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Home , American Folk Songs, A Long Story, Billy Butterfield, Billy May, Ed Herlihy, Francis Craig

HIGHLIGHTS IN THIS ISSUE:

A CD now avail­ able made for himself

A biography of Paul Desmond now available

A Billy Butterfield profile

....and the conclusion of the two part interview with .

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VOLUME 99 BIG BAND JUMP NEWSLETTER JULY-AUGUST 2005

PAUL WESTON INTERVIEW - The first question involves his initial work at in 1942. PART TWO BBJ: Everyone who was involved says those early days at Capitol were probably the greatest days in the recording business.

PW: They were fun days. It started for me when I was working at Paramount and I did a picture, “Star Spangled Rhy­ thm.” Johnny Mercer was working on that while I was working on “Road To Morocco,” I guess, one of the Crosby/ Hope things. And I got to know Mercer and so he and Glenn Wallichs had been talking about getting a record com­ Weston & Stafford in a quiet moment pany together. Glenn had a little recording stu­ dio in the back of Music Phil Silvers who spoke a The Background single line on record__ City, just a one room This is second of the two installments of an interview place and so John said, “Well, look, would you get of Paul Weston, one of the premier arrangers and studio some guys together and we’re gonna make this thing conductors of his time. It’s taken from a conversation called STRIP POLKA I’ve written.” So we got three with Weston by veteran radio personality Fred Hall and girls to sing the “take it off, take it o ff’ line and Jimmy excerpted from his book “Dialogues In Swing.” As Van Heusen was our piano player. It was sort of a mentioned in the last issue, Paul Weston started his life family thing and Phil Silvers came down just to do the with a degree in Economics from Dartmouth. He one line, “I adore....” graduated Cum Laude and Phi Beta Kappa, but in his spare time arranged music for the Dartmouth dance It was, as Jo (Stafford) says, Fun in the Parlor. STREP band. The year of the interview was 1989. POLKA was the first record Johnny made. Well, he made one before that, THEY DIDN’T BELIEVE ME, The Scene because the singer who was supposed to do it with Paul The interview took place in the Weston’s home in Whiteman couldn’t feel it and they just said, “Well, Century City, . The last issue covered his John, why don’t you do it?” And he did it and it was a early days helping create the sound and good record, so right after that Johnny got the Pepsodent his early months after Dorsey writing for Dinah Shore Summer Show replacing Bob Hope and so Jo and the and moving to California to work with the Pied Pipers and Ella Mae Morse and I j oined Johnny on Orchestra, then getting into movie music work. This that show and then after the summer was over we went part of the interview picks up with his involvement in on for Chesterfield five days a week. I remember we television and as a recording executive. had one release from Capitol that had DREAM, VOLUME 99 BIG BAND JUMP NEWSLETTER JULY-AUGUST 2005

