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Home , Beryl Davis, Claude Thornhill, Connie Haines, Johnny Richards

IN THIS ISSUE:

k An interview with FRAN WARREN

k Reviews of BIG BOOKS AND RECORDS to consider BAND

☆ A '50S JUMP TRIVIA QUIZ NEWSLETTER ★ LETTERS TO THE EDITOR about BLUE SKIES PARODY, JA-DA, JOHNNY MERCER, THE EBERLY/EBERLE BROTHERS & OTHERS

BIG BAND JUMP NEWSLETTER FIRST-CLASS MAIL Box 52252 U.S. POSTAGE PAID Atlanta, GA 30355 Atlanta, GA Permit No. 2022 BIG BAND JIMP N EWS LETTER

VOLUME LXVII1 BIG BAND JUMP NEWSLETTER MAY-JUNE 2000

FRAN WARREN INTERVIEW

The Background

We were given Fran Warren’s number by the Society Of Singers, a group dedicated to the well-being of vocalists who are, for whatever reason, down on their luck. It turns out she has been active in the Society for some years, keeping it moving in the east, while its main offices are in Los Angeles.

Most of us became familiar with the name Fran Warren when Claude Thornhill’s recording of SUNDAY KIND OF LOVE (1947) came out, but she was on the road with and with Art Mooney’s original orchestra before that, and had been singing profession- ally with local bands since her early teenage years.

She was born Frances Wolfe in the Bronx on March 4, 1928, but was given the name Warren by her friend Billy Eckstine early in her career, the name having been taken from a brand of wine popular in Harlem at Fran sings the time. “Why don’t you sing with the group?” because I was We’re always curious about the reasons anyone fol­ always singing. When 1 was a kid there were the lows a musical career, or any career for that matter. blackouts from the war, and as soon as we heard the What is it that interests a person in going down a certain sirens 1 would run into a hallway and I’d sing. I’d path? In Fran Warren’s case, it was love of singing, but imitate , .... I used to do that. also a need to earn a living. Our first question had to Anyway, when one of the kids asked me to come and do with her background. hang out with them, that’s how it started. I started singing with this little group which wound up a Big BBJ: Was there music in your family? Band in our neighborhood and around our area. I got paid, which was astonishing for me at that time. FW: There was always singing around me. My sister sang, my mother hummed, I had an BBJ: Did you sing in clubs, beer joints? uncle and cousins that sang. FW: We used to hang out in a bowling alley.... we BBJ: How did you get into professional singing? used to meet there.... and then there was a ballroom in that area and that’s where this group of FW: In our neighborhood which consisted of three musicians used to play every Saturday night. blocks, there were a couple of young musi­ cians who had a little group. This friend of mine said, BB: Were you heard by somebody? VOLUME LXVIII BIG BAND JUMP NEWSLETTER MAY-JUNE 2000

FW: With me, it was a guy who’s gone now. His BBJ: Were you on the road with Art Mooney? name was Solly Kucik. He was my neighbor’s son and Solly and I were the same age and we used to FW: I didn’t get on the road until I joined Charlie hang out all the time. He wanted to be a trumpet Barnet. player, but he said didn’t have the “chops” for it, but he loved being around musicians. He was the one who BBJ: Charlie Barnet said you were his favorite vo­ said, “Franny, you sing so good, let’s get started; sing calist. with the band.” That’s where it started. FW : With me he was so marvelous. I was not quite He came to me six or seven months after I was with the eighteen, and he knew 1 was too young to be group to tell me that Johnny Richards, who was I traveling, so I told him my grandfather was home and believe at that time with Columbia Pictures.... he used he’ll OK it, which was exactly what happened. I came to do all the .... he was coining to the east home and told them I was going on the road with Charlie coast and he was looking for a girl singer. I was about, Barnet, and they never heard of Charlie Barnet, and they not even sixteen yet, and i went up to the studio and I didn’t know the singing was that important to me.... but sang for him and he said OK and I wound up singing for my grandpa, he knew. He said, “Keep an eye on her, Johnny Richards for about three weeks, then he had to take care of her,” and off I went. go back to California and by that time I already had the “bug.” I had to sing with a Big Band. What knocked me out was he (Charlie Barnet) said, “You will start with the band at the Apollo Theater; the BBJ: How did you handle school all this time? Apollo Theater is not that far from where I used to live in the Bronx. As kids we were always uptown because FW: I left high school. You must understand my the Big Bands, Ella Fitzgerald, Billie Holiday, were all background a little. We had had my brothers there. That’s what happened; I wound up singing with in the war, my sister in the war and my dad was an Charlie’s band and we went out on the road, and I was invalid. Bringing in some money was more important with him about a year and a half. I learned how to sing, to me at that time than going to school. 1 was not quite really learned how to sing, because that was a very sixteen.... no seventeen... when I said, “That’s it!” I put musical band, ft was a loud, swingin’ Big Band. my books down one day and just left, and they didn’t Marvelous. even miss me. (Laughs) BBJ: Most of us became acutely aware of you with BBJ: After Johnny Richards where did you go? SUNDAY KIND OF LOVE.

