even Vaughn ters are for Dixieland, Monroe’s theme song. Add the most romantic music of and we answer some of those requests with the Dukes of Claude Thornhill, Jimmy Dorsey with Helen O’Connell Dixieland, A1 Hirt, Sammy Duncan’s All-Stars, the Alliance and Bob Eberly, and even the Goodman Hall Band and Wild Bill Davison. In the second hour we do Sextet, andyou should be melting into a puddle on the floor some Jammin’ with Count Basie’s Small Group, Buck by the radio. It may be “slush”, but it’s good “slush!” Clayton, Scott Hamilton’s tenor sax and Harry Connick, Jr. Please remember, the first hour is Dixieland ...the second THE MAILBAG We learn a lot from our listeners hour is Jammin’, two different kinds of music. October 9-10,1993 and readers who send scores of letters and cards each week, THE IN-BOX These are the programs de- some with program suggestions and some with single Sept. 18-19, 1993 pendent upon some of the requests. As we dip into the Mailbag, we discover some varied recordings received requests for old standards such as SHANTY by Johnny regularly at BBJ. They come on cassette and CD, and Long, DEEP RIVER by Tommy Dorsey, LOVE TO sometimes on reel tape or an old acetate one-of-a-kind KEEP ME WARM by , STEALIN’ APPLES recording, but they’re all interesting. In this session we in the Goodman tradition with a story to go with it, sample the later Elliot Lawrence’s Orchestra style, WOODCHOPPER’S BALL by from the some early Les Brown, Lew Anderson’s fun band, some original Decca recording, ’s 720 IN THE Goodman, Armstrong & Ellington together, Mel Tonne BOOKS, NIGHT TRAIN by Buddy Morrow with a twin- and the Basie Band under the direction of Frank Wess name surprise, and some other less predictable requests. and Harry Edison, Marian McPartland’s Trio, Terry So often we assume (not correctly) that every listener Gibbs Dream Band of the fifties, and a rare Bobby hears every program and thus hears the above standards Sherwood. It’s total variety, and total fun as we scrape regularly but that’s just not true; hence the mailbag off the overloaded table of incoming records, clippings, program to repeat the great old favorites, plus some others books and tape we call the In-box. not so often heard.