CANDY and ACCENTUATE THE POSITIVE....they Martin, Dean’s wife, used to think it was pretty funny. were three gigantic hits and that was the whole release, One time at a convention in Key you know. And if we didn’t like what we did we’d go West we had spent a long day of meetings and went in in and do it over again. to have our dinner and there was a pi­ JONATHAN AND DARLENE S John really got bugged with the company when he GREATEST HITS ano player there and JONATHAN AND DARLENE EDWARDS found out he had to have regular releases. He didn’t like he was really inept, the idea. He’d say, “Well, we don’t have anything.” So you know, I mean he gradually they hired other people and, of course, Nat w a s . . . . y o u Cole was there from very early days. His album was k n o w __ w ro n g BD8 and mine was BD9 because Johnny let me make chords. After he what eventually got called mood music when I took the packed up and left I strings and then took a band and arranged it pretty much went up and started > V * like a Dorsey or a Joe Haymes Band and then added to play STARDUST strings for this music for dreaming. and some of the guys J.&D. Edwards'album cover were Just tired BBJ: It wasn’t a Mantovani type because you kept ------enough to think it the beat. was pretty funny and said, “You’ve got to make an album.” When I got back I got frightened and thought, PW: There was more of a j azz feel to it and we made “I’m not gonna do this alone.” We had some time at the a few albums over again in the ’60s and they end of a session and the band would anticipate the beats still held up pretty well because they were good players. and play like a band and Jo would sing a tone sharp and skip bars and stuff. It was a catharsis to get even with BBJ: Few of those good things are available these whoever said you should record this song. (ED: They days. did this for themselves in the beginning. They were made to record songs they thought were terrible in the PW: Well, it’s terribly tough to get anything out. first place.) They’re better now than they used to be. Like, for example, one of Jo’s and my labor of love is an So that’s how the whole thing started. Then after the album of American folk songs we did with strings back first album came out and nobody knew who it was for in ’47 and ’48 and I finally got permission from Capitol about seven or eight months and then Time magazine to put that out. We had re-done it in stereo and that’s exposed us. We had our pictures in there and they wrote on the Corinthian label, too. We were fortunate, too, to about who it was and how it happened and everything get all her two hundred and thirty some masters back and then Look magazine came out and did a series of from Columbia about four or five years ago and they’ve pictures at one of the sessions. And then the next album been the basis for our Corinthian label. We have two was Jonathan, Darlene in Paris. And then we later did of the Jonathan and Darlene albums, which, inciden­ a sing-a-long, sort of a put-on of Mitch Miller, but tally, one of them is the only Grammy Jo and I ever won. unfortunately Mitch went down the tubes just about the time the album came out and so we didn’t do very well BBJ: For those who don’t know, you did a series of with that one, although my feeling is it’s one of the classic spoofs on out-of-tune singers and dread­ funniest ones. fully bad piano players under the names Jonathan and Darlene Edwards. How did that come about? BBJ: It must have been tough for Jo to sing the wrong notes. PW: Well, it’s a long story. For years at parties, I used to sometimes go to the piano and play. I PW : She says you hear the wrong note in your head had an arrangement of STARDUST and SUNDAY, just before you sing it. I’ve never been able to MONDAY OR ALWAYS and people like Jeannie understand that.

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BBJ: You had a string of hits for Columbia Records, rather different than what you did at Capitol.

PW: SHRIMP BOATS started it. I wrote that with Paul Mason. That was in ’51 and then in ’52 she had and then JAMBALAYA and then the biggest one was a thing called MAKE LOVE TO ME that we weren’t particu­ larly crazy about except it was nice for her to have the money. In fact it was TIN ROOF BLUES, you know, that they put lyrics to.

BBJ: What finally happened at Columbia Records?

PW: Rock and roll hit, you know, started in the ’50s, and everybody went down the tubes to some extent and, of course, Jo retired pretty much in the ’ 50s. Billy Butterfield in 1983

BBJ: Meanwhile, you were working pretty hard. his sweet, expressive trumpet heard introducing us to the very first recording of what was to become known PW : Well, I was in television by then. I was at NBC as WHAT’S NEW. The melody was written expressly and did the Chevy Shows with Roy and Dale for Billy Butterfield’s solo with the Bob Crosby Band and Janet Blair and all the specials over there and I did by arranger/composer/bassist . It is the a year with Bob Newhart on a half-hour show in ’61. I Butterfield trumpet opening the now classic was with NBC about six years and then went to CBS in, STARDUST recording, clean and neat, setting the gee, I don’t remember....’63,1 guess and did fouryears musical stage for one of the most inspired Big Band with Danny Kaye, the Danny Kaye hour show and then arrangements of that classic. It is Billy Butterfield’s two years with Jonathan Winters and two years with trumpet creating an environment for vocalist Margaret Jim Nabors so I had eight wonderful years with CBS. Whiting’s definitive recording of MY IDEAL. Butterfield was a key member of the World’s Greatest has been quoted as saying how it’s just Band. Billy Butterfield was a major auditory silly to get paid for having so much fun. Paul Weston presence in the Big Band Era and after. He could play is gone now. Son Tim runs Corinthian Records and soaring ballads and scorching Dixieland with equal Amy Weston is a singer in the area. Our facility. thanks to the Fred Hall Estate for the use o f this interview. His two absorbing Looks may be pur­ Billy Butterfield’s first national fame came when he chased from the internet at www.swing-thing.com joined the Bob Crosby Orchestra in 1937, a co-op group or by phone at 1-800-693-9030. of imaginative musicians and arrangers who provided him with equal opportunity to be spotlighted with the As previously mentioned, long-time BBJ NEWS­ full band and the Bobcats, the small group within the LETTER readers may be interested in reviewing the band. It was 1940 when he joined Artie Shaw to not Jo Stafford interview which appeared in issue num­ only work with the band but become a part of the initial ber 47, the November-December, 1996 edition. recordings of the then new Shaw Gramercy Five. He also played for a short time with both BILLY BUTTERFIELD PROFILE and before WWII military service. After he returned to civilian life, Butterfield led his own For all the magnificent work he did in his lifetime, band during the years from 1945 to 1947. Hisbandtook trumpeter Billy Butterfield is a relative unknown. It is advantage of his ballad trumpet style, turning out some