FW: I wound up auditioning for Art Mooney who FW: Claude Thornhill. After being on the road was forming a Big Band, and again my friend almost a whole year, I was disenchanted with Solly said, “Go to him.” The auditions were being held the traveling because I was tired all the time. I had the at the Nola Studios in New York. I asked Solly what energy of twenty people, but it was a very tiring expe­ kind of band it was, and he said it was something like rience and I did want to come home. I had a contract the band, and that’s what it was.... a with Charlie, and he said, “No, you’re not going any­ Glenn Miller style band. The advantage of singing for where, you’re staying with me.” But I came back to Art Mooney for me at the time was 1 was going to be on New York and I told him, “I gotta’ go. I’m not gonna’ the radio. In other words, we had these radio hookups. sing with Big Bands anymore, I’m not gonna’ go on the The Edison Hotel was the place Art Mooney had the road anymore.” Big Band; everybody danced, you know, and we had a radio hookup. I got to be known within the industry And then a man called Lou Levy who was the head of because of this. A lot of DJs came by; songpluggers, Leeds Music... he was very instrumental in my life. and that’s how I got to be known within the industry When I was a kid I went to his office and I used to make more than anywhere else. demos as they called them, for songwriters. I’d get five

2 VOLUME LXVIII BIG BAND JUMP NEWSLETTER MAY-JUNE 2000 dollars, which was a lot DAY KIND OF LOVE? ofmoneytome. He called me one day and said, “I FW: FOR HEAVEN’S SAKE, of course.... great want to take you some­ record. (Musing) What was the other one? I where. We’re going to REMEMBER MOMMA; an old song. Peggy Lee did the Pennsylvania Hotel it. That was a lovely recording, but FOR HEAVEN’S and hear Claude SAKE was probably my favorite, outside of SUNDAY. Thornhill.” I’d never heard of Claude, but he BBJ: After the Big Band Era? said, “Franny, I think that'd be a great band for FW: When 1 left Claude, it was because he was you.” 1 told him I didn’t going to break the band up. He had some want to sing with any problems from the Second World War, and he’d for­ more Big Bands. get.... he’d just forget everybody. I remember one night we were at a theater in Detroit and he introduced me as We got to the hotel, and the music was so gorgeous. Lillian.... Lillian was it?.... some other singer that was Everything about it was so right, and I auditioned for on the band before the war. That’s what happened. His Claude, and that was it. I started working with him and memory would go and come and he decided to take a 1 was waiting on the bus in front of a recording studio long vacation because it was too much pressure for him. here in New York, because we were going on the road, Because he had a hit band. The band was THE band at and the band boy came and said, “Claude wants you.” that point. They were in the studio recording, and I went in and Claude said, “We got about five or ten minutes, you I told him I’d wait, and he told me, “No, you’re going to want to record some stuff?” I was so excited about it, go do a single.” That didn’t thrill me. Actually that’s and 1 gotta’ be honest. All 1 could think about was, what happened. 1 came back to New York and got a deal “Wow! I’m gonna’ get fifty dollars for this.” through Barbara (Belle) who became my manager, with RCA Victor. 1 got a call from , and I Previously, SUNDAY KIND OF LOVE was given to really wanted to go, but with RCA we recorded with me by a lady named Barbara Belle, who was one of the Tony Martin; we had a couple of big hit records. I got writers, and I loved the song and I submitted it to very interested in athingcalled the theater. I never went Claude, and he said OK and he had an to the theater.... I never saw a show, but Ezio Pinza was written. He asked me in the studio what I wanted to do doing SOUTH PACIFIC with Mary Martin. This is and 1 said, “Let’s do SUNDAY KIND OF LOVE.” It wild. I recorded two sides with him. At that point I got didn’t take long; it was well broken in already. We did very interested in the theater, and I wound up doing a lot two takes and then back to the bus we went. About of summer theater and went on Broadway at the Winter three or four months later I got a call from the writers Garden with a show called AS THE GIRLS GO. After that we had a smash hit, and I said, “That’s good.” that I went on to PAJAMA GAME, and I toured with You’ve gotta’ realize 1 didn’t understand at that time that show for two years and came back to New York and what it would mean for me, because we thought of each wound up in the Broadway production for another year, other as a group when it came to the band. It was not and that’s how my theater life started, which I love. just Fran Warren, it was Claude Thornhill’s band. 1 didn’t realize the power of a hit record until I came back BBJ: What are you doing now? to New York. We recorded FOR HEAVEN’S SAKE, which we thought was a better record, but at that time FW: I do some dates. I do some concerts every now it was SUNDAY KIND OF LOVE, and I’m grateful to and then. I guess you can say I’m semi-retired. it to this day. Yeah. I do a lot of concerts down in Florida. Some concerts. 1 did MAME about two years ago; 1 took it out BBJ: The one or two you like better than SUN­ for supposedly three months and it was almost a year.