CHARLIE BARNET Charlie Barnet had a great deal HAMPTON ALL- Lionel Hampton not only Sept. 25-26,1993 to do with the development of STARS/DISCOVERY sparked the Goodman Quartet swing music in this nation, pos­ October 16-17, 1993 and trio, but during the time he sibly more than we give him credit for. In an interview with was with Goodman, was asked Charlie Barnet six months before his death, we learn that by Victor recording executives to lead some extemporane­ he also gave at least three now well-known female vocal­ ous jazz sessions in the studio. We hear the result of many ists their first opportunity in the national limelight. This is of those late thirties sessions with then little-known per­ a rare moment in musical enjoyment, for even though we formers who became stars later in the forties. During the 9 VOLUME XXVIII BIG BAND JUMP NEWSLETTER SEPTEMBER-OCTOBER 1993 second hour we “discover” some recordings by the old some behind-the-scenes stories of the men they worked for. Tonight Show Orchestra, the surprising and not easily In the process, you’ll hear some music as played by these acceptable Akiyoshi-Tabackin Band, and a Big Band sidemen for , , , Benny recording by a rock n’roll drummer. Don’t let that frighten Goodman, Ray McKinley, Woody Herman, Harry James, you. It’s a recording of Hampton’s FLYIN’ HOME by Tony Pastor, Buddy Morrow and Tommy Dorsey. Some rock drummer Charlie Watts who secretly wants to be a melodies you know well from a different viewpoint. Big Band drummer, but instead goes where the money is. The hour ends with a couple of gentle jazz numbers by the SIDELIGHTS Basie Orchestra. DIZZY GILLESPIE Dizzy reflects the frustration CLASS OF ’43/RIFFLIN ’ The kids of the high school of all those who pay no October 23-24, 1993 class of 1943 were sure attention to clothes except they’d graduate and then as functional items. He immediately go to fight a war, but before they left walked into a store one school.... some to never return.... they danced and romanced, day and told the clerk he studied and lived with the music of Bobby Sherwood, wanted to purchase a rain­ Harry James, Fats Waller, Benny Goodman, the Merry coat. “What size?” asked Macs, Les Brown, Ella Mae Morse, Tommy Dorsey, Bing the clerk. Dizzy was Crosby and Dick Haymes. We hear all those artists puzzled at the question. performing their most memorable recordings, and then He answered, “My size!” RIFFLE THROUGH THE RECORDS with some later TOOTS THIELMANS recordings including Marlene VerPlanck, Erroll Gamer, , Buddy DeFranco, and Margaret Diz with bent horn Guitarist and composer Whiting. Toots Thielmans was strolling the tables in a club when a somewhat arrogant BUDDY MORROW Trombonist MoeZudecofTapp- guest grabbed him by the sleeve and with some derision October 30-31,1993 pcared as a sideman on the origi­ said, “I’ll bet you don’t know BLUESETTE.” Toots smiled nal 78 label of Tommy Dor­ and both played and whistled BLUESETTE, the club patron sey’s BOOGIE WOOGIE, recorded back in 1938. A never realizing the strolling guitar player was the composer decade and a half later, that same sideman would be known of BLUESETTE! as Buddy Morrow and be leading his own highly successful BENNY GOODMAN Goodman was on a commercial orchestra, somewhat of an amazing feat in those vocal- flight with his band later in his dominated days of the fifties. A few years later, that same career, and tried to initiate a conversation with the young Buddy Morrow would be selected to lead the official lady sitting next to him. She didn’t seem to want to talk. Tommy Dorsey Estate Orchestra, lending his warm trom­ Goodman finally said, “I guess you don’t know who I am. bone tones to the now classic arrangements introduced to I’m the King of Swing!” The young lady looked puzzled. us years earlier on the Tommy Dorsey RCA Victor record­ She asked, “What’s swing?” ings. Buddy talks about his beginnings, his work with the Dorsey Orchestra and his visions for the future in this two It was one of those un-predictable situ­ hour session including some highly entertaining and sel­ ations. Bandleader Hal Kemp was ap­ dom-heard Buddy Morrow Orchestra cuts. It’s our selec­ pearing with his orchestra at the old Hotel Astor Roof in shortly after World War II. As often occurs, tion as a most enlightening program. Hal Kemp introduced the manager of the hotel to an audience of regulars there: “Let’s give Mr. Christenberry a THE SIDEMEN In our adulation of the leaders hand.” There was a deep silence. It’s seems Hal Kemp November 6-7, 1993 of the Big Bands, have we for­ didn’t know that Christenberry had lost a hand in the war. gotten the sidemen? They were the players, the men who actually made the music come Bass player and writer Bill Crow is the keeper o f humorous alive for us out there listening in the theaters, ballrooms and poignant stories about musicians, and we 're indebted to and on the radio. We feature five sidemen who worked with him for these sidelights first chronicled in the New York City various musical organizations over the years, and quiz musician's union paper. Bill Crow is also the author o f the them about their activities on the road, as well as getting book JAZZ ANECDOTES, published by Oxford Press. 10 VOLUME XXVIII BIG BAND JUMP NEWSLETTER SEPTEMBER-OCTOBER 1993

TOP TEN BIG BANDS the general public at the time. The grooves on the transcriptions were cut at the same pitch (grooves per A couple of issues ago we reported on the top ten Big inch) as 78’s, allowing only fifteen minutes of record­ Bands as selected by the 600 members of the Big Band ing per side of each sixteen inch disc, so that a half- Academy of America for their annual get-together in hour program, for example, would require two sides. Los Angeles. Readers and listeners both seemed Because of the state of the recording art at the time, fascinated with those selections, which will not be wider grooves were necessary to assure a sufficient repeated here so as not to influence you....for reasons frequency response; hence the limitation of fifteen that’ll become obvious. minutes per side. Tape was unknown then.