3 VOLUME 99 BIG BAND JUMP NEWSLETTER JULY-AUGUST 2005 musically exquisite sides, but commercially disap­ pointing, for the Big Band Era was winding to a close. He found plenty of work in the Hollywood recording studios in the ’50s and ’ 60s, once in a while taking time to be featured in personal appearances with the All-Stars. Fellow trumpeter and bassist Bob Haggart, both alumni of the Crosby Band, organized the World’s Greatest Jazz Band in the late sixties, inviting Billy to be a founding member. He jobbed on and off with various groups until his death in North Palm Beach in 1988. It’s our good fortune that the sound of the Billy Butterfield trumpet is perma­ nently with us through his memorable recordings.

Helen Ward/Helen Forrest LETTERS TO THE EDITOR Tilton with Benny Goodman. Used record stores Letters to BIG BAND JUMP or the BBJ NEWS- may be your best bet. LETTER may be sent to the address below, or e-mailed to: [email protected]. When you Charles Barngrover In the late ’40s or earlier 50s e-mail, please give your name and address. All Cincinnati, OH Don Cornell and Teresa letters are answered, but the volume of mail Brewer recorded a song which sometimes delays a timely response. has a very upbeat tempo and they sing the words very fast. Can anyone tell me the name of the song and/or the BBJ NEWSLETTER name of the CD. Box 52252 Atlanta, GA 30355 The original YOU’LL NEVER GET A WAY is on the Don Cornell album titled "I’ll Be Seeing You” The published letters have been edited for space available directly from the web site considerations, but the meaning has been preserved. www.doncornell.com operated by Iris Cornell.

Scott Koeller My wife and I listen to BBJ Anchorage, AK every Saturday and Sunday on KHAR in Anchorage and just love it!!! In the Disney movie “The Rocketeer” a song on the cathedral radio in one scene starts out, “You’re a sweet little headache” then dribbles off. The credits list the song by Artie Shaw, sung by Helen Ward. We’dlovetohearthewholething. Canyouhelpus? Cornell & Brewer It was another Helen, Helen Forrest who sang with Artie Shaw. She recorded YOU’RE A SWEET Robert Maysenhalder I had a cassette ofAnita O’Day LITTLE HEADACHE on the Bluebird label in Sep­ Mill Valley, CA in which she told of going to tember o f1938just two months after the Shaw band Hawaii and kicking her drug recorded their now classic, BEGIN THEBEGUINE. habit; also having disputes with Roy Eldridge, and how “HEADACHE” was recorded by others, as was hard it was to sing the song MASSACHUSETTS. I often the case in that time, most notably by Martha think she was singing with Gene Krupa’s band. Also,

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what happened to Woody as usher’s badges, but I am not convinced as to their Herman in his last years. I purpose. read the newsletter all the time. I was hoping you might know more about the Aragon Ballroom or could point me to a historian. Thank you Apparently Mr. May- for any assistance you can provide. senhalder recorded the BBJ program o f October, The badges are shown here. Anyone able to explain 2001 containing interview their specific uses to Mr. Wagner? segments with Anita O 'Day. It s scheduled to O'Day emotes be repeated the weekend o f August 29-30, 2005.