3 VOLUME LXVIII BIG BAND JUMP NEWSLETTER MAY-JUNE 2000

And that’s what I’m doing now. It’s a different music Nowl don’t know whatthey’re talkin’ about, it’s so un­ world, anyway, so in a way I can sit back and look at it musical to my ears. In time things will turn around. It and listen to it and think about it. does in every generation.

BBJ: Your personal life? When the Thornhill band broke up, Claude Thornhill gave Fran Warren an envelope containing $5,000.00 FW: Oh, I’m married. Have been for many years. I to help her with arrangements and gowns to start her have two daughters. One is married and one is career as a single, saying she never got what she talking about getting married and they’re both dynamite. deservedfor recording SUN DA Y KIND OF LOVE.

BBJ: Tell us about your involvement with the Soci­ There is a 1957 recordingofFran Warren singing with ety of Singers. the accompaniment o f the studio orches­ tra that has been re-mastered to CD. It was unusual in FW: 1 got a call one day from Tony Martin and he that it was recorded during her involvement in the said Ginny Mancini and he were coming into musical PAJAMA GAME, and so had to be done in two New York. There’s an organization she started called late night sessions after the show. I t ’s on the SIMITAR the Society of Singers and he wanted me to get involved label, number 56312, and should be available at larger with it. After the meeting, I knew I was going to get record stores. The BIG BAND JUMP radio program involved. scheduledfor the weekend of May 6- 7 will use excerpts o f the audio part o f this printed interview as the basis The Society touches so many singers. There’s so much for part o f the first hour o f the program. (Please see help for them. It’s for singers who get problems, health listing on page 11.) problems especially. I’m on the welfare committee and can’t divulge names, but there were some very big LETTERS TO THE EDITOR singers that were in desperate trouble, and they helped financially to get them started again. Helen Forrest, All letters to the program or the newsletter are an­ whom I adored as a young girl.... she was one of my swered eventually, although only letters deemed o f favorite singers in the world, and I got to know her. most general interest are used in this newsletter; Helen got very ill, and she said, “Yes, tell everybody please be patient, for the volume is greater than our about the Society of Singers, and use my name.” She ability to handle in a timely fashion. Questions and died late last year. It was because of the Society that comments about either the BBJ NEWSLETTER or the helped her financially that she was able to get into the BIG BAND JUMP radio program may be sent to: hospital and every place she needed the help. BBJ NEWSLETTER You don’t have to be a singer to become a member of the Box 52252 Society of Singers. If you’ve ever loved a singer, you Atlanta, GA 30355 can join. Just call 1-888-570-1318, or the east coast The letters that follow have been edited for space chapterat 1-212-717-1687. Tell them Fran Warren said considerations, but the meaning has been preserved. to get in touch and request an application. It costs $50.00 to join, and you’ll get all the information. Charles Colbert I am pleased to send you a Boynton Beach, FL copy of the parody words to BBJ: What about the future of music? BLUE SKIES. The parody lyrics seem to have been written by Johnny Long FW: What I don’t like will disappear anyway, and although some people think his wife was also involved. what is good will remain. I’m a music lover, and when it comes to lyrics I have to understand them, Charles Colbert is leader o f the Johnny Long Com­ and sometimes I really don’t understand some of the memorative Band, and kindly sent us a copy o f the lyrics. Rock N’ Roll... the beginning of it wasn’t bad. actual sheet used by the band. His letter was prompted 4 VOLUME LXVIII BIG BAND JUMP NEWSLETTER MAY-JUNE 2000 byaBBJ NEWSLETTER reader who told him about the May 13-14, 2000. (See UPCOMING BBJ PRO­ question from DickSteinbach o f Novato, California in GRAM TITLES.) The program is a repeat, and the previous issue, asking about the parody lyrics. it’s become one of the favorite BBJs over the Here they are: years. It features comments by Margaret Whit­ ing, Johnny’s wife Ginger Mercer and Johnny It rained five days on a night like this and my chick himself. It’s the long-running curse that every­ jumped salty and she wouldn't take a malted. Oh! Blue one cannot hear every program, leading to neces­ Skies. Do I...? Do I...? Do I...? Do I? need a little sary repeats. lovin ’? I got aflat, gotta 'park, gotta ’ little bit o ’dark. Goin ’ to stash my frame to a hu-la hu-la mama, oh!

Blue Skies. What else is there to do? but love. Never saw the sun shinin ’ so bright. ‘Tain 7 right, ‘tain 7 right to put everybody out. Notice n ’ the time hurry ’n by. She looked straight at me and said, “Oh how you tie. ” Oh....oo....ohdaddy. Oh....oo....ohdaddy. Take it slow, take it slow. You don 7 ever have to go, because it’s Blue Skies for me from now on!

