IN THIS ISSUE:

i f An interview with PETE FOUNTAIN BIG i f Reviews of BOOKS AND RECORDS to consider BAWD

★ A BANDLEADER 'JIMP PICTURE QUIZ NEWSLETTER ★ LETTERS TO THE EDITOR about YUBA IN CUBA, , THE DINNING SISTERS & OTHERS

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

% \ \ s JIJJIP NEWSLETTER

VOLUME LXXV BIG BAND JUMP NEWSLETTER JULY-AUGUST 2001

PETE FOUNTAIN INTERVIEW

The Background

The impetus for this interview was the release of a new Pete Fountain album, wherein he is featured with a Big Band. As you well know, trumpeter A1 Hirt and clarinetist Pete Fountain have, in the last couple of decades, come to represent the musical spirit of New Orleans, both having had clubs in that city. Now, with gone, Pete Fountain remains to carry on the spirit of the traditional New Orleans sound, as well as more modem arrangements given the expressive smoothness of his .

We talked to Pete Fountain at two o’clock in the afternoon, a comfortable time for a musician. He was easy to interview, for he is apparently unaffected by his fame or his talent. He is described by everyone who knows him with phrases such as “a sweet guy.” He is, indeed, a personable and friendly person Pete with clarinet

The Interview me the clarinet!” By the time I was fourteen I was playing in a little group here in the outskirts of New BB J : Did you come from a musical family? Orleans for about five dollars a night. That was for the four piece band! PF: Well, my dad played drums in the country in Biloxi, Mississippi. He played a little drums BBJ: You play in your own club now. with a band, you know, just once in a while and then picked up the fiddle and played the fiddle. He was very PF: I been having my own club since 1960. I’ve talented that way. Whatever instrument he picked up been in the saloon business that long. From ’ 60 he played. He played clarinet before I did. He had I had one club on Bourbon Street that was at 800 talent that way and that’s where I came from. Bourbon. When I came back from I opened that club, and then I moved up to 231 Bourbon, B B J : How soon did you start playing? and after that I’ve been at the Hilton for the last 27 years. PF: I started playing when I was nine years old, because I had weak lungs; it was the doctor’s BBJ: Are you pulling consistently big audiences? orders to play a wind instrument. I thought by j ust taking up the drums that would help me but the doctor said no, PF: We were. We were for the longest, because I you have to get something to blow on. I used to listen was doing Carson (the Johnny Carson NBC- to on the radio show and I enjoyed the TVTonight Show) at least four times a year, and getting clarinet, so that’s why I told by dad and mother, “Give a plug there, but we’re pulling pretty good. The club V O LU M E L XXV BIG BAND JUMP NEWSLETTER JULY-AUGUST 2001 holds a little over four hundred, and we get maybe two, two fifty which is pretty good, ‘cause we just do one show a night. We do one show on Tuesday and one show on Friday and Saturday.

BBJ: How many times were you on Carson?

PF: Fifty-eight times. That really helped my busi­ ness out through the years, you know. So it was like a second time for me, with the Lawrence Welk being the first career, and my second career was with Johnny Carson.

BBJ: How would you describe your clarinet style in comparison to Shaw or Goodman, for ex­ ample?

PF: Goodman was one of my idols; Goodman and Irving Fazola, who was a clarinet player with the Bobcats. He was the one who did MARCH OF THE BOBCATS and a lot of the Crosby Orchestra stuff. He also played with Claude Thornhill, Pete Fountain Hirschfeld caricature he did the SNOWFALL. He played with for a while. When he came back home I used arranged for Tonight Show performance. to listen to him a lot. I really like Benny Goodman’s drive and his technique, and I like Fazola’s blues sound, PF: That was Bob Bain, he was the Tonight Show so I really went for that. So between both of them I Band guitarist, and he did a lot of arranging for come up with Fountain and I’m lucky enough to come the Tonight Show. He did all mine for the Tonight Show. up with something. I used to listen to ’s stuff with the Grammercy Five. I enj oyed his playing on that, BBJ: He worked for the Bob Crosby Orchestra, and Benny Goodman with his small didn’t he? group. That was a hell of a group. PF: He did some stuff for them, and also played BBJ: You have a clarinet that was owned by Irving guitar for them. He was known for a lot of the Fazola. arrangements he’s done around California for years, and he worked the Tonight Show the whole time with PF: His mother gave it to me when he died. Johnny, and then when I went out there to do it, I had a couple of my little head arrangements, he said maybe we BBJ: You open your latest CD with AVALON.... could do some stuff together, and that’s what started it. one associated with Goodman. All the arrangements I played on the Tonight Show after that was Bob Bain. PF: That one and SHINE. Those two were the songs I used to listen to Benny play; well, a lot BBJ: Those arrangements are expanded on the al­ of Benny’s stuff, but I recorded those.... Bob Bain.... bum, aren’t they? he said, “Maybe we could do something in the swing stuff, like Goodman.” PF: Yeah, yeah. Usually when you do the things on Carson they want no more than two and a half or BBJ: Most of the cuts in your new album were three minutes. Some of those we just stretched out a little.

