Big Band Bash

This week I am going back to the first of a couple of programs I produced several years ago. The music comes from a CD set called Big bands live. Each CD had five or six selections from different bands recorded live while they were appearing on location. I produced these two shows about nine years ago so if the introductions sound a little strange that's why. But introductions aside, there is some really nice recordings in this set and luckily there was enough music for two programs. On the show today we'll be hearing the bands of Tommy Dorsey, Jimmy Dorsey and Les Brown. I hope you enjoy these live recordings by some of the great big bands. Please visit this podcast at http://bigbandbashfm.blogspot.com

This week I'm continuing with a listener's request from a few months ago. He wanted me to do a few shows on some of the Big Band arrangers. A few months ago I did a show on Sy Oliver and today we are focusing on Eddie Sauter. Eddie wrote some fantastic arrangements for Benny Goodman, Artie Shaw, Ray McKinley and a few others. Sometimes Eddie's arrangements were too sophisticated and Benny would alter them. One of his best arrangements was done for saxophonist Stan Getz for the album Focus. I hope you enjoy this look at one of the greatest arrangers of the big band era, Mr. Eddie Sauter. Please visit this podcast at http://bigbandbashfm.blogspot.com

On February 11, 2018 Vic Damone passed away. Vic was one of the great vocalists from the late 1940's on who sang songs from the great American Songbook. To remember Vic on the show today, I thought I would play some of his early hit records and then a few songs from a live performance at Basin Street East which was in New York City. The great vocalists are quickly passing away but at least we can listen to their recordings as we remember them. Vic was 89 when he passed away and luckily for us he left a large recorded legacy. I hope you enjoy this look at the career and music of the late Vic Damone. Please visit this podcast at http://bigbandbashfm.blogspot.com

In all the time I have been producing Big Band Bash, I have never done a program on the late Mary Lou Williams. It is always a challenge coming up with ideas for new programs. I try not to repeat myself so it was surprising to me that I had never done a program on Mary Lou. She was an exceptional pianist, arranger and composer. I learned a lot about her career and hope you will enjoy this look at her life and music. So for this week's celebration of Black History Month we will be featuring a look at the First Lady of Jazz Piano, Miss Mary Lou Williams. Please visit this podcast at http://bigbandbashfm.blogspot.com

This week I am following up with Part 2 of the Time-Life series, "The Swing Era", with the second half from the years of 1944-1945. I had so much fun tracking down the originals in this series. As I have done in previous shows from the Time-Life series I am playing the original recordings and following along with the playlist from this set. We'll be hearing from Harry James, Tommy Dorsey, Benny Goodman, Gene Krupa, Les Brown and more. There are a few more sets in this series and hopefully we will get to listen to them all. I hope you enjoy this volume in the series, "The Swing Era". Please visit this podcast at http://bigbandbashfm.blogspot.com

This week we return to the Time-Life series, "The Swing Era", with the volume from the years of 1944-1945. These were still the war years but there were still some great recordings made. As I have done in previous shows from the Time-Life series I am playing the original recordings. We'll be hearing from Harry James, Tommy Dorsey, Benny Goodman, Gene Krupa, Les Brown and more. There are a few more sets in this series and hopefully we will get to listen to them all. I hope you enjoy this volume in the series, "The Swing Era". Please visit this podcast at http://bigbandbashfm.blogspot.com

George Gershwin has always been one of my favorite composers. I thought it would be fun to learn about his career as we listen to different bands playing his music. Some of the bands we'll be hearing include Artie Shaw, Benny Carter, Larry Clinton, Stan Kenton and Jimmy Dorsey. I hope you enjoy this look at one of America's great composers, George Gershwin. Please visit this podcast at http://bigbandbashfm.blogspot.com

As we begin the new year, I would like to honor a listener's request. He asked me to do a couple of shows on the big band arrangers. So today we are going to be listening to some of those fantastic arrangments by Sy Oliver. During the Big band era, Sy spent his career with two bands, Jimmie Lunceford and Tommy Dorsey. I decided to play a lot of the hits of Sy's from those two bands. So we start today with Sy Oliver and in the weeks to come I'll be looking at some of the other great arrangers like Eddie Sauter, Fletcher Henderson, and Bill Finegan. I hope you enjoy the music and thanks for listening. Please visit this podcast at http://bigbandbashfm.blogspot.com

Well, the New Year is upon us. Every year for the past several years I have usually played a special big band show called 1945 - 1946 New Year's Dancing Party. I ran this last year and it is still available. I didn't want to run this again so I am going to repeat a show from 2014. Back in November, Hoagy Carmichael had a birthday. Since there were other things going on, I missed doing a show on him. So today's show is one I recorded in 2014. It is a Hoagy Carmichael Celebration. Hoagy composed quite a few songs that are now part of the Great American Songbook. I think you'll enjoy this look at the music and career of the late, great composer, Hoagy Carmichael as we ring in the New Year. Happy Holidays everyone and thank you for listening. Please visit this podcast at http://bigbandbashfm.blogspot.com

Merry Christmas and Happy New Years everyone. Welcome to Part 2 of my 1940's Christmas Traditions show. Last time in between the music I read some holiday traditions started in the 1940's. On the show today, I am going to be reading some Stocking Stuffers from the Associated Press. Stocking Stuffers is a series produced by the Associated Press that consists of about 50 segments on various holiday traditions. Each segment is about 10 to 15 sentences. It is very interesting and I hope you enjoy these segments as well as the music. Happy Holidays everyone and thank you for listening. Please visit this podcast at http://bigbandbashfm.blogspot.com