Mr. Colbert tells us that the original is Decca Record number 23622 and the re-released version is number Bob & Ray Eberly/Eberle (Not the comedy team.) 73342. MCA now owns all the Decca masters. Charles Burris 1 am a new subscriber and Carol Loven On one of your BIG BAND Myrtle Beach, SC listen to Don Kennedy every San Antonio, TX JUMP programs you men­ Saturday here in Myrtle Beach. tioned JA-DA and said it I would like to know what happened to the Eberly dated from the 1920s. My brothers, Ray and Bob, after the Big Band Era. Where sheet music says it ’ s copy- were they from and how they got to sing with the great righted MCMXV1II. Glenn Miller and Jimmy Dorsey. I think they were two Maybe the 1920s refer­ of the greatest Big Band singers. TUE SALE O r TU1S SONG W ill BF PC#TUP J PCHJJIT O f TUI NAVY f t i l l t r SGCiETY ence was when it was re­ TUE SGOLI V itUT GUAWDS l.ilfc HOME OJU, T ill HEN WHO G U A R Ì) T ilt SGAS W corded by the artist.... did Bob and Ray Eberle (the family spelling o f the name) rowii88w you say Count Basie? were born in Mechanicsville, New York, but the family moved to Hoosik Falls, New York to run a hotel there, Portion of World War I JA-DA sheet music Thanks for the correction. owned by the parents. We ’re told that Bob, the one who It was actually a Count sang with Jimmy Dorsey, changed the spelling o f his Basie early '70s recording capturing an appearance last name for fear the public would pronounce it as he and his orchestra made in Japan. No excuse for the “EE-B URL ” as in Milton Berle. Ray kept the original wrong date. It was simply an ad-lib error. spelling o f the name when he went with Glenn Miller, after Miller asked Bob Eberly if he had a brother who Roger Olson Have you ever done a tribute could sing as well as he could. Ray died in Atlanta in Minneapolis, MN to Johnny Mercer? The guy August o f 1971; Bob, who was living on Long Island, was a superb lyric writer and died at the Sloan-Kettering Cancer Institute late in his tunes would be a good fit for one of your BBJ 1981. shows. In any case, BBJ is a lot of good listening. Thank you. Mrs. A.L. Baker, Jr. Many, many thanks for the Sugar Grove, PA very delightful program of the There is a Mercer tribute scheduled for the weekend of James’ 1950s recordings aired 5 VOLUME LXVIII BIG BAND JUMP NEWSLETTER MAY-JUNE 2000

on WRRN-FM in Warren, Pennsylvania. A program licensed by them used on the air unless radio stations featuring his ’30s hits would be fantastic. paid royalties for their use. This resulted in a flurry o f songs in the Public Domain, and the eventual establish­ Janice Wherley I recall the songNEAR YOU ment o f Broadcast Music, Inc. or BM1, as a competing Hanover, PA was popular in the ’40s. I licensing entity. Eventually the radio industry came to especially remember it from terms, for the ASCAP library was full o f familiar and the summer of 1945 (I had just finished 9th grade). Do well-loved titles, extending back to Victor Herbert, who you know who recorded it.... band and vocalist? was one of the founders o f ASCAP. Every radio station in the nation, unless they play absolutely no music, must NEAR YOU was thefirst hit record by Francis Craig’s pay a percentage o f their income to both ASCAP and orchestra, a regional band from Nashville, Tennessee, BM1for use of their licensed music over the air. Logs released on the then new Bullet label in 1946. The are kept periodically to determine the distribution of vocalistwas Bob Lamm, a blind singer. Craig’sfamily this money to composers and publishers. at the time controlled WSM radio in Nashville, where the orchestra performedfor many years. NEAR YOU Don Ernest As you know, KIXI here in Seattle no was on the Flit Parade for 17 weeks in 1947, the year Seattle, WA longer carries the BBJ radio program, it achieved popularity. A follow-up recording with a so it’s been about two years or similar arrangement was BEG YOURPARDON, which longer since 1 last heard one of your broadcasts. I’ve gained some popularity in 1948. tried a couple of times to tune in stations in Eastern Washington, but they don’t come through very well. Interesting to note that RED ROSE, the Francis Craig theme, was on the other side o f NEAR YOU, and was We very much appreciate your letter. We 're regularly expected to be the big hit, but announcers across the in touch with the people at KIXI, which has changed nation liked the other side and played it to hit status. program directors a couple o f times. They tell us they 're trying a local Big Band program from 11 AM to 1 PM Bob Walter Do you know what label I might find on Sundays. Bowie, MD HOW HIGH THE MOON by one of the Jazz At The Ph i lharmonic groups? MINI-BIO - JACK TEAGARDEN

Many of the Jazz At The Philharmonic sessions are on the PABLO label. Ifyouaska clerk at any large record store to access that label on the computer, you should come up with HOW HIGH THE MOON by one o f the JA TP groups.