2 VOLUMELXXV BIG BAND JUMP NEWSLETTER JULY-AUGUST 2001

B BJ: JUST A CLOSER WALK WITH THEE was BBJ: What’s the future of Big Bands? an important part of your career. PF: Oh, I don’t know. It’sjustsohardtotakeaBig PF: That was my hit. I got a gold single for that. Band on the road. You need a ton of money. I That was the only single that went gold for me, know when I go on the road with six pieces and myself the rest were four gold albums. That was Coral, and my manager.... you’re talking about eight pieces. Brunswick and then it went into MCA. Now, you’re talking about maybe 21 pieces with all the equipment, you ’re talking about a lot of money, so that ’ s BBJ: Do you ever play outside the solo opening in the why you don’t see Big Bands going around the country. arrangement, over the band? B B J: How many years are you going to keep playing? PF: Oh, sure. All the time. If I find a hole or someplace where somebody’s breathing, PF: I’m 71 now, and I have a little over 90 albums I’m gonna’ put a couple of notes in. I’ve made; I think there’s about 14 CDs still out there on the market. BBJ: That’s all spontaneous, isn’t it? Pete Fountain never did directly answer the ques­ PF: Oh, yeah, that’s all head stuff. He didn’t write tion about how long he expected to keep working, for me, he just wrote for the orchestra. He but if he’s like most people in the entertainment field, wrote the leads, but I never did follow it. I just looked he ’ll probably be working until he absolutely can’t at it to find out where I was with the band, but otherwise do it anymore. The album mentioned in the interview I didn’tpay any attention to it. I usually listened.... my is reviewed elsewhere in this issue. A BBJ program of ears were my greatest thing. Pete Fountain is scheduled for the weekend o f July 14-15. BBJ: How much of your personality or emotion comes through your clarinet? Does your play­ Another reed player will be interviewed in the ing reflect how you feel? September-October, 2001 issue of this newslet­ ter. He is Bob Wilber, whose name may not be PF: Sure. My teacher used to always say you familiar to you, but whose work with the World’s could feel what you ate that day, because that Greatest Band, with Benny Goodman tribute feeling is going to come out through the hom. And then bands, plus composing, writing and performing you gotta’ find a good reed. The reed makes the whole for jazz groups and Big Bands has been a vital thing. part of music for a half century.

B B J: There are classic stories about Benny Goodman LETTERS TO THE EDITOR never finding the right reed. Letters to BIG BAND JUMP or the BBJ NEWS­ PF: I heard a story about Artie Shaw, the reason he LETTER may be sent to the address below, or e- really quit. Somebody said he quit playing the mailed to: [email protected]. All letters clarinet because he couldn’t find a good reed all the are answered, but the volume of mail sometimes time, and that’s the truth. You find one, and I call it delays a timely response. marrying it. You gotta’ marry the reed, and then all of BBJ NEWSLETTER a sudden four weeks from then it goes out on you and Box 52252 you have to start all over again looking for a good reed Atlanta, GA 30355 to try to make it sing. You know, you could get a reed to just play but the last time I talked to he The published letters have been edited for space said, “Pete, you got a reed.... is it singing?” considerations, but the meaning has been preserved.

3 VOLUMELXXVBIGBANDJUMPNEWSLETTER JULY-AUGUST 2001

Donald Shepard I just heard one of your shows Henderson, MI on our local radio station here in Owosso and you were doing requests, but I missed sending in my request. I am looking for the recording of when he made a recording of, if I remember the title, WHEN REUBIN SWINGS THE CUBAN DOWN IN CUB ATOWN, or something in that order. I have called several disc jockeys and they think I am goofy or something else.

That might be WHEN YUBA PLAYS THE RHUMBA DOWN IN CUBA, which was written by Herman Hupfeld, the same composer who wrote AS TIME GOES BY and LET’S PUT OUT THE LIGHTS AND GO TO SLEEP. We don't have that Louis Armstrong recording in our library, sorry to report.

Bob Sulaski Ireallyenjoyyourprogram. Ilistenon Peoria, IL the internet because it is not aired on a Peoria station. Occasionally you have referred to Billy May on your program. He was my wife’s and my favorite band. The unique sound of his James recording with favorite studio shirt Big Band only existed for a short time but his arrange­ ments for Frank Sinatra, Nat Cole and various bands spanned many years. Have you ever done a program on James on the recording titled BARN 12 you played on Billy May? a recent program which included some later James recordings? Thanks for your many hours of wonderful music and commentary. That recording was made on May 4th, 1957 for a Capitol album. The drummer was Buddy We interviewed Billy May some years ago in this Rich. Barn 12 was the number of the barn at newsletter, and there is a full two hour program Santa Anita where Betty Grable and Harry highlighting his considerable contributions to mu­ James kept their race horses. It’s interesting sic. He is, we think, overlooked by the general to note that Harry James wore the same striped public, for his work has had vast influence in Big shirt to all his recording sessions during that Bands, radio, motion pictures, children’s record­ period, thinking it brought him good luck.... ings and such projects as the TIME-LIFE Big Band and good recording. series. Harry Volpe Great show! Too bad WRNJ We 're repeating the Billy May tribute program on Washington, NJ in Hackettstown, NJ dropped the weekend o f August 4-5, 2001. Please see it. I now pick it up on WEST UPCOMING BBJ PROGRAM TITLES for a descrip­ in Easton and WKAP in Allentown, Pennsylvania. tion o f the program. Suggestions for future shows: Sweet bands that tried to swing - Vincent Lopez, Art Mooney, Shep Fields, Henry Brennan I’m a regular listener. Who . Sidemen who fronted Big Bands - Ziggy Mason City, IA was the drummer for Harry Elman, Vido Musso, Sam Donahue, Cootie Williams.