Most interesting would be your selections. Attached The transcriptions featured a variety of music including to this newsletter for your convenience in voting is a hillbilly, now known as country and western, march ballot in blue. (That would make a wonderful song music, religious vocals and instrumentals, produc­ title!) Simply fill in your PERSONAL selection for tion aids such as playoffs, stingers, Etc., and the Big your favorite ALL-TIME BIG BAND. Don Kennedy Band music performed by emerging orchestras which will also be asking for votes from listeners to the BIG generally recorded for union scale in order to get BAND JUMP radio program. These votes will be additional public exposure, as well as to augment their tabulated and the results announced in the next issue income from commercial recordings and dance dates. of the BBJ NEWSLETTER and on the BBJ radio program scheduled on most of the 200 stations the There were a number of companies manufacturing weekend of November 20-21, 1993. transcriptions, some connected with the major commer­ Please let us stress both here and on the ballot to make cial recording companies and some independent. A few your selection independent of other’s opinions orthoughts. labels that immediately come to mind are THESAU­ RUS, a division of NBC/RCA, WORLD, STAN­ We’re all so easily swayed by surveys these days, DARD, LANG-WORTH, MacGREGOR, and later purporting to be the opinion of the masses and somehow CAPITOL, a part of the Capitol Record . taking on an importance far beyond their true validity. To be a valid survey, we ask that you consider all the Big The total list of artists on transcriptions isn’t possible Bands in your experience, from the beginnings of the Big to be noted here, but a few examples will give you an Band Era to today. idea. WORLD had Fats Waller, a young Les Brown We very much appreciate your participation and value Orchestra, early Woody Herman when his was the your input. Please fill out and mail the BALLOT IN “Band that played the ,” David Rose, Russ BLUE attached to this newsletter. Morgan, , Glen Gray, the Milt Hearth Trio and Elliot Lawrence, to name a few. Later, TRANSCRIPTIONS, THE LP’S OF EARLY RADIO WORLD featured such vocal artists as , Helen Forrest, Monica Lewis and Dick Haymes. They were called transcriptions, and were vinyl discs STANDARD had Tommy Dorsey, Duke Ellington, sixteen inches in diameter (as compared to 10 inch Lawrence Welk, Bob Crosby, Spike Jones, Albert 78’s) cut especially for radio station use, and leased to Sack and Billy M ills... .his orchestra of Fibber McGee broadcasters throughout the nation from the thirties and Molly fame. through the mid-fifties. While some of the larger The last entry in the transcription business was metropolitan radio stations could afford to have staff , boasting such names as GeneKrupa, orchestras and spinoff groups, smaller radio stations Duke Ellington, the Nat Cole Trio, Frank DeVol, had to rely on transcribed music, giving rise to the , Skitch Henderson, the King Sisters, transcription industry. Alvino Rey, Peggy Lee, Ernie Felice, the Dinning Sisters, Paul Weston and Jan Garber. The discs ran at 33 1/3 revolutions per minute, the same speed as the later LP’s, but a speed unknown to As with commercially released 78’s, not all of the 11 VOLUME XXVIII BIG BAND JUMP NEWSLETTER SEPTEMBER-OCTOBER 1993 transcription cuts were gems, but many were better than I GET ALONG WITHOUT YOU VERY WELL the commercial recordings for two major reasons: There (EXCEPT SOMETIMES) was less time restriction, and the musicians and leaders felt less pressure to compromise their music to fit While a student at Indiana University, Hoagy Carmichael composed a melody to an unsigned poem commercial needs, since the transcriptions were “pre­ he had been given by one of his friends. He promptly sold” to the radio stations. With increasing frequency, forgot about it but years later dug it out of the proverbial record companies dedicated to preservation of the Big “trunk”, feeling it had possibilities. However, in order Band Sound are finding these transcriptions and present­ to get it published, he had to identify the lyricist. He ing them to the public on CD’s and cassettes. called on friend Walter Winchell, then one of radio’s A recent phone call to Capitol to inquire about the most popular personalities, for help. After Winchell masters of some of their transcriptions revealed that only read the opening lines of the poem on his Sunday one employee working in the back room even remem­ evening broadcast, he was inundated with people laying bered that they had been in the transcription business! claim to its authorship. Diligent investigation dis­ Fortunately, many collectors have saved copies of these closed the piece had at one time appeared in LIFE unique recordings, and with today’s digital methods of magazine, credited to “J.B.”. Continued investiga­ bringing out the best of the music while decreasing tion identified the initials as belonging to Mrs. Jane surface noise, we can look forward to hearing more of Brown Thompson of Philadelphia. The song was the thrilling performances through such record compa­ introduced by Dick Powell on a radio broadcast nies as HINDSIGHT, CIRCLE and others. January 19,1940. Sadly, Mrs. Thompson did not get to hear the program. She died the previous night. H.W. Hoagy and Jane Russell performed the song in a 1952 film, STORY. Q-208 TURNTABLES (YTH-1204) In the last issue, in reference to 78’s, we said turntables weren’t being made anymore. A reader sent an article from THE CONSUMER ELEC­ TRONICS EDGE pointing out that ROTEL manu­ factures the RP900 turntable with a belt-driven motor. The article says you can get an optional ALL STAR SEXTETTE (TeticJy Wilton. Piano; Spat« Powell, Drumt; , Vib«l; Charlie pulley on special order that’ll make the turntable Shavert. Trumpet, Al Hall, Bait; Remo Palmieri, Guitar) go 78 RPM’s. The catch is that the turntable costs 1. AFTER YOU'VE GONE (AS) 2:45 (2) (ftf) "Jolton Singt Again" (film) $500.00 The other turntables being made to play 2 HOW HIGH THE MOON (AS) 3:14 (2) (ftmf) "tw o for The Show ' (show) 3. (AS) 2:55 (2) (flm) 33 1 /3’s and 45’s are TECH N ICS, RADIO SHACK, 4. STOMPIN' AT THE SAVOY (AS) 2:22 (2) (ftf) 5. WHISPERING (AS) 2:06 (2) (ftf) ONKYO, DENON, KENWOOD and YAMAHA, according to the article. G**V