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays everyone. This is part one of a program I call 1940's Christmas Traditions Part 1. Many of the ways we celebrate Christmas were started in the 1940's so I thought it would be interesting to learn how some of these traditions started. I am going to start the show with a segment from Franklyn D. Roosevelt's 1940 lighting of the Christmas tree speech and then we'll be into some big band holiday favorites. All the songs on today's show were recorded in the 1940's. Please visit this podcast at http://bigbandbashfm.blogspot.com

December 15th is the birthday of the late Stan Kenton and it has been awhile since I presented a program on Stan and his band so I wanted to go back and revisit his music again. As a musician it was his band from the 1950's that I enjoyed listening to the most. However, on today's show I'm going back to those great Kenton classics from the 1940's. I have really come to enjoy the vocals of Anita O'Day and June Christy when they were the vocalists with his band. I hope you will enjoy listening to this great music and learning about the career of the late Stan Kenton. Please visit this podcast at http://bigbandbashfm.blogspot.com

Born on November 2, 1908, this trumpeter, despite the brevity of his career and his all-too-short life, remains one of the most compelling trumpet players in the history of music. Do you know who it is? If I said his initials were BB and his first name was not Bix then you would say I was speaking of the great Bunny Berigan. Today we pay a birthday salute to one of the most exciting trumpet players in Big Band history. We'll start with a couple numbers by Benny Goodman and then a couple by Tommy Dorsey. All of these have great solos by Bunny. Then we'll play some of the sides he recorded with his own band. I hope you enjoy this look at the music and career of the late Bunny Berigan. Please visit this podcast at http://bigbandbashfm.blogspot.com

This week wraps up our look at the songs that were the hits from the 1940's as played on the radio show, Your Hit Parade. Today's show will feature songs from the years of 1948 and 1949. All the songs on this series came from a 10 CD set which, unfortunately, is no longer available. I have some new shows coming in the weeks ahead so I hope you'll keep downloading and tuning in. Thanks so much for listening. Please visit this podcast at http://bigbandbashfm.blogspot.com

Welcome to part four of my five part series on the radio program Your Hit Parade. I am back to my old self so this week's show is one that I have rerecorded. Back in 2009, I produced the original series from a ten CD set that featured songs from Your Hit Parade. In the set, each CD was devoted to a particular year and there were more songs than I could play in an hour. Today's show features songs that I didn't get to play the first time around. We are going to listening to songs that were popular in the years of 1946 and 1947. I am going to conclude next week as we end the decade with songs from 1948 and 1949. I hope you enjoy the music from one of radios longest running shows, Your Hit Parade. Please visit this podcast at http://bigbandbashfm.blogspot.com

This week I am going to continue with more music that was featured on Your Hit Parade during the years of 1944 and 1945. I am still a little under the weather so I am going back to the Big Band Bash vaults to pull out the original program in this series. I recorded a little introduction which you'll hear where I explain that this was originally aired in 2009. The theme is a little slower - it was the one I originally used until I found a little faster version. There is some great music in this set and I hope you enjoy this program in the Big Band Bash series from 2009. I hope to resume next week with different songs and a healed up voice. Please visit this podcast at http://bigbandbashfm.blogspot.com

We continue with our look at the songs that were being played on Your Hit Parade during the years of 1942 and 1943. I apologize for the way my voice sounds on the introduction. I had prerecorded all the other spots and just needed to record the intro. Yesterday, I came down with a bad cold and woke up this morning sounding like a bull frog. Rather than substitute in a rerun I elected to record a short introduction. There are some great sides on this program so I hope you enjoy it not counting my rough sounding introduction. Please visit this podcast at http://bigbandbashfm.blogspot.com

A few years ago I did a series of programs on the radio show Your Hit Parade. The songs came from a ten CD set that I have. Each CD features the songs from a certain year that were featured on Your Hit Parade. There were more songs on the CD than I could play in an hour show so I have decided to revisit this set and pick out different songs. Each show combines two years so today's show will feature songs from the years of 1940 and 1941. We'll also learn the history of the radio show as we listen to some great songs. I hope you'll join me for a potpourri of songs as we begin the series Your Hit Parade Part 1. Please visit this podcast at http://bigbandbashfm.blogspot.com

She was one of the greatest singers of the big band era. She sang with three of the most popular big bands. Her name is Helen Forrest and she was born on April 12, 1917. I missed her birthday back in April so today we are going to be listening to some of the many sides that Helen recorded with Artie Shaw, Benny Goodman, and Harry James. When she left the James band Helen went on to a very successful solo career. She died in 1999. I hope you enjoy this birthday salute to the great Helen Forrest. Please visit this podcast at http://bigbandbashfm.blogspot.com

We lost another Big Band leader a few weeks ago. Larry Elgart was 95 when he passed away at his home in Florida. Larry, who led a big band with his brother, was a fine alto saxophonist and composer. He had a big hit in 1982 with a medley of big band hits set to a disco beat. It was called Hooked On Swing, a companion piece to Hooked on Classics. I'll be playing one of these selections at the close of the show. I hope you enjoy the music from a great big band led by Larry Elgart. Please visit this podcast at http://bigbandbashfm.blogspot.com