Reports are the Internal Revenue Service hounded Woody Herman during his last days, the effect o f a band manager years before taking money that should have been sent to the IRS. The IRS sold his house to pay part of the taxes they said were due, but he was The Aragon badges allowed to remain there until his death. While touring with the orchestra during those last years, Mike Melloy I’m a fan and it's said an IRS agent would follow the band on one Minneapolis, MN loved your show featuring nighters, collecting the profits each night from the songs made popular by him, band’s appearances. Woody seemingly took this but played or sung by others. It was a great program­ treatment with equanimity. Let it be noted here we ming idea. I’d like to hear a show or part of a show did not say anything about the tax laws put into featuring the artistry of Stan Kenton. effect by a clueless congress being ludicrous or the IRS people blindly following mindless orders from Thanks, but not our idea. Several albums, both their superior officers. and vocal, have been produced on that basis. Two hours o f Kenton have been scheduledfor Richie Crabtree After your item in the the weekend o f July 16-17, 2005 in answer to your Carmel-by-the-Sea, CA May-June issue about request and several others. how some readers G. Edward Crandall I was just playing a 33 1/3 think your Big Band quizzes are too easy, I found the Surprise, AZ album of Jo Stafford titled quiz in the same issue to be ridiculously easy. It took “G.I. Jo.” Is she still alive? me about one minute to hit 12 out of 12. C’mon! Please! Toughen ‘em up! Are great female vocalists such as Doris Day, Martha Tilton, Helen Ward, Patti Page, Ginny Simms, Marga­ WesuspectMr. Crabtree might be an “A" student of ret Whiting, , Helen Forrest, Anita O’Day, the era and because o f his superior knowledge Connie Haines and many more still with us? projects his answering ease to everyone. More on Helen Ward, Ginny Simms and Helen Forrest have this with the quiz in this issue. ascended to another entertainment venue. Marga­ ret Whiting is head o f a Johnny Mercer society and Don Wagner I acquired three lapel sized still sings once in a while, Kitty Kallen has homes in Davenport, IA badges, all reading “Aragon and on the West Coast, Anita O ’Day is Ballroom.” Two have serial in a retirement home in California (see UPCOM­ numbers and one reads “Vice President.” These appear ING BBJ PROGRAM TITLES) and Connie Haines to be from WWII or earlier. They were offered to me lives in Florida.

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Charles Colbert I formed the Johnny Long There’s an album with both Mercer singing, an Boynton Beach, FL Commemorative Orchestra in excellent Big Band order to continue playing his and modern re­ very unique musical contributions to American pop cording tech­ culture. While we were performing one night in Ft. niques. It was Lauderdale A1 Gross introduced himself to me as made by Johnny having been a member of the “Beachcombers” when Mercer in 1972for they were with the Long Orchestra. A1 listens to your his own enjoyment M f l M show. Perhaps you could include the group on a future long after Capitol program. was sold. Skippy Martin wrote the We ’re gonna ’ do that! Dr. Colbert (he’s a Ph.D as arrangements and well as a bandleader) supplied us with some mate­ conducted the or­ rial to be included in the BBJ program for the chestra, and it weekend of July 9-10, 2005 saluting not only The contains not only Beachcombers but several singing groups, both in­ some traditional dividually and with the bands. Mercer songs but some that never became popular. The older Mercer It is on Star Line Productions number SLCD 9013, available directly from them in Glendale, CA at (323) 660-9061.

BOOKS & RECORDS TO CONSIDER

MORE BIG BAND MAGIC Jasmine JASCD 420

The highly positive reaction to the album titled “Big Band Magic” encouraged the produc­ tion of this one, so aptly titled “More Big Band Magic.” As the title implies, it contains an­ other generous portion of some of the most recalled recordings New Magic album of the Big Band Era. There are a few from the late ’ 30s, a bundle from the ’40s and some of the remaining Big Band hits of the ’50s. This is a superb album if you’re either familiar with the era or want to acquaint yourself with the music of that time. The Beachcombers. AI Gross is top right Fifty selections are on two CDs, including Francis Charles Roper Can you recommend a good Craig’s , Don Cornell singing with Sammy Atlanta, GA recording of Johnny Mercer? Kaye IT ISN’T FAIR, Art Mooney’s FOUR LEAF I wouldCLOVER, like something Will done Bradley’s CELERY STALKS AT recently so that we have a full band and good sound. MIDNIGHT, ’ s RACING WITH THE

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BBJ NEWSLETTER Box 52252 Atlanta, GA 30355

BBJ NEWSLETTER Box 52252 Atlanta, GA 30355

(Tape or Staple Here) CENTER PAGE OFFER BILLY BUTTERFIELD A BIS CRCUESTBA W hat Is There Tc Say?

Every once in u while a CD gem surfaces containing wonderful performances, but recordings that possibly won’t have interest to a great num ber of people. This is su c h a C D .