Charles Jacobs Glenn M iller’s theme Fruitland Park, FL MOONLIGHT SERENADE had to be replaced by SLUM­ BER SONG on his radio broadcasts due to the “flap” with the American Society of Composers and Publish­ ers. Who wrote SLUMBER SONG? Highly regarded by musicians but never a major factor with the general public, Jack Teagarden was a man who SLUMBER SONG was written by Turner Layton, always said he was there to entertain the audience, and whose most famous songs were AFTER YOU’VE in his quiet way he did j ust that, giving them the richness GONE (1918), and WA Y DOWN YONDER IN NEW of his trombone and his deceptively easy-sounding ORLEANS (1922). The Miller version was arranged bluesy singing style. He led a Big Band from 1939 until by Bill Finegan, who was interviewed in the previous 1946. It was musically successful, but never financially issue of this newsletter. ASCAP didn 7 want music successful, having lost thousands of dollars over the seven

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(Tape or Staple Here) VOLUME LXVIII BIG BAND JUMP NEWSLETTER MAY-JUNE 2000 years of its existence. There was, however, a loyal if Author Richard Grudens, a frequent contributor to this not massive following for the music of Jack Teagarden newsletter, has written several books about Big Bands before, during and after his band-leading experience. and singers, the latest being this neatly written 130 page book about singer , with a foreword by Jack Teagarden came by his musical abilities honestly, Connie’s good friend , and an afterword for his mother was a piano teacher and his father led the from another friend, . Much of the town band. Jack learned to read music and play the book concentrates on Connie Haines’ strong religious piano by age five, and by age seven he was playing the convictions, a strong belief that resulted in the develop­ trombone; by the time he was sixteen he was playing ment of a Christian Singing group which included professionally for groups throughout the Southwest. It Fleming, Russell and . was with Doc Ross and his band that he toured to New York in 1927, where his trombone talents resulted in The book is a series of anecdotes about different parts ample studio work, both on records and on the air. In of Connie Haines’ life, allowing it to be read not as a 1928 he worked with Ben Pollack’s band, taking over formal biography, but in brief doses of short stories the trombone chair from Glenn Miller. which include different phases of her career. There is the story of her beginnings in Georgia as Yvonne Ja After Pollack’s band and a brief stint with Mai Hallett, Mais, the daughter of a respected veterinarian and a Jack Teagarden spent the five years from 1933 through mother who liked to sing. The men in Connie’s life 1938 as a featured player with , where he represent another phase, her Big Band career with was part of the “Three T’s” including sax man Frankie and , her work with Abbott Trumbauer and Jack’s trumpet-playing brother Charlie. and Costello on their radio show, her tour with her It was after the stint with Whiteman that Jack Teagarden friends in a review called “Les Girls” and her victory decided to front his own organization, including overthe over cancer all represent different parts of the book. years such talents as Charlie Spivak, Lee Castle, Allen Reuss, , David Allen and Kitty Kallen. It The fun here, aside from the reader’s ability to go wasn’t the lack of musical quality or the timing that kept through the book in shorter reads, is the color and the Teagarden Big Band from succeeding; it was simply background inserted in the story of each phase through bad management, resulting in bankruptcy in 1946. liberal direct quotes from Connie Haines herself, and the generous number of delightful photographs, many From 1947 to 1951 Jack Teagarden played with Louis from Connie’s private collection. Armstrong’s All-Stars, and then went out on his own again, but this time with a successful small group 130 pages - $17.95 postpaid. Available directly from: including former Bob Crosby drummer Ray Bauduc, CELEBRITY PROFILES PUBLISHING -Box 344 his sister Norma’s piano work and brother Charlie Main Street -Stony Brook, NY 11790. playing trumpet. The personnel changed over the years, but “Big T” worked steadily until January of 1964, KAY KYSER - when he became ill while he was on the bandstand at a KOLLEGE OF Bourbon StreetclubinNewOrleans. He was found on the MUSICAL floor of his motel room the next day, dead at age 58. KNOWLEDGE, 1941 Louis Armstrong described Jack Teagarden as “The SOUNDCRAFT world’s greatest jazz musician.” Tommy Dorsey said, “Jackson Teagarden plays great.” Audiences found him SC-5007 to be modest, quiet and eager to please. He was, indeed, In the late ’30s and one of the finest musicians of the twentieth century. early ’40s, Kay Kyser’s Kollege of BOOKS & RECORDS TO CONSIDER Musical Knowl­ edge Wednesday SNOOTIE LITTLE CUTIE night radio program THE CONNIE HAINES STORY on NBC was the Georgia and Kay By: Richard Grudens most listened-to