We appeal to our readers to supply any information Typical transcription label as to the current availability of 78 RPM turntables. We do know that some models of the TECHNICS TIMELESS TUNES; THEIR STORIES turntables revolve at all three speeds, but don’t know if the remaining currently available TECHNICS turntable makes all three speeds Ken Smith from time to time contributes the well- available. researched and well-written background to well- known songs.

12 AVAILABLE BIG BAND PRODUCTS PAGE 1 ORDER FORM ENCLOSED

(GG) THE BEST OF BO THORPE

Available on either CD or Cassette

It ’ s a two CD or two Cassette collection of the BEST OF BO THORPE, a Big Band that ’ s working full-time, an oddity these days. Bo Thorpe, who began his musical life as a drummer, decided later in life after success in a non-allied business to establish aband that’d bring back the familiar music with a new approach, without destroying the original “feel” of the Big Band Sound. He also realized he’d have to put later melodies into Big Band style in order to capture a younger audience. He’s accomplished both those goals, and this collection is the result of years of playing for some of the most prestigious groups in the nation, including some presidential balls.

If you like to dance, Bo Thorpe is the ideal band for your CD player or cassette. If you like to hear what top society functions hear, Bo Thorpe is the band for you to listen to.

Of particular interest is the group GENERATION SINGERS, and vocals by Jean Dennis, who appeared with Harry James and Tommy Dorsey before joining the Thorpe organization. Two CD's $24.95 + 3.00 S&H Two Cassettes $19.95 + 3.00 S&H

Included in the collection:

Opus One Spanish Eyes You Light Up My Life Memory How High The Moon There Are Such Things House Of Blue Lights Harlem Nocturne Dream Woodchopper’s Ball What 1 Did For Love I’m Beginning To See The Light Daybreak Penthouse Serenade Again Where Is The Love Too Young Battle Hymn Of The Republic Witchcraft Cherry Pink And Apple Blossom White Rainy Night In Georgia Come Fly With Me Touch & Go Boogie How Deep Is Your Love New York, New York Begin The Beguine Ridin’ 1-95 Feelings Razzmajazz Swinging With Bo

Thirty-one melodies most requested by young and old alike in the Bo Thorpe style.

Two CD’s: $ 24.95 + 3.00 S&H Total $ 27.95 Two Cassettes: $ 19.95 + 3.00 S&H Total $ 22.95

MORE PRODUCT DESCRIPTIONS ANDAN ORDER FORM ON FOLLOWING PAGES AVAILABLE BIG BAND PRODUCTS PAGE 2 ORDER FORM ENCLOSED

(FF) THE SPITFIRE BAND - Make Believe Ballroom

Available on CD or Cassette

A great band....not just good, but great! Toronto’s SPITFIRE BAND is one of those relatively unknown bands keeping the sound alive, and doing it extremely well. Until recently, the SPITFIRE BAND recordings were difficult to get in the U.S.

The very best bet is this extra-value album. It’s available as a single CD or Cassette, but each contains 35 selections, including eleven performed as medleys....a total of 24 dynamic cuts, played by a band that’s created a sensation in Canada, and has been in demand recently in the United States because of its crisp arrangements and smooth vocal group.