4 V O LU M E L XXV BIG BAND JUMP NEWSLETTER JU L Y -A U G U S T 2001

Ron Soucy I have been a fan of yours for the past We did a full hour of Transfer a Coquille, OR couple of years after I got a computer couple of years ago, and a check of our trusty andfoundyouatbroadcast.com. Since computer tells us the last vocal group program on Yahoo has been in charge they haven ’t been doing right BBJ was September of '99. We ’ll certainly have by you. At times they keep playing the same program. to schedule one again, and promise to do that by I hope you can chew somebody out. scheduling a program of the vocal groups some­ time during September-October, 2001. We ap­ You ’re very perceptive, for it seems the Yahoo preciate the heads-up. takeover at broadcast.com destroyed the origi­ nal company’s drive for excellence, and we’ve Larry Daugherty I really enjoyed the Dinning complained a great deal; the latest complaint has Sacramento, CA Sisterson Sunday 5-20-01 over been effective so far. Your best bet is to get Sacramento’s KCTC. My BBJ directly at our own website: wife said “the WHO sis­ www.bigbandjump.com where it’s controlled by ters?” I actually have an our own webmaster, and archived by him. We old 78 album showing the have yet to be able to put our sister program, the three sisters on the inside DON KENNEDY SHOW on our own BBJ website, front cover in very attrac­ but we're working on it. Meantime, you can hear tive outfits. They were the DK SHOW on a link to broadcast.com. most pleasant to look at and listen to! Keith Davis Love your program and listen Salt Lake City, UT to it faithfully twice a week John Belt (Saturday and Sunday) on Great Falls, MT KKDS 1060 AM in Salt Lake City. I am in my mid­ thirties. My son, daughter, and many of their friends I’m looking for a copy of also listen often and love Big Band music. Hopefully a Ted Heath’s I’VE GOT The Dinning Sisters: groundswell of newer, younger listeners will result in a THE WORLD ON A Jean, Lou & Ginger revival of this wonderful music genre. Keep up the STRING. excellent work! We checked our eleven Ted Heath CDs and a We published this blatantly congratulatory letter dozen Heath LPs, but couldn ’t find WORLD ON A because it’s representative of letters and phone STRING. Maybe readers can help. Dr. Belt is at calls we ’re getting more often these days; not in 320 28th Avenue, NW - Great Falls, MT 59404. great numbers, but once in a while. Let’s hope it’s the beginning o f a trend, not only by the Bob Benschine I know it’s a long shot, but are dancing younger generations, as evident for Sutter’s Mill, CA recordings of BIG BAND some years, but by younger folk who actually JUMP programs available? want to listen to the music. We thoroughly enjoyed the “Class Of ’46" program.

Bill Sullivan Love the newsletter and won- This is a question that comes up often. No, stringent Sun City, AZ dered if you might explore the copyright laws prevent us from selling or giving subject of the great vocal groups away the BBJ program, but you ’re free to record it of past and present? The band groups.... at home whenever you like, and we understand Modemaires, Pied Pipers and good musical groups like scores o f listeners do that. The Four Freshmen and the HiLo’s. Although more commercial, there was nothing wrong with the Mills Lee Tyler I’ve only recently discovered Brothers or either. And, of Burlingame, CA you and your super show on course, Manhattan Transfer. radio station KCSM-FM here