7 VOLUME LXVIII BIG BAND JUMP NEWSLETTER MAY-JUNE 2000 musical program in the nation. At a time when the Tony Pastor’s orchestra. There’s a example of that Big population of the United States was 130 million, 40 of Band work in this two CD musical biography, begin­ those millions were listening each week to Kay Kyser. ning with Rosemary’s first recorded performance, This CD includes a broadcast of December 11,1941 and SOONER OR LATER (with Pastor) and her first a special 1942 broadcast transcribed for GI’s overseas, recording as a solo performer, BARGAIN DAY. After including songs by Harry Babbitt, Dorothy Dunn, Julie that come the ones we all recall, a few novelties with Conway, Sul ly Mason, T rudy Erwin and Georgia Carroll. minimal musical appeal, but most reflecting the unmis­ takable sound of the Clooney voice. The two broadcasts, rich in the style of the golden age of radio, include: THE WHITE CLIFFS OF DOVER, The two CDs include a total of 29 selections from all ELMER’S TUNE, WHY DON’T YOU DO RIGHT?, eras of the Rosemary Clooney career, such as: TEN­ CAN’T GET OUT OF THIS MOOD, WHO DERLY, HEY THERE, SISTERS, ON A SLOW WOULDN’T LOVE YOU, PUSH1N’ SAND, POIN- BOAT TO CHINA, AS TIME GOES BY, LOVE IS CIANA, OH WHAT A BEAUTIFUL MORNING, and HERE TO STAY, ROUTE 66, COME RAIN OR comedy bits by Ish Kabibble and Frank Morgan. There COME SHINE, WHITE CHRISTMAS and THE are a total of sixteen musical selections in addition to COFFEE SONG, among others. The performances are the comedy, broadcast opening and closing and a news both rare and classic, and include participation on break. It’s not only music by Kay Kyser difficult to find various cuts by the Orchestra, the Nelson these days, but a slice of time frozen for close inspection. Riddle Orchestra, and . Cuts on both CDs total j ust over 100 minutes of vintage C looney. $15.95 plus $2.50 S&H. Available from: BBJ SALES - Box 12,000 - Atlanta, GA 30355 or at 1-800-377-0022. Just as valuable as the music are the pictures in the wel 1-written booklet and the unique, fold-over CD box, ROSEMARY CLOONEY each illustrating a different phase of the Clooney A Musical Biography career. It’s a well planned album from a musical, CONCORD CCD2-4870-2 technical and design standpoint. It’s not primarily Big Band, but the accompaniment to the songs is reminis­ cent of the Era.

Available at record stores.

NOW YOU KNOW THE STORY OF By: Ross Barbour

There aren’t many vocal groups that have lasted as long as the Four Freshmen. This book chronicles some of the reasons behind their longevity, told in detail by one of the founding members, Ross Barbour, writing a deliciously anecdotal story. They were, at the start, mostly a barbershop quartet at a small Indianapolis music school, but their fascination for modern har­ mony gradually changed the style to a singing sound emulated by groups the world over.

The young Clooney The reader is treated to the inside stories of their growing pains singing in small town bars and night­ Rosemary Clooney’s singing career began on the outer clubs, then moving on to concerts, radio, movies and edge of the Big Band Era, singing with sister Betty in television, plus the now famous college concerts. Par­ 8 VOLUME LXVIII BIG BAND JUMP NEWSLETTER MAY-JUNE 2000 t icu lar attention is paid to an insider’s look at the “Road Show” tour with June Christy and . Barbour treats us to the Freshmen’s encounters with dozens of show business stars in their recording sessions, their U.S. tours and their overseas appearances in Japan and behind the Iron Curtain. There are 32 pages of photo­ graphs and a complete listing of Freshmen recordings and personnel over the years.

3 12 pages-$24.95 plus $4.50 S&H. Available directly from the publisher: BALBOA BOOKS - PO Box 493 - Lake Geneva WI 53147.

'50s BIG BAND TRIVIA QUIZ

In past trivia quizzes, we’ve tended to focus on one subject or a single aspect of the Big Bands, generally in the Big Band Era of the ’30s and early ’40s. This time we concentrate on the Big Bands and some of the smaller groups who either survived into the ’50s or started in the later ’40s and continued into the 1950s. his own orchestra in the ’50s. It featured a sliding It’s a random quiz that might just be tougher than usual, saxophone sound. His name is:______• for without the answers listed for you to match you’ll have to come up with the answers from your head. 6 Another trumpet player who had worked for Glenn Miller (and was fired by him) organized his own band This time it’s a fill in the blanks quiz. There are ten after WWII. It continues to operate to this day, record­ questions, which should make it easy to keep score. ing and doing occasional appearances. He is:____ The blanks fit the number of letters in each correct answer, and if our spelling is OK, should helpyou come 7 A trombone player who had worked with several Big up with several of the names. Answers are elsewhere, Bands, then settled into the New York studios, estab­ neatly fitted into a box. lished a band in 1950 heavily promoted by RCA Victor. 1 The trombone player who emerged in the He is still active today, but leads a band under the name late ’40s and into the ’50s with style music, of another trombone player. He is:______. enjoyed a hit with TWELFTH STREET RAG. He w as______. 8 One of the many Miller-like orchestras which extended into the ’50s was led by a former arranger 2 Red Nichols began in the ’20s and stayed into the with both the civilian and military Glenn Miller orches­ ’50s with a small group called: RED NICHOLS AND tras. He was:______. HIS______. 9 A trombone player who had played with Les Brown, 3 Two brothers had a partnership orchestra in the ’30s, Jimmy Dorsey and Harry James, put together his own then established their own orchestras, but re-united in the band in the late ’50s. Later, itsmost popularrecording, ’50s. Their first names w ere:______and______. UP A LAZY RIVER, became its theme: He w as:__ 4 Two brothers who had a ’50s orchestra which carried both their names for atime, recorded with a rhythmic, bouncy 10 A piano player whose band survived into the ’80s, style. They were:___ and______. (Hint: used ONE O’ CLOCK JUMP as his theme from the both brothers first names started with the same letter.) time the tune was introduced in Kansas City. His name 5 A trumpet player and arranger who had played with reflected his position as a royal member of musical Charlie Barnet and Glenn Miller went on the road with society. He was:______• 9 VOLUME LXVIII BIG BAND JUMP NEWSLETTER MAY-JUNE 2000

SIDELIGHTS Humorous anecdotes about musicians and related subjects.