It’s as if you were hearing a band of the forties, but with the technical excellence of today. It’s our choice for the most listenable, tasteful band on the North American continent combining familiar music with fresh, new arrangements keeping the mood of the originals.

CD: $ 17.95 + $2.50 S&H Cassette: $11.95 + $2.50 S&H

Don’t miss this one. If you’re not thrilled, we’ll be totally surprised.

Includes: SING, SING, SING LET’S DANCE I CAN’T GET STARTED ST. LOUIS BLUES BASIN STREET BLUES YOU MADE ME LOVE YOU STARS FELL ON ALABAMA I’LL NEVER SMILE AGAIN GEORGIA FOR ALL WE KNOW CHEROKEE AFTER YOU’VE GONE AC-CENT-TCHU-ATE THE MARIE POSITIVE ATCHISON, TOPEKA & GREEN EYES SANTA FE AMAPOLA G.l. JIVE TANGERINE PENNSYLVANIA 6-5000 AMERICAN PATROL OLD SHANTY TOWN SENTIMENTAL JOURNEY BUGLE CALL RAG LEAP FROG STOMPIN’ AT THE SAVOY KALAMAZOO MAKE BELIEVE BALLROOM NO MORE DANCIN’

Well over an hour of excellent listening, joining nostalgia and a fresh, new approach. If you haven’t heard the SPITFIRE BAND, you’re missing a thrill.

CD: $ 17.95 + $2.50 S&H Total $20.45 Cassette: $ 11.95 + $2.50 S&H Total $14.45

MORE PRODUCT DESCRIPTIONS ANDAN ORDER FORM ON FOLLOWING PAGES AVAILABLE BIG BAND PRODUCTS PAGE 3 ORDER FORM ENCLOSED

(W) GEORGE SIMON’S BOOK - THE BIG BANDS

The finest book ever written to capture the atmosphere, the anecdotes and the stories behind the Big Band Era. Former METRONOME MAGAZINE editor George Simon writes with feeling and warmth about all the major Big Bands and many of the regional and lesser-known leaders with hundreds of behind-the-scenes photographs.

There's a chapter on the Big Band Vocalists, the influence of radio and movies on the development of the Era, plus individual in-depth background of each of of the key names in the history of the Big Bands.

If any Big Band buff was limited to one book to chronicle the Big Band Era, including the personalities, the music, the business and the history....this would be the one.

Acclaimed by those who have it as an invaluable addition to their Big Band libraries.

THE BIG BANDS - George Simon 600 pages-300 photographs-Profiles of hundreds of Big Bands and their leaders. Soft cover.

$ 23.00 plus $3.50 S&H $26.50

(AA) THEMES OF THE BIG BANDS 3 Cassettes or 2 CD's

Forty-two of the familiar themes of the Big Bands in a collection of either three Favorite ThemfeaT''- from America's Swing E rr cassettes or tw o CD's, each played by the bands which made them famous, taken from original recordings to bring you historically authentic sound. The same melodies you recall introducing dance band remotes or Big Band programs during the era.

Includes twenty-one themes of the sweet bands and twenty-one themes of the swing bands, bringing back the sounds so familiar to you....the most recognizable music of all the tunes played.

Includes:

BIG BAND THEME BIG BAND THEME Benny Goodman Let's Dance Henry Busse Hot Lips Glenn Miller Moonlight Serenade Glen Gray Smoke Rings Woody Herman Woodchopper's Ball Lawrence Welk Bubbles In The Wine Harry James Ray Noble The Very Thought Of You Bunny Berigan I Can't Get Started Phil Harris Rose Room Count Basie One O'Clock Jump When My Baby Smiles A t Me Andy Kirk Until The Real Thing Comes Along Wayne King The Waltz You Saved For Me Bob Crosby Summertime Hal Kemp How 1 Miss You Jimmie Lunceford Jazznocracy Eddy Duchin Twilight Dream Tommy Dorsey Gettin' Sentimental Over You Clyde McCoy Sugar Blues Jimmy Dorsey Contrasts Art Kassel Hell's Bells Charlie Barnet Cherokee Does Your Heart Beat For Me Claude Thornhill Snowfall Orrin Tucker Drifting And Dreaming Jan Savitt Quaker City Jazz Shep Fields Rippling Rhythm Stan Kenton Artistry In Rhythm Henry King A Blues Serenade Duke Ellington Take The A Train Skinnay Ennis Got A Date With An Angel Artie Shaw Nightmare Auld Lang Syne Lionel Hampton Flying Home My Shawl Apurksody Kay Kyser Thinking Of You Les Brown Leap Frog Vincent Lopez Nola

One of the most popular collections we've ever offered! Our supplier tells us there's a limited number still available.