5 VOLUMELXXV BIG BAND JUMP NEWSLETTER JU LY -A U G U S T 2001 intheBayarea. Iloveyour deep, wry voice. How long album for you, but if have you been doing the show? What is your back­ you’re looking for ground? some fresh Dorsey arrangements, In syndication for fifteen years. There have been you’ve found an similar letters asking for more personal informa­ ideal album. The tion about the BBJ host, Don Kennedy, so we’ve same musical per­ included an article about him in this issue. fection that identi­ fied T ommy Dorsey Album cover in the ’30s and ’40s BOOKS & RECORDS TO CONSIDER is demonstrated here, but with fresh arrangements, $ many by . There are selections here that BIG BAND BLUES would have been popular hits if they had been ex­ Ranwood 8278-2 posed on the radio with the frequency of the '40s, but by the time these transcriptions were made, the It is the Big Band nature of this album that makes it of vocalists had taken over. particular interest, for it is composed of arrangements by former Tonight Show guitarist Bob Bain, played by Some of the well-known names included in the Tommy the current Lawrence Welk Orchestra and recorded at Dorsey group include Charlie Shavers, Sam Donahue the Welk Theater in Branson, Missouri. The Welk and Louis Bellson. There are a total of 79 musical Orchestra has been playing together in Branson for selections, plus ten voice-track intros by Tommy years, and for that reason sound more cohesive than a Dorsey, originally supplied to radio stations for pro­ one-time studio group. The actual arrangements, duction purposes but valuable for today ’ s listeners to made originally for television performance, have been set the scene. extended. Tracks include: EMBRACEABLE YOU, SLEEPY LAGOON, MY FOOLISH HEART, JUST ONE OF There are 14 superbly recorded tracks, including THOSE THINGS, MEAN TO ME, I’VE GOT A AVALON, TIN ROOF BLUES, IT HAD TO BE CRUSH ON YOU, TAKING A CHANCE ON LOVE YOU, GEORGIA ON MY MIND, BASIN STREET and those wonderful originals by Bill Finegan exempli­ BLUES, SHINE, YOU BROUGHT A NEW KIND fied by HOLLYWOOD HAT, PICALILLY DILLY (a OF LOVE TO ME, UP A LAZY RIVER and, of play, ofcourse, on Picadilly Lilly) and TWO BEATS ON course, the Pete Fountain classic, JUST A CLOSER A BAT. There are also some Charlie Shavers originals. WALK WITH THEE. Peter Levinson, whose book TRUMPET BLUES was reviewed last year in this If you’re a hard-core fan of Big Bands, we highly newsletter, has written the album notes. recommend this album. Even though transcriptions were made more quickly than commercial recordings, Available in record stores or they can order it, or you the relaxed performance is, to this reviewer, an advan­ can order directly from: RANWOOD RECORDS - tage. There is, for example, a lyric error by Johnny 2700 Pennsylvania Avenue - Santa Monica, CA 90404. Amoroso in MY FOOLISH HEART. He sings, “....fall and fade apart,” instead of “....fade and fall apart,” but THE 1950-52 TOMMY DORSEY ORCHESTRA it was left in, either because no one caught it, or time Soundies SCD 4115 constraints in the recording studio didn’t allow another take. The album is a delight. This album contains the complete Standard Transcrip­ tion library performances of the post Big Band Era May be ordered directly from: SOUNDIES at 1-800- Tommy Dorsey band, recorded at a time when the Big 832-8388. Band Era was over. If you’re looking for the familiar sounds of Tommy Dorsey, this possibly isn’t the H.W. 6 (Please fold on dotted line)

(Please fold on dotted line)

BBJ NEWSLETTER Box 12,000 Atlanta, GA 30355

BBJ NEWSLETTER Box 12,000 Atlanta, GA 30355

(Tape or Staple Here) 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.

BIG BAND JUMP NEWSLETTER SUBSCRIPTION FORM

IT'S RENEWALTIMEFORSEVENTIETH ISSUESUBSCRIBERSTOTHEBBJ NEWSLETTER

If your address labef has a<70) on it, this isthe last issue of the BBJ NEWSLETTER you'll receive under your current subscription.

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 charge or send check or money order for $22.95 to:

NEWSLETTER Box 12,000 Atlanta, GA 30355

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

( ) [Renewals] Yes, please renew my subscription.

Account Number Expiration Date

Month Year

NAME ______

ADDRESS ______

CITY ______STATE ZIP

I’m enclosing a check or money-order, or please charge to my VISA or MASTERCARD, as above. (75) THE CENTER PAGE OFFER - &

These are both magnificent albums, and you may buy them individually or together a t a savings. Quite frankly, we’re surprised th a t the EASY JAZZ album by Paul Weston hasn’t appealed to more folks, for it contains solo work by some key names in music. By the same token, the (3.1. JO album with Jo Stafford has been overlooked, but may find a fresh audience in light of the upcoming 6 0 th anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor. You can get either one for $15.95 plus $2.50 S&JH, or both for $30.00 with FREE shipping & handling. How’s that for an incentive! Here’s the description of the two albums: G.l. JO - JO STAFFORD SINGS SONGS OF WWII

The crystal-clear voice of Jo Stafford with Paul Weston’s orchestra recalls the most poignant lyrics of WWII, including I’LL WALK ALONE, I LEFT MY HEART AT THE STAGE DOOR CANTEEN, YOU’LL NEVER KNOW, I’LL REMEMBER APRIL, IT COULD HAPPEN TO YOU, I DON’T WANT TO WALK WITHOUT YOU, I FALL IN LOVE TOO EASILY, I’LL BE SEEING YOU, WE MUSTN’T SAY GOODBYE and NO LOVE, NO NOTHIN’. There’s no question that the musical and technical quality of this CD is beyond reproach, arranged with skill and conducted with excellence by Paul Weston; the lyrics sung with emotion by Jo Stafford.

(Bl) G.l. JO - JO STAFFORD CD $ 15.95 plus $2.50 S&H

EASY JAZZ - PAUL WESTON AND HIS ORCHESTRA

Paul Weston decided th a t he’d spotlight the marvelous players he’d been using for years in studio recording, players whose individual a rtistry hadn’t been heard since the Big Band Era. He arranged standards for the orchestra to provide a tapestry for these soloists, including such top musicians as: , Barney Kessel, Ziggy Elman, Eddie Miller, Paul Smith, M atty Matlock, Ted Nash, , Joe Howard and . The selections used for these top soloists to perform include: BODY AND SOUL, GEORGIA ON MY MIND, LULLABY IN RHYTHM, MY FUNNY VALENTINE, YOU ARJE TOO BEAUTIFUL, LOUISIANA, A FOGGY DAY, SKYLARK, SWEET LORRAINE, AUTUMN IN and others for a total of fifteen beautifully recorded and selections.