ELLINGTON SOCIETY The British are so so­ phisticated! There’s a Duke Ellington Society there, venerating the music and the memory of the Duke. Other groups based on specific bandleader’s work might have such mottos as “The Music Maker” or “World’s Greatest Trombone Player” but no such banalities for the people of the Fats and admirers United Kingdom. The motto of the Ellington Society is a Latin phrase: “nil nisi pulsatur” which translates joint with members of Fletcher Henderson’s band and roughly as IT DON’T MEAN A THING IF IT AIN’T gobbled down nine hamburgers, then told the assembled GOT THAT SWING. musicians he had no money. He asked Fletcher to pay the bill in exchange for nine fresh, new original com­ BANANA Inspiration comes from many sources, positions, one for each hamburger. and for pianist Irving Fields it came from a prankster at Harrah’s Hotel in Atlantic City Fats sent out for manuscript paper and on the spot jotted where he was playing solo piano for the patrons. One down a set of tunes including what became known as night he came back from a break and found a banana in HENDERSON STOMP, VARIETY STOMP, ST. his piano. “Who,” he asked, “put this banana in my LOUIS SHUFFLE and WHITEMAN STOMP. It piano?” No answer. He removed the banana, ate it after should be said that Henderson, being a proper kind of the gig was over, and the very next night found yet gentleman, paid Fats Waller ten dollars for each com­ another banana in the piano.... this went on for a solid position, throwing in the hamburgers as a bonus. Fats week. Waller had a habit of trading away his work, with the result that scores of his compositions have been pub­ Now, the inspiration part. Irving Fields took the inci­ lished (and the dollar rewards garnered) by others. dent to his music room and wrote a song titled WHO PUT THE BANANA IN THE PIANO? which became These stories for the most port come from Bill Crow, a favorite at his children’s concerts. It was a song that author of a book of such stories titled JAZZ ANEC­ would never have been written had it not been for an un­ DOTES, published by Oxford Press, New York. named prankster in Atlantic City.

MUSICAL AID This one comes from a musi­ Check us out on the Internet cian who played for the BIG BAND JUMP Center For Mature Living in Allendale, New Jersey. He was unpacking his tuba when he noticed two ladies and the companion program sitting on a couch near the brass section. More musi­ cians arrived, and some of the brass players and percus­ The Don Kennedy Show sionists began to test their instruments. The report is are repeated after broadcast each week at that one lady turned to the other and said, “It will probably be so loud we’ll have to turn off our hearing aids.” WWW.BROADCAST.COM/ RADIO/CLASSICS/ FATS Pianist, composer, drinkerand eater Fats Waller was a musical genius, no question about that, We’re also available on E-Mail: but he wasn’t a businessman. In fact, he had a habit of [email protected]. giving away his compositions. One time he was in a