It’s interest is limited for at least two reasons: Billy Butterfield was not among the top trumpet players so far as fame or well -known status is concerned and his own orchestra wasn’t in existence for long, so not many sides with him as a bandleader are available.

But what wonderful sound* tlicy are! This single CD is filled with his smooth trumpet, mostly in ballad-style with tasteful full baud backing. T w enty-four track s include WHAT IS THERE TO SAT, BLUE EOU, I « A ll HAVE EVES FOR YOU, SOPHISTICATED LADY, PRELUDE TO A HISS, STORMY WEATHER, , MORE I'll A V YOU M O W , I DOXT STAND A GHOST OF A CHANCE, THAT OLD I EELLYG, LAURA, AMONG MY SOIVFAIRS, EMISRATEABLE YOU aud others for a total of selections of the original Capitol recordings.

(D-2) INI'* I I IIII III11 s 16.CCMidi II II S VI

Account Number Expires

Please send me: (D-2): BILLY BUTTERFIELD $16.00 WITH FREE SHIPPING & HANDLING

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CITY______STATE ZIP I’m enclosing a check or money-order, or please charge to my VISA or MASTERCARD, as above. Use self-mailer as indicated on reverse, or an envelope, to: BBJ NEWSLETTER - Box 52252 - Atlanta, GA 30355. Or call toll-free: 1-800-377-0022. 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 and throughout the world.

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(Tape or Staple Here) VOLUME 99 BIG BAND JUMP NEWSLETTER JULY-AUGUST 2005

MOON, Buddy Clark’s LINDA, Jan Savitt’s 720 IN The fifty themes represent the top orchestras of the era, THE BOOKS, Gene Krupa’ s DRUM BOOGIE, Charlie as well as some secondary bands. Themes of Goodman, Barnet’s SKYLINER, Guy Lombardo’s BOO HOO, James, Miller, Dorsey, Shaw, Herman, Kyser and Krupa Johnny Long’s SHANTY IN OLD SHANTY TOWN, are represented, but so is Art Mooney’s SUNSET TO ’s , Bob Crosby’s SUNRISE, a gorgeous melody, HEART TO HEART SOUTH RAMPART STREET PARADE, The Andrews from Elliot Lawrence, SINGING WINDS by Ralph Sisters RUM AND COCA-COLA, Ralph Flanagan’s Flanagan and ’s mood theme, STAR HOT TODDY, ’s MR. ANTHONY’S DREAMS. The powerful introductory themes are BOOGIE and others. there, too. ELK’S PARADE by Bobby Sherwood, BLUE REY, the impressive introduction, The summation of this collection is: over 35 key Big ’s FLYING HOME and Kenton ’ s ART­ Bands and singers are performing fifty selections on ISTRY IN RHYTHM fall into this category. two CDs. The original recordings have been digitized, the selections compliment the first edition of “Magic” This one is particularly fun to listen to, especially some and the CD booklet gives the playing times and dates of of the selections noted above that fall into the either all the selections, but little else save a few comments of powerful, regal category or the sweeping, mood intros. a general nature. If you have the first album, you should like this one. Available from BBJ Sales. 1-800-377-0022 or www.bigbandjump.com Available from BBJ Sales 1-800-377-0022 or www.bigbandjump.com TAKE FIVE - The Public and Private Lives of Paul Desmond BIG BAND THEMES Doug Ramsey Jasmine JASCD 423 This is a coffee This is yet another table size book package of absolutely filled THEMES OF THE with Desmond BIG BANDS. It family photo­ was suggested by graphs and very Big Band Jump personal history host Don Kennedy from birth, because some per­ through child­ Themes album vious collections hood, the Army had sparse album and national notations or poor fame. It’s as if a quality on some tracks. This collection member of the contains fifty theme melodies, the famil­ family or Des­ iar sounds which introduced the Big Bands mond himself on radio and in ballrooms, as well as a assembled every twenty page CD booklet with copious photo, every an­ information about each theme. Technical ecdote, every quality is excellent except for the Freddie significant com­ Slack theme STRANGE CARGO and the ment. It is too Chick Webb theme, I MAY BE WRONG. much to read Most sound as if they’d been currently straight through, recorded, all have been digitally processed for it is the kind for the best sound possible which in most of book to be re­ instances is better than the originals. visited in short sessions over a period of time. VOLUME 99 BIG BAND JUMP NEWSLETTER JULY-AUGUST 2005