(B2) EASY JAZZ CD $ 15.95 plus $2.50 S&H

Both CDs together: (BB3) $ 30.00 with FREE shipping & handling

Please send me: ( ) Bl $15.95 plus $2.50 ( ) B2 $15.95 plus $2.50 ( ) BB3 $30.00 (FREE S&H)

NAME

ADDRESS ______

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 12000 - Atlanta, GA 30355. Or call toll-free: 1-800-377-0022. (Please fold on dotted line)

(Please fold on dotted line)

BBJ NEWSLETTER Place Box 12,000 Atlanta, GA 30355 Stamp

Here

BBJ NEWSLETTER Box 12,000 Atlanta, GA 30355

(Tape or Staple Here) VOLUMELXXV BIG BAND JUMP NEWSLETTER JULY-AUGUST 2001

ART DEPEW - BIG BAND SWING & BALLADS for Nat Cole’s in­ Spooky Records ventive keyboard style. Now some­ These are original one at Capitol arrangements by w k It Records has as­ Art Depew, the It k 1 iryr * " v t It *1 k k sembled an album trumpeter who now it. It k It . I t It of trio perfor­ leads the Harry m k I t t * V it i mances from their James “ghost” band, W m ' It K k k archives to allow us but refreshingly, t \ \ i . k I to hear the Cole pi­ they are not imita­ t N t \ i S tN ano artistry again. tions of the James tStNti \ \ style, but new t w V it k k The original King sounds of estab­ Cole Trio with lished standards, Johnny Miller’s bass and Oscar Moore’s guitar is with a couple of Art’s album cover represented in the first 15 tracks of the CD, recorded vocals by Cassie from 1943 through 1947. The last three tracks are 1949 Miller and four bluesy vocals by Art Depew. Art performances with Joe Comfort’s bass and Irving Depew not only sings and plays trumpet, but is also Ashby ’s guitar, and with Jack Costanza ’ s bongos added. heard playing soprano sax. The 1943 and ’44 tunes give us the early Capitol sound of the trio, with JUMPIN’ AT CAPITOL, EASY There are seventeen cuts including STARDUST, THE LISTENING BLUES and a Nat Cole composition titled CARIOCA, HIGH SOCIETY, BODY AND SOUL, THIS WAY OUT, all giving full freedom to Cole’s HERE’S THAT RAINY DAY, IT HAD TO BE melodic invention, often sounding like individual compo­ YOU, BASIN STREET BLUES, CHEROKEE, ST. sitions within the original tune’s structure. The more JAMES INFIRMARY, BOURBON STREET BLUES recognizable melodies are: THE MAN I LOVE, BODY and others. There’s plenty of room on this CD for the AND SOUL, SWEET GEORGIA BROWN and HON­ excellent sidemen to solo, as well as solos from the EYSUCKLE ROSE. Mr. Rachmaninoffs PRELUDE leader. For example, Jim Snodgrass takes a generous IN C SHARP MINOR is a 1944 offering, and we tenor sax ride on DONKEY SERENADE, and drum­ suspect the composer would be pleased with Mr. Cole’s mer Frank De Vito was, in the words of Art Depew, interpretation. “turned loose” on their version of OLD MAN RIVER. A CD demonstrating a leader’s love of the Big Band Eighteen tracks for a total of over 52 minutes playing sound, faithfully recorded and lovingly performed. time, and as the current friendship or parenting phrase goes, it’s “quality time.” May be ordered directly from: Art Depew - (818) 763-6341 or on-line [email protected]. Should be readily available at any large record store, or they can order it. D.K. H.W. THE BEST OF THE TRIO - INSTRUMENTAL CLASSICS Check us out on the Internet! Capitol CDP 7 98288 2

It was pure economics behind the promotion of Nat BIG BAND JIMP Cole as a vocalist. The record-buying public liked his is repeated after broadcast each week at singing in preference to his talents, and the Nat www.bigbandjump.com King Cole voice became the major product, and that E-Mail questions and comments: product was superb. What a shame, however, that the [email protected] trio was abandoned, for it provided the template

7 VOLUME LXXV BIG BAND JUMP NEWSLETTER JULY-AUGUST 2001

BANDLEADER PICTURE QUIZ

We were talking among ourselves to come up with a kind of quiz with a different approach, yet one that presents a challenge to the readers, and we think perhaps we stumbled across an l. 2. 3. idea. It’s a picture quiz, with the photos of both well-known and not so well-known bandleaders or musical personalitiesforyou to identify. You simply write the name of the person pictured, and then check your answers noted elsewhere in this issue. We’re not sure how difficult this will be, but we’ve mixed some fairly easy to identify faces with more obscure mugs. 4. 5. ___ 6. OK folks, take pen or pencil in hand, and remember the first impression you have is usually the correct one. nt»\ j If you come up with eight of these, you’re a musical genius.... or perhaps more accurately, a photo genius. Six gives you the opportunity E l to work for the FBI cataloging pictures to be 7. 8. 9. lost permanently in their files, four or fewer identifications indicate that you may not be able to recognize your friends on the street. (Only kidding, of course, for this quiz turned out to be tougher than we expected it to be.) Now, l ? 3 if you’re finished writing in all the names you can come up with, search for the answers, and thank you for completing the quiz. # - 10.