10 VOLUME LXVIII BIG BAND JUMP NEWSLETTER MAY-JUNE 2000 right there in front of your ears. We usually audition UPCOMING BBJ PROGRAM TITLES recently received recordings privately, then expose them to you, but in this instance you’ll be in on the May 6-7,2000 (Repeat listing for the culling of the fresh products of the recording industry. FRAN WARREN SPEAKS benefit of new sub­ Because they will be new, we don’t know what they are scribers.) Part of the yet, but it does promise to be fun. first hour of this program will be devoted to comments by respected Big Band vocalist Fran War­ May 27-28,2000 The Big ren, as featured in this issue, along with REAGAN TV BROAD- Band Era had some of her performances with Claude CAST/SPIKE & SILLI- been over for Thornhi 11 ’ s Orchestra, and then as a single. NESS little more She is a confident, interesting lady who than a decade knows how to put across the lyrics of a and a half or so when early television song. For the remainder of the program brought in a performer who remembered we cherry-pick selections reflecting indi­ that time to narrate a “live” television vidual notes from the survey lists used on broadcast featuring some of the bands previous programs, being careful not to still working then. The narrator was repeat ourselves. This is especially fun, Ronald Reagan, and the bands and singers for it passes responsibility for record se­ who appeared included Gene Krupa, Tex lection directly to the listeners. Beneke, Guy Lombardo, Count Basie, Glen Gray, Bob Eberly, Helen O’Connell and Woody May 13-14, 2000 A letter from a listener (see Herman. The television program is gone, but the sound JOHNNY MERCER Letters To The Editor) remains for us to remember what has become a unique SONGBOOK prompted the repeat of this event; all these performers in one place at one time in two hour tribute to one of the a “live” presentation. most imaginative lyric writers of our time. The musi­ cal content extends from soundtrack examples of Mer­ On the second hour we’ll present some silly songs cer words written for some early movies to his final which grew out of the Big Band Era, including a couple work with . Mercer’s wife was inter­ by Spike Jones. viewed for the program, as was his good friend Marga­ ret Whiting. Mercer himself describes the process of June 3-4,2000 Often we tend to zero in on just the coining up with some of the lyrics we remember so well. THE SINGING instrumentals or the individual sing- GROUPS ers with the Big Bands, but this pro­ May 20-21, 2000 Some writingteamsjust gram is about the groups that sang BURKE-VAN HEUSEN seem to jell; Gordon & with the bands, as well as a few on their own. During Warren, Mercer & Arlen, this time we’ll dig into the files to come up with Rodgers & Hart, George & Ira and Johnny Burke & examples of not only the well-known groups, but some Jimmy Van Heusen. This program will present some you may have forgotten over the years, all with a Big of the Johnny Burke lyrics written for other melody Band flavor, of course. composers, and there may be a few Van Heusen melodies with lyrics by other writers, but by and large June 10-11,2000 There hasn’t been an “other we hear the results oftheir inspired collaboration. IT’S THE OTHER SIDE side” since the days ofthe 78s, ALWAYS YOU, PERSONALITY, SWINGING ON and maybe the 45s. This BBJ A STAR, IT COULD HAPPEN TO YOU, IMAGINA­ concentrates on the single selections that were found TION, POLKA DOTS AND MOONBEAMS....and on the other side of highly successful original 78 several others from the pens of these two people whose recordings of the Era. For example, what was on the music struck an emotional chord for the public. other side of the original Glenn Miller’s SUNRISE SERENADE that helped jukebox operators cut down The second hour will be devoted to an audition session, on their record cost? What selection was VOLUME LXVIII BIG BAND JUMP NEWSLETTER MAY-JUNE 2000

supposed to appeal to the public when the other side voted to the arrangers of the Big Bands, the men who happened to be the one everyone listened to? The first put the notes on the paper so the musicians would know big hit for Harry James was on the other side of the what to play. There have been two previous BBJs recording expected to garner the most sales, and hardly devoted to this subject, but it’s apparent from the anyone call recal 1 the tune on the other side of the Helen listener’s phone call that some may have missed these Forrest/Harry James sensation, 1 HAD THE CRAZI­ programs in the past. In this one we check out some of EST DREAM. We’ll look at the other side of original the Goodman arrangers, the work of three Tommy 78s by Charlie Barnet, Will Osborne, Tommy Dorsey, Dorsey arrangers, as well as men who slaved over staff Henry Busse and Will Bradley as well. paper for Glenn Miller, Gene Krupa, Woody Herman and Harry James. June 17-18, 2000 We’re fortunate that a record REMEMBERING producer has preserved the July 1-2,2000 Throughoutthe history of BIG TED HEATH dynamic Ted Heath record­ CLASS OF ’44 BAND JUMP, we’ve woven ings of the sixties, al lowing us in and out of the program se­ ries various “Class O f’ programs, reviewing some of the historical events of a specific year within the Big Band Era, but mainly hearing the music of that year. The CLASS OF ’44 was listening to more and more singers, both in and out of the Big Bands. Jimmy Dorsey with Bob Eberly and Kitty Kallen will be represented, as will Stan Kenton with Anita O’Day or Harry James with Dick Haymes. Also to be heard will be the Andrews Sisters, Judy Garland, King Cole, Louis Jordan, Glen Gray, Duke Ellington, Jo Stafford, Frank Sinatra, the Esquire All-Stars, Fats Waller and Bing Crosby. They were all part of the lives of the graduates of the CLASS OF ’44.

ANSWERS TO '50s BIG BAND TRIVIA QUIZ

1 Pee Wee Hunt Maestro Heath 2 Five Pennies to present a ful I program of Ted Heath playing arrange­ 3 Tommy and Jimmy ments reminiscent of great American bands, but with the distinctive drive characteristic of the Heath organi­ 4 Les and Larry Elgart zation. TAKETHEATRAIN,BEGINTHEBEGUINE, DARKTOWN STRUTTER’S BALL, WOOD- 5 Billy May CHOPPER’S BALL, MISTY, A FINE ROMANCE 6 Ray Anthony and BLUES IN THE NIGHT are just a few of the melodies we’ll hear in the Heath style, while we recall 7 Buddy Morrow some Ted Heath biographical information. If you liked the Ted Heath original LPs of the sixties, this is your 8 Jerry Gray opportunity to hear them again. 9 Si Zentner

June 24-25, 2000 A listener phoned to ask why 10 Count Basie THE ARRANGERS we didn’t do a program de­

12 BIG BAND JUMP IS NOWON THE INTERNET-Hear BIG BAND JUMP and its companion program THE DON KENNEDY SHOW repeated each week after the regular broadcasts at www.broadcast.com/radio/classics/ - We're also available on E-Mail - send your questions and comments to: [email protected].

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