One of the stories tells how young saxophonist Paul Breitenfeld became Paul Desmond. It seems an Italian THE LATEST NEWS singer with a difficult to pronounce name had joined Gene Krupa’s 1942 band and changed his name to (We've put the following In teletype font to complement both the era and the 'newsy' nature of the article.) A college newspaper clipping gave rise to this collection of “news” items, offset by a half century, more or less. Yel­ lowed and fragile, the article recalled Tommy Dorsey’s 1940 schedule at the University of Georgia: “Tommy Dorsey played for the usual Friday night dance from 9 to 1. He was up early Saturday morning to provide musical accompaniment for a break­ fast dance from 10 to 12. He had time to cram down some breakfast of his own, change his shirt and rush back for a tea dance from five to seven. Thrown into the deal were two un­ known singers, a baritone vocalist named Frank Sinatra and a female thrush, Jo Stafford. Also a harmonic quartet who called themselves .” . Paul told a friend “If I ever need another name, it’s going to be Desmond.” That paragraph was an incentive to look at a January, 1963 57th anniver­ Because of Desmond’s important part in the Brubeck Quartet, there’s a great deal of peripheral information sary edition of the show biz newspa­ about Dave Brubeck as well as photographs to illustrate per Variety that had been on the top their time together. The last 43 pages of this massive bookshelf for years. It was filled with 370 page glossy 10" x 12" tome are devoted to a careful congratulatory ads from various per­ index and a detailed discography with album numbers sonalities, including a full page picture and track listings of important Desmond recordings of singer Connie Francis, a sprinkling from 1947 through re-releases in 2001. of radio announcer names: Kenneth You’ve got to be heavily immersed in either Desmond Banghart, Gary Owens, , as an individual or Brubeck’s Quartet to want this book, Milo Hamilton, Ben Grauer, Ed Herlihy, for it’s expensive. On the other hand it’s easy to read Jackson Beck, Jay Jackson and Jack and full of humor and human drama, so if you want to Sterling. Some announcers had al­ know more about the Desmond years, this is an ideal ready adapted to TV, others would be way to do it. Scores of photographs. invisible voices until they faded away. Parkside Publications Seattle, Washington - About $45.00 at most bookstores Articles about Benny Goodman’s trip

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Kukla, Fran & Ollie from early “live” TV

to Russia, Guy Lombardo’s Band play­ permanent part of TV lore. ing at his Port O’Call in Tierra Verde, Florida, ’s new record The obits at the back of the anniver­ release titled ZERO, ZERO and Lester sary edition of Variety noted that Lanin’s eighteenth album called “High actors Dick Powell and Jack Carson Society Country Style.” both died of cancer in January of had ju st recorded SHOOT THE PIANO ’63....and that’s the news to the mo­ PLAYER, and ment, excerpted from that dusty Vari­ and a young singer named Tony ety, preserving in pictures and words Bennett were hot record acts. a moment in entertainment world time. Commercially viable television was only a decade and a half old in 1963, and such early successful programs as Kukla, Fran 8c Ollie were still on the Hear BIG BAND JUMP air. New programs titled MR. PIPER, BROADWAY GOES LATIN, SUGARFOOT on the and SPINASONG w ould n ev er be seen again. Programs hosted by Milton internet at Berle, Jackie Gleason, Loretta Young, w w w .bigbandjump.com Alfred Hitchcock and a young writer named Rod Serling would become a 9 VOLUME 99 BIG BAND JUMP NEWSLETTER JULY-AUGUST 2005