BBJ HOST DON KENNEDY STORY Don would sneak down from his bedroom to watch and listen. “It was wonderful.... a big, full-bodied In answer to a number of requests about BBJ host Don sound," he remembers. “I just got hooked on big bands.” Kennedy’s background, we asked BBJ producer and The first big band recordings he recalls belonged to writer Dave Riggs to compose a profile. Jack: Bunny Berigan’s “Livery Stable Blues" and Big band music and broadcasting have been a part of “High Society" and Tommy Dorsey’s “Marie" and Don Kennedy’s life almost as far back as he can “Song of India." “I played them over and over on a remember. He is the youngest of five brothers, bom windup phonograph we had on the back porch." He into a musical family in the tiny Pennsylvania town of was just seven years old. Beaver, just outside . Everyone, except And it was Jack who helped ignite Don’s love for radio Don, played in the family orchestra. He did take piano when he was only 13. Jack introduced him to an lessons for a few years, but he enjoyed listening more announcer friend who allowed him to observe the than he did playing. studio operation. Don was fascinated by what His love of big band music started while he was still in he saw... the microphones, the turntables, the elementary school. His older brother Jack’s 17 piece control room, everything about it. Don was hooked band rehearsed at night in the family living room. on radio. His brother helped him build a tiny VOLUMELXXV BIG BAND JUMP NEWSLETTER JULY-AUGUST 2001 radio station in the basement of their parents' home. They set up their slightly illegal antenna in a pear tree in the back yard. For an hour each day, Don broadcast to his neighbors within a block-and-a-half of his home.... reading news from the Pittsburgh paper, playing records, reciting poetry.... all on a very precise minute-by-minute radio schedule. Before he was out of high school, he was a part-time announcer on WPIC's then-new FM station in Sharon, Pennsylvania. (He auditioned when he was 13, including the reading of a Bulova watch commer­ cial.... which he can still recite word-for-word from memory today.) While he attended Geneva College, he continued his radio learning experiences at another Today's DK The 1947 DK new station near the school, WBVP in Beaver Falls, Pennsylvania. While working at WBVP, he began operate as a team. Young people who hear a big band interviewing musical celebrities.... Stan Kenton, Nat today for the first time are just blown away. They’re King Cole, , , Harry amazed because there’s so much sound.... acoustical James, Tommy Dorsey and many others. His first sound.... dependent on the skill of the musician, not interview, with June Christy when he was 18, was a an electronic effect." nerve-wracking experience. He remembers Christy being as gracious as she was gorgeous. “She was In the early eighties he began using his record collec­ extremely nice to me because 1 was so nervous." tion and extensive knowledge of the music and musi­ cians to produce and host Big Band Jump (first known He remembers Gene Krupa as “the nicest man I ever as One O’clock Jump for the hour it was scheduled on met in the music business." When Don was still in his Sunday afternoons) on an Atlanta college radio sta­ teens, his father went with him to interview with tion. The program was syndicated in 1986 and Krupa at one o'clock in the morning, after the drum­ quickly grew into a two-hour weekly program heard mer finished a long day crammed with six or seven on nearly 200 radio stations in the U.S. and Canada. shows at the Palace Theater in Youngstown, Ohio. It takes about 16 hours of research, writing, produc­ Don's dad was “an old march drummer and they got tion and editing to come up with each week’s program. along like they’d known each other forever." Given the Each show focuses on a unique theme and is filled with late hour and number of shows he put on that day, the way interesting anecdotes and little-known facts about the Krupa was “so nice to my dad and me really stuck out." music and the artists who perform it. After college and army service, Kennedy ended up in Each week as he works on Big Band Jump in his Atlanta and was the star of the highest rated local combination recording studio/ library, he is surrounded children's TV program in the country for fifteen years. by some of his 8,000 recordings, his reference books.... In 1960, he started the first FM stereo station in and a 58 year old black and white photograph of a Georgia, then organized one of the first state news young man playing saxophone. 1116 photo is an networks in Georgia and later in Florida and, in 1976, important reminder of where it all started for Don; of took over as president and general manager of an the person who first introduced him to big band Atlanta television station. During all those years, he music, to broadcasting and so much more. It is the stayed in close touch with the music and stars of the man who has been the biggest influence in Don’s big bands.... hosting concerts and announcing re­ life.... his older brother Jack. mote broadcasts, interviewing orchestra leaders and adding to his already large collection of big band Kennedy has been honored with two Emmys for TV recordings. public service announcements, received a prestigious award for a quarter-century of service and innovation Don’s love for this music stems from the “depth of in the Georgia television industry, and most recently, feeling and breadth of the sound. I don’t think was presented the Georgia Association of Broadcast­ there’s anything as impressive as hearing a big band ers’ Pioneer Broadcaster Award and named to the in person. The musicians listen to each other and Georgia Broadcaster’s Hall of Fame.

9 V O LU M E LXXV BIG BAND JUMP NEWSLETTER JU L Y -A U G U S T 2001

INTERNET SURVEY RESULTS respondents listed albums instead of single selections, for all recordings produced now are albums, and their logical assumption from a current standpoint was to list single CDs or LPs rather than single selections.

Here, for the record, are the top ten from the first BIG BAND JUMP internet survey:

1 - 2 - Glenn Miller 3 Stardust - Artie Shaw 4 Sing, Sing, Sing - Benny Goodman (specified in all cases as the Carnegie Hall version, not the studio version) 5 Take The A Train - 6 Begin The Beguine - Artie Shaw 7 Song Of India - Tommy Dorsey 8 String Of Pearls - Glenn Miller 9 I’m Gettin’ Sentimental Over You-Tommy Dorsey 10 St. Louis Blues March - Glenn Miller Military Band.