THREE CASSETTES: $ 16.95 plus $2.50 S&H $ 19.45 TWO CD'S: $ 21.95 plus $2.50 S&H $ 24.45 AVAILABLE BIG BAND PRODUCTS PAGE 4 ORDER FORM ENCLOSED

(E) BIG BANDS OF THE WAR YEARS

Cassette Only Total Cuts: 21

Twenty-one selections by eight great bands, with narration by BIG BAND JUMP host Don Kennedy recalling the events, the voices, the mood and the feeling of WWII, a unique time in history. If you're looking for just music or all familiar melodies, this cassette is not for you. It’s in answerto the hundreds of listeners who have asked for copies of BBJ programs. Since that’s not possible because of copyright restrictions, the BBJ producers have prepared this special program containing the most important narration and both familiar and unfamiliar music of the era.

Selections include: Day By Day / I've Got My Love To Keep Me Warm / Frim Fram Sauce - Les Brown — Snowfall - Claude Thornhill — Stardreams / He Wears A Pair Of Silver Wings / At Last - Charlie Spivak — All Or Nothing At All / Two O’clock Jump - Harry James — Something Sentimental - Vaughn Monroe — Redskin Rhumba / Phylisse - Charlie Barnet - 1 Got Nothin’ But The Blues - Duke Ellington.... 21 selections total, 70 minutes of music and narration.

$ 9. 95 for Cassette + 2.50 S & H Features: Doris Day with Tony Pastor’s Orchestra Dick Haymes with Harry James Lena Horne with Charlie Barnet June Hutton with Charlie Spivak Vaughn Monroe and the Moon Maids The voices of Franklin Roosevelt, General Eisenhower and others.

(DD) BIG BAND PERSONALITY INTERVIEW COLLECTION PERSONALITY Book $ 9.95 + $2.00 S & H. INTERVIEWS We've collected the Big Band personality interviews from early BBJ NEWSLETTERS BIG into a single bound publication with a dozen revealing, personal, up-close interviews with photographs of those personalities. Includes in-depth interviews with COUNT BASIE, BAND ARTIE SHAW, FRANKIE CARLE, HELEN O’CONNELL, MEL TORME, RAY ANTHONY, ERSKINE HAWKINS, CHARLIE BARNET, STAN KENTON, YANK JUMP LAWSON, BOBBY HAGGART and RAY McKINLEY.

The best way to learn about the Big Band Era is from the people who lived it. The dozen Big Band personalities give valuable insights into the era, reaching beyond the surface and lending richness and meaning to each anecdote and experience.

$11.95 Total

MORE PRODUCT DESCRIPTIONS ANDAN ORDER FORM ON FOLLOWING PAGES AVAILABLE BIG BAND PRODUCTS PAGE 5 ORDER FORM ENCLOSED

(G) TOMMY DORSEY ORCHESTRA - 1942 W ar Bond Radio Program s

TOMMY D0KÍY M B MIS 0»CHEST»A I 1942 AAV AÚNO BROADCAST Available on CD Total cuts: 16 Total selections: 20 VnCA* 3y: TRANK StNA IRA / CHCK HAYMES / JO STAfTORO / PIED PIPERS

A suspension in time recording, with Dick Haymes (who never recorded commercially with Tommy Dorsey) singing some of the songs identified with , and an earlier broadcast with Sinatra.

JUST AS THOUGH YOU WERE HERE, WHO, SOMEBODY LOVES ME, SWING HIGH, I'VE FOUND A NEW BABY, IT STARTED ALL OVER AGAIN, EXACTLY LIKE YOU and others. All except BLUES IN THE NIGHT excellent quality.

Recorded in and . Features:

Ziggy Elman Dick Haymes Frank Sinatra Jo Stafford Pied Pipers $13.95 for CD + $2.50 S&H

One of the favorites with good reason. Thrilling, transporting sound and emotion.