Here are three public relation phrases used to describe BIG BAND TRIVIA QUIZ specific bandleaders. Please name the leader the phrase In this issue’s LETTERS section a reader wrote to say refers to. the trivia quizzes were too easy. A fairly knowledge­ able friend phoned to say he got only eight of twelve. 4 The Poet of the Piano ______There’s no way to make a quiz satisfactory to every level, for some people who lived in the Big Band Era 5 The Man Who Taught America To Sing______made it their hobby to know every personality and every action involved. Some enjoyed the time but observed it casually from a personal distance, just as baseball fans vary in their level of game knowledge. 6 The Ten Most Talented Fingers In Radio How, then, is a quiz fashioned to test the knowledge of everyone equally? It cannot be done. There could, of course, be obscure questions requiring research on the internet or in books, not testing a person’s “knowledge” We’ve bunched together three record hits for certain but simply his ability to find the answers. years in questions 7,8 & 9. Please name the year those The following quiz is made up of questions from some recordings were popular. of the more difficult used in past issues. Since they’re selected from different quizzes based on varied sub­ 7 Take The A Train - Let Me Off Uptown - Amapola jects, they are random in nature. In addition, the answers to those questions that may have been in matching form originally have been changed to “fill in the blank” form so memory and general knowledge 8 There, I’ve Said It Again - I’m Beginning To See The have more effect. Will this satisfy everyone who takes Light - Caldonia the quiz? Most certainly not. Will it be a kick for some participants? Sure. Will it impart at least some Big Band knowledge and a modicum of a few minutes entertainment? We certainly hope so. 9 Don’t Sit Under The Apple Tree - Strip Polka - Jersey Bounce Ten correct and you win the Crabtree medal of honor, named for the author of the letter encouraging this quiz... .or maybe not depending on Mr. Crabtree ’ s reac­ tion to the following questions. Eight or more correct is OK. Six or more right answers is a passing grade Finally, this quote from one of the personality inter­ according to current educational standards. Four or views we’ve published over the years in this newsletter. fewer might indicate additional work will have to be Name the person who said this: done in the Big Band summer school held in a library near you. 10 Oddly enough, LAMENT TO LOVE got on the Hit Parade. There follow three birth names of well-known singers of the ’40s. Please tell us their professional names.

1 Yvonne Marie Jamais______Hope you did well on this varied quiz. We’ve at­ tempted to straddle the line between ridiculously diffi­ 2 Samuel Goldberg ______cult or obscure and easy or obvious.

3 Tamar Aswad ______

10 VOLUME 99 BIG BAND JUMP NEWSLETTER JULY-AUGUST 2005

basis of this session, with added Kenton comments UPCOMING BBJ PROGRAM TITLES from other sources. July 2-3, 2005 (Repeat listing for new July 23-24, 2005 The demand for the BIG BAND THEMES II subscribers.) This is the MORE BIG BAND MAGIC I CD set called “Big second in the series of Band Magic” gave BBJ’s presenting the unique and often under-recorded rise to the need for another such set of Big Band themes. We continue to show no carefully selected original recordings from favoritism by placing the themes in alpha­ the Big Band Era and beyond, all in the betical order according to the bandleader ’ s style of the era. The resulting album, name. We ended our last program with logically called “More Big Band Magic” Sammy Kaye’s KAYE’S MELODY and is reviewed on this and the next BBJ. On begin this time with Stan Kenton’s ART­ this program you’ll hear some later ’40s ISTRY IN RHYTHM, ending the alpha­ hits such as ’s NEAR YOU, betical series with possibly the best-known Art Mooney’s FOUR LEAF CLOVER, theme of all on television, Lawrence Russ Morgan’s SO TIRED and Charlie Welk’s BUBBLES IN THE WINE. There Barnet’s SKYLINER as well as key musi­ will be one other theme as we close the cal moments from the earlier ’40s. This program with Benny Goodman’s program offers twenty-five oft-recalled GOODBYE, an appropriately nostalgic top tunes gathered in one package. way to conclude our two program Big Band theme series. July 30-31, 2005 Another MORE BIG BAND MAGIC II twenty-five July 9-10, 2005 There were, of course, sing- memorable SINGING GROUPS ing groups long before the melodies with some of the later’40s Big Band record­ time of the Big Bands, but ings without neglecting the heart of the era are in store their participation as part of the era helped to endear on this session. Later ’40s and early ’50s melodies to them to the listening public. The Ink Spots, the Mills be heard include Ray Anthony’s MR. ANTHONY’S Brothers and made it on their own, BOOGIE, JackFina’s BUMBLE BOOGIE, Billy May’s but some of the groups joined bands as part of the LEAN BABY and Buddy Clark singing PEG O’MY overall sound of the organization. The Pied Pipers HEART. Big Band Era selections scheduled for this became a part of the Sinatra/T ommy Dorsey sound, the program include the Shaw Gramercy Five’s SPECIAL Modemaires will forever be associated with Glenn DELIVERY STOMP, Glenn Miller’s SUNRISE SER­ Miller, even though both began as independent entities ENADE and ELMER’S TUNE and the classic original and continued as such after the Big Band Era ended. Haggart-Bauduc duo recording of BIG NOISE FROM We ’ 11 hear some of the groups with the bands as well as WINNETKA. Earlier or later, all are recordings that the ones who performed on their own. have established themselves as a permanent part of the music of America. July 16-17, 2005 A listener wrote an e- STAN KENTON SPEAKS mail suggesting we August 6-7, 2005 The basis for “loosen up” and play THE GERMAN CONTINGENT this program some Stan Kenton. (See LETTERS TO THE EDI­ began when TOR.) He had no way of knowing, of course, that we received a new album of the dynamic Peter we’ve featured Stan Kenton not only on the air, but in Herbolzheimer band based in Germany, and scheduled newsletter interviews. A Kenton program packed with an interview with him. Expansion of that idea resulted his comments and his music is repeated here to reach in a program highlighting some of the swinging groups listeners who may have missed it the last time it was located in Germany, including Thilo Wolf, the Main­ broadcast nearly four and a half years ago. A 1977 stream Power Band, the original Bert Kaempfert re­ Kenton interview by BBJ host Don Kennedy forms the cordings and the James Last group. Perhaps some