Krupa & Babe Russin in 1938 with Interesting to note that the Recording Industry As­ Goodman Band at Carnegie Hall sociation of America and the National Endowment for the Arts came up with only three Big Band For the past several months we’ve asked visitors to the recordings in their selection of the top twenty re­ www.bigbandjump.com website to list their top ten cordings of the century, rating IN THE MOOD by recordings, the ones they ’ d take to a desert island if they Glenn Miller as number 11, WHEN THE SAINTS could select only ten. We ran a similar survey in this GO MARCHING IN by Louis Armstrong as number newsletter and on the air several years ago with the 13 and Duke Ellington’s TAKE THE A TRAIN in votes sent in by mail, but wanted to see if exclusively the number 17 spot. internet votes would result in any vast differences. There were at least two major variances noted, and one minor difference. SIDELIGHTS

While the most popular recordings in past surveys also Nearly everyone agrees that Tommy Dorsey was a appeared in the top part of this one, they were in a difficult man to work for, with precise musical stan­ different order. For example, Artie Shaw’s STARDUST dards. He also had a temper. An oft-told story illustrates was always by far the number one selection in past polls, both his standards and his temper, for one time when he but in this one it was number three. The selections that was looking for a trumpet player, he asked the band for didn’t show up in the top ten, but were clustered beneath suggestions. “How about so-and-so?” one of the number ten tended to be either later Big Band record­ bandmembers said. “He’s a nice guy.” ings or swing numbers such as LEAP FROG, EAGER “Nice guys are a dime a dozen?” was Tommy’s angry BEAVER and CHEROKEE. More themes of the Big reply. “Get me a jerk who can play! ” (The wording was Bands emerged in this survey’s overall count. Never slightly different, but you get the idea.) before have the Big Band themes been so prominent. Scattered both in the top ten and beneath it were the **** themes of Tommy Dorsey, , Benny Tommy Dorsey stole several musicians from Joe Goodman, Duke Ellington and Les Brown. Marsala’s band. When drummer was stolen from Joe Marsala, he sent Tommy a telegram: A minor but telling generational difference emerged “Dear Tommy - How about giving me a job in your band in this internet-based survey. A number of so I can play with mine?” 10 V O LU M E LXXV BIG BAND JUMP NEWSLETTER JULY-AUGUST 2001

UPCOMING BBJ PROGRAM TITLES after. His work with Benny Goodman plus those free-wheeling late ’ 30s jam sessions at Victor June 30-July 1, 2001 (Repeat for new subscrib- will be highlighted, plus the key melodies that have come INTERNET SURVEY ers.) During the past to identify the Hampton name, including his long-time three months or so we’ve theme, FLYIN’ HOME and the STARDUST that asked the people who visit our website to tell us their resulted from a “live” concert in Pasadena in the late favorite top ten Big Band recordings, the ’40s. Background anecdotes will give us single selections they’d take to a desert the flavor of the life of this remarkable island if they were allowed only ten. We citizen. conducted a similar survey several years ago, inviting on-air listeners and readers of In the second hour, we check into some this newsletter to respond; we’re inter­ of the latest from New Orleans legend ested to see if the strictly internet visitors Pete Fountain. come up with a different trend. We can tell you from early returns that the top titles July 21-22, 2001 Both the tech­ haven ’ t changed much from previous poll s, THE LOST TREA­ nical and musi­ but after the first few the bottom numbers SURES OF TED cal quality of are vastly different. Should be an interest- HEATH Ted Heath was mgmusical view through yetanothermethod BBJ host Don Kennedy demonstrated of polling. on those London LPs in the late ’50s and early ’60s. Now that the Ted Heath Orchestra has been July 7-8, 2001 Clarinetist Bob Wilber found permanently dissolved the masters of many of those LOST GOODMAN a bundle of Fletcher Hender- recordings are particularly cherished. This program is ARRANGEMENTS\ son arrangements never re- put together from a collection of those masters that have LEFTOVERS corded for one reason or an­ been carefully transferred to CD with sound perfection. other. He got together with From bounce to blues, from sweet to swing, we’ll hear an extremely talented French orchestra and with his such Heath gems as MUSKRAT RAMBLE, MISTY, superb clarinet stylings, recorded those “lost” arrange­ WOODCHOPPER’S BALL, JERSEY BOUNCE and ments. We hear some brief Bob Wilber comments BLUES IN THE NIGHT, examples of the kind of about the recording, and listen to the crisp, familiar style melody you'd expect from the Heath group. If you’ve of Fletcher Henderson arrangements we’ve never forgotten the Heath sound, this program will not only heard before. No one can presume to sound like Benny refresh your memory, but provide surprising new audi­ Goodman, of course, but it’s almost as if Fletcher tory delights. Henderson was still with us, and Benny Goodman had just turned out fresh, new recordings of Henderson’s musical ideas. July 28-29, 2001 U sing a c o m b in atio n o f BIG BANDS 1930-’36 those marvelous TIME/LIFE The second hour will be devoted to recordings we didn't Billy May re-creations and have time to play on previous programs, encompassing some of the original recordings, we hear the music that various subjects. For example, we had a Ralph Flanagan immediately preceded the Big Band Era, laying the leftover from our RE-BORN HITS program, and one groundwork for what was to come. Some listeners feel or two leftovers from a MUSIC PLUS WORDS BBJ strongly that only original recordings should be used, but show... and some others. These dangling moments will by combining both the originals and some of the re­ all be combined in an eclectic hour that sometimes is creations, we’re able to not only get the flavor of how more fun than the single-subject hours! it was, but how it would have sounded had modem recording techniques been available in the early ’30s. July 14-15, 2001 Vibes player Lionel Hamp- Seminal influences will be heard from Glen Gray, LIONEL HAMPTON/ ton has contributed mightily PETE FOUNTAIN to the music of the Big Band Fletcher Henderson, Earl Hines, Duke Ellington and the Era as well as all that came Dorsey Brothers, among others. 11 VOLUMELXXV BIG BAND JUMP NEWSLETTER JULY-AUGUST 2001