(P) FRANKIE CARLE & HIS ORCHESTRA - Radio remotes

NOW available in both Cassette & CD Total cuts: 19

This is the Frankie Carle band we all recall, with Marjorie Hughes singing OH, WHAT IT SEEMED TO BE and , with other cuts including GLOW WORM, TO EACH HIS OWN, FIVE MINUTES MORE, DEEP PURPLE, BLUE SKIES, BEGIN THE BEGUINE, ZIGEUNER, SURPRISE PARTY, MY BLUE HEAVEN, CARLE BOOGIE and PENGUIN AT THE WALDORF. Complete with nostalgic announcements in broadcasts from San Francisco and the Meadowbrook.

When he heard this recording, Frankie Carle said it was the best he ever heard of his band.

$13.95 for CD $9.95 for Cassette + $2.50 S&H

Please take the time to fill out and mail the Top Ten Big Bands Ballot In Blue on the next page.

ORDER FORM ON NEXT PAGE ORDER FORM - SEPTEMBER-OCTOBER, 1993 Please send the following: (Check selections, please.) (GG) THE BEST OF BO THORPE ( ) (W) GEORGE SIMON'S BIG BANDS ( ) (CD $ 27.95 Total - Cassette $ 22.95 Total) (Book - $ 26.50 Total) (Specify CD [ ] or Cassette [ ]) (E) BIG BANDS OF THE WAR YEARS ( ) (FF) THE SPITFIRE BAND ( ) (Cassette only - $ 12.45 Total) (CD $ 20.45 Total - Cassette $ 14.45 Total) (Specify CD [ ] or Cassette [ ]) (DD) PERSONALITY INTERVIEWS ( ) (Book - $ 11.95 Total) (AA) THEMES OF THE BIG BANDS ( (CD $ 24.45 Total - Cassette $ 19.45 Total) (P) FRANKIE CARLE REMOTES ( ) (Specify CD [ ] or Cassette [ ]) (CD $ 16.45 Total - Cassette $ 12.45 Total) (Specify CD [ ] or Cassette [ ]) (G) TOMMY DORSEY BOND SHOWS ( ) (CD only - $ 16.45 Total) Georgia residents please add 6% sales tax to purchase price. Items and prices noted on these sheets good through Nov. 30, 1993. Allow 4 to 6 weeks for delivery. Make checks payable to NEWSLETTER. Return order form and check to: BBJ NEWSLETTER, Box 12,000, Atlanta, GA 30355 I'm enclosing a check for $ ______to cover the cost of items checked above, which includes shipping and handling. Please send to: (NAME)______

(ADDRESS)

(CITY)_____ (STATE) (ZIP).

BALLOT IN BLUE

This is the ballot for your vote for your ALL-TIME FAVORITE BIG BAND. To be accurate and reflect your personal taste, please make your selection devoid of other’s thoughts or opinions. Big Bands from any country and any era are acceptable, of course, for the international influence and timelessness of the music are the factors helping to keep the Big Bands alive both here and elsewhere.

YOUR PERSONAL ALL-TIME FAVORITE BIG BAND IS:

YOUR NAM E:

ADDRESS:

CITY, STATE ZIP

Many, many thanks for your vote. Please send it to: VOTE BBJ NEWSLETTER Box 12,000 Atlanta, GA 30355 BIG BAND JUMP NEWSLETTER SUBSCRIPTION FORM

If you'd like to receive the BIG BAND JUMP NEWSLETTER for a year, six issues, one every other month, please fill out this form and send check or money order for $19.95 to:

NEWSLETTER 28 Box 52252 Atlanta, GA 30355

( ) Yes, please send me the BIG BAND JUMP NEWSLETTER for a year. I'll receive six copies, one every other month.

( ) Yes, please renew my subscription. (Please enclose this sheet with your address label on the other side.)

NAME:______

ADDRESS:______

CITY:------STATE:______ZIP-CODE:______

(The BIG BAND JUMP NEWSLETTER makes an excellent gift for anyone interested in the Big Band Era, the development of Big Band music or those who collect recordings and books about the Big Bands.)

COMING UP IN FUTURE ISSUES OF THE BIG BAND JUMP NEWSLETTER

In-person interviews with outstanding Big Band music personalities.

Reviews of books and records to consider for serious collectors of Big Band music and information.

Anecdotes and background stories about the key personalities of the Big Band scene.

News about the men and women keeping the Big Band sound alive in the United States and throughout the world.