11 VOLUME 99 BIG BAND JUMP NEWSLETTER JULY-AUGUST 2005 others will surface by the time this BB J hits the air. This teners, some directly and others inadvertently. In re­ will, indeed, be a solid program introducing us to fresh sponse to a comment on the air about there being few sounds all in the tradition of American Big Bands. instrumental hit recordings in the fifties, a listener wrote to list some of them. That list plus some refer­ August 13-14, 2005 What would happen, ence recordings to put the fifties music in perspective NUMBER TWO RECORDS we asked ourselves, make up this program, including Victor Young, Jackie if we went back to Gleason, Richard Maltby and . Pianists one of those top ten record surveys and played only the Eddie Heywood and Erroll Gamer contribute their top number two listener selections? We find out on this recordings of the ’50s, as well as and BBJ. Granted, one person’s secondary selection is Perez Prado. another’s number one and vice-versa, but the approach mightjust create some varied listening. We discovered Sports or news events sometimes alter BBJ pro­ some unusual choices, combined them with the ones gram times or subjects, so please check with your you would expect, and came up with an entertaining local Adult Standards station for exact day, time musical mix including Ted Heath, Jan Savitt, Count and subject of BIG BAND JUMP in your area. Basie, Gene Krupa, Frankie Carle and Woody Herman among others.

August 20-21, 2005 T h e re are all ANSWERS TO BIG BAND TRIVIA QUIZ SONGBOOK kinds of song­ writers, but Cole 1 Connie Haines, whose stage name was Porter was in a category all to himself for at least two given to her by when she was reasons: He wrote both the words and the melody and his were unusually witty, some would say, sophisti­ singing with his early band. cated lyrics. Certainly Porter wasn’t the only gifted composer of the era of memorable American music, but 2 Buddy Clark, who had several hits before his prodigious output and singular style provide us with ample material for an enlightening program. We com­ his early death in 1949. bine the music of Cole Porter with key instrumental and vocal artists and the stories behind his music to create 3 Stuart Foster who was the excellent singer a pleasant session. later with Tommy Dorsey. August 29-30, 2005 A listener suggested ANITA O’DAY SPEAKS/ we repeat the inter- 4 Carmen Cavallaro GENE KRUPA PLAYS view segments with Anita O ’Day, the 5 Fred Waring, because of his giant chorus. gutsy singer who gained her original national fame with the Krupa Orchestra, then went on to sing with Stan Kenton, and later returned to Krupa before going out on 6 Jack Fina who went out on his own after her own. She talks about how she acquired her name, pianistic hits with Freddy Martin kicking her drug habit and her work as a single vocalist. After the O’Day comments, you’ll hear some of the inspiring work of the Gene Krupa band, one of the 7 1941 8 1945 9 1942 under-rated bands of the era. 10 Mel Torme when asked about his song, September 3-4,2005 So many ideas for written when he was fourteen. FIFTIES BBJ program s come from lis­

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