August 4-5, 2001 For years we’ve Ifballads bore you, the same would apply; it maybe that BILLY MAY PROFILE heard the phrase, we’ll turn everyone off with this one-foot-in-each- “un-sung heroes.” furrow approach, but let’s give it a try. Billy May is, for the most part, an un-sung hero of the Big Band business, for his name was sublimated to August 25-26, 2001 This combination came about the names of leaders he worked for, television series he SENSUOUS SAXES/ when we did a sensuous sax wrote for or singers for whom he arranged. It wasn’t PRETTY PIANO program years ago, and until the ’50s when a band under his own name wanted to update it. We also emerged.... a band to become a financial and musical had a program called the piano players in the can, success when few others were able to make it. We not but needed something to match the beauty of the sax only hear the Billy May music, but his straight-forward performances; hence a re-visitation of the piano players comments from a mid-’90s interview. With such stars with the emphasis on pretty. Marshal Royal, Plas as Bette Midler, Jo Stafford, the Pied Pipers, Nat Cole, Johnson, , Coleman Hawkins and Johnny Charlie Barnet and Glenn Miller, plus the Billy May Hodges are some of the artists to be heard on the first Band and his comments, this promises to be an enter­ hour, followed by Claude Thornhill, George Shearing, taining two hours. Count Basie, Frankie Carle, King Cole and Ralph Sharon on the second hour. August 11-12, 2001 So often in an effort BIG BAND CLASSICS to program different September 1-2, 2001 Certain trumpet players sounds, we neglect TRUMPET PLAYERS distinguished themselves the recordings everyone knows.... the classics in the Big Band Era, and of the Big Band Era. This two hours is dedicated not to this program is made up of recordings of the most different recordings, but to the most familiar, enduring famous of them. Bunny Berigan, of course. Harry recordings we’ve come to know by heart. For the most James, without doubt. Ziggy Elman, naturally. Charlie part, you’ll be able to follow along note-for-note in this Spivak’s sweet tone couldn ’ t be left out. ’ s list of delightful recordings that have become a part of style was rough but unique. A1 Hirt carved a niche, Roy the very fabric of the music of America. Eldridge rose above others, and Billy Butterfield’s smoothnotes distinguished several top recordings. There Represented will be Glenn Miller, of course, plus Tommy will even be a couple of unknown names on the list, and Dorsey, Benny Goodman and Harry James, but we’ll a surprising contribution from Dizzy Gillespie. also hear from , Vaughn Monroe, Sammy Kaye, Artie Shaw, Les Brown, Charlie Barnet and Skinnay Ennis, among others. There won’tbe anything new in this program, but it’ll all be comfortable. Answers to BANDLEADER PICTURE QUIZ

August 18-19, 2001 Ifthetermis FLAG WAVERS & ROMANCE not known to you, a Big 1 - Eddy Howard 2 - Red Nichols 3 - Band flagwaver is a demonstrative, sometimes loud selection generally used at the beginning of a dance Cab Calloway 4 - 5 - Hal program or broadcast in order to establish audience excitement. We’ve done full programs of flagwavers, McIntyre 6 - Skinnay Ennis 7 - Ina but criticism of the consistantly fast rhythms have Ray Hutton 8 - Clyde McCoy 9 - caused us to modify the approach. In this two hours the thrilling flagwavers will be interspersed with gentle, soft, Lionel Hampton 10 - Claude Thornhill romantic ballads to soothe you if, indeed, the flagwavers have jangled your nerves. If you’re bothered by jump tunes, you may have to listen to every other selection.

12 BIG BAND J UMP IS NOW ON THE INTERNET - Heair BIG BAND JUMP and its com pani on program THE DON KENNEDY SHO\N repeated each week after the re(jular broadcasts at www.bigbandjunib-cbtf» * We’re also available c>n E-Mail - send your questions and comments to: [email protected].

IT'S RENEWAL TIME FOR SEVENTIETH ISSUE SUBSCRIBERS TO THE BBJ NEWSLETTER

If your address label has a (70) on it, this is the last issue of the BBJ NEWSLETTER you'll receive under your current subscription. If you'd like to renew your subscription to the BBJ NEWSLETTER (and we certainly hope you do) there's a subscription and renewal form in the middle of this issue.

Several subscribers have given BBJ NEWSLETTERS as gifts to friends in other cities (and in two cases, other continents)... a wonderful idea, both for the friends and for us!

Our thanks to you for being a subscriber!