Big Band Bash

January 16th 1938 is the date of the Benny Goodman concert at Carnegie Hall. This was the first concert given in the respectable concert venue by a swing band. We are very fortunate that the concert was recorded. Since the recording date was during the infancy of recording, the sound quality is not as good as today's recordings. The concert was originally issued in a two-LP gatefold album in 1950, the nearly forgotten documentation of this historic event quickly became Columbia's best-selling jazz release, a distinction it was to hold for decades to come. Although rumored among collectors for decades, the public had no way of knowing that two big band numbers had been excised from the commercial release and all subsequent reissues. The original concert was over two hours so I have picked some selected cuts from that night. Please visit this podcast at http://bigbandbashfm.blogspot.com

Hello everyone. I have to correct myself. There were four parts to this series. So, this week we are going to conclude the series from the Reader's Digest Set, Memories of the Swing Era. Back in the 1960's and 70's Reader's Digest used to put out vinyl album sets on different topics. My parents had a couple in their record collection and we have some at the radio staion where I work. I was lucky to come across this set as it has a wide variety of bands in it. I tried to put together a varied show full of your favorite bands. So join me as we bring back Memories of the Swing Era with this great multi-album set from Reader's Digest Records. Please visit this podcast at http://bigbandbashfm.blogspot.com

Hello everyone. This is part two of a program I did on the great bandleader, Les Brown. Les passed away January 4, 2001. Since we just passed the anniversary of his death I would like to play a program that I produced two years ago and feature those great les Brown recordings. I have included in the show snippets of an interview that Les gave in 1990 to Chris Neilsen. Chris is no longer with us but when he was alive he hosted a program called One Night Stand. These are some of Les' early recordings and some of his most popular. Please visit this podcast at http://bigbandbashfm.blogspot.com

As we return from the holidays, I want to feature the big band of Les Brown. Les passed away January 4, 2001. Since we just passed the anniversary of his death I would like to play a program that I produced two years ago and feature those great les Brown recordings. I have included in the show snippets of an interview that Les gave in 1990 to Chris Neilsen. Chris is no longer with us but when he was alive he hosted a program called One Night Stand. These are some of Les' early recordings and some of his most popular. Please visit this podcast at http://bigbandbashfm.blogspot.com

This week we pay a birthday salute to Martha Tilton who was born on November 14th, 1915. After singing with the quartet Three Hits and a Miss, she joined the Myer Alexander Chorus on Benny Goodman's radio show, Camel Caravan. Goodman hired Tilton as a vocalist with his band in August 1937. She was with Goodman in January 1938, when the band performed at Carnegie Hall. She continued to appear as Goodman's star vocalist until the end of 1939. The program today has many of her recordings with the Goodman band and some released under her own name. I hope you enjoy this birthday salute to the late Martha Tilton. Please visit this podcast at http://bigbandbashfm.blogspot.com

Hello everyone. This week we are going to conclude the series from the Reader's Digest Set, Memories of the Swing Era. Back in the 1960's and 70's Reader's Digest used to put out vinyl album sets on different topics. My parents had a couple in their record collection and we have some at the radio staion where I work. I was lucky to come across this set as it has a wide variety of bands in it. I tried to put together a varied show full of your favorite bands. So join me as we bring back Memories of the Swing Era with this great multi-album set from Reader's Digest Records. Please visit this podcast at http://bigbandbashfm.blogspot.com

Hello. This week we are going to continue with more selections from the Reader's Digest Set, Memories of the Swing Era. I tried to put together a varied show full of your favorite bands. So join me as we bring back Memories of the Swing Era with this great multi-album set from Reader's Digest Records. Please visit this podcast at http://bigbandbashfm.blogspot.com

I recently came across a set of records in a Box Set from Reader's Digest Records called Memories of the Swing Era. There were several compilation sets from Reader's Digest that were released and I am fortunate to have this one. So for the next few weeks, I have gone through and selected many of the recordings from this set to make three different shows. I tried to pick a wide enough variety of selections so that maybe you will hear your favorite bands. I hope you remember some of your favorite Memories of the Swing Era in this set from Reader's Digest Records. Please visit this podcast at http://bigbandbashfm.blogspot.com

This week I am returning to a program I produced a few years ago. It was a program to honor a listener's request. It had been awhile since I featured the singing of Anita O'Day so I put together this program of some of her early big band recordings. She achieved her first fame with the Gene Krupa orchestra and then went on to sing with Stan Kenton. Most of the recordings on the show today are those great sides she recorded with the Krupa band. I hope you enjoy this look at one of the greatest big band vocalists, the late Anita O'Day. 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

Greetings everyone. This week we conclude this series with part four of a potpourri show as I go through my collection by first names. I have quite a collection of bands so I hope you enjoy this assortment of bands and songs on the final part of 64 Assorted Songs. Please visit this podcast at http://bigbandbashfm.blogspot.com

Well hello everyone. This week we continue with part three of a potpourri show as I go through my collection by first names. I have quite a collection of bands so I hope you enjoy this assortment of bands and songs on part three of 64 Assorted Songs. Please visit this podcast at http://bigbandbashfm.blogspot.com

Well hello everyone. This week we continue with part two of a potpourri show as I go through my collection by first names. I hve quite a collection of bands so I hope you enjoy this assortment of bands and songs on part two of 64 Assorted Songs. Please visit this podcast at http://bigbandbashfm.blogspot.com

Hello everyone. While going through my collection of big bands on my computer I have them stored in folders starting with their first name then last name. I have done shows where I play artists in alphabetical order starting with their last names but not their first. I went through the collection and had enough songs by the bandleaders to make four complete shows. So this will be a potpourri of bands starting alphabetically by their first names. I hope you enjoy the selections. Please visit this podcast at http://bigbandbashfm.blogspot.com

This week I am going to conlude the Jerry Atkins Collection series with a couple of albums each by Buddy Bregman, Stan Kenton and Gene Krupa. Jerry was the man responsible for starting my career on public radio in Texarkana, Texas. It was while I was working at KTXK that our station manager asked me if I thought I could produce a big band show to air at 10:00pm Saturday eveings. I have been producing shows since 2006. Jerry passed away in 2010 and we are fortunate to have his extensive record collection at the station. I will continue to go through the many albums as time is available and play some more of these great albums from my friend, Jerry Atkins and his wonderful record collection. Please visit this podcast at http://bigbandbashfm.blogspot.com

Hello everyone. This is part two of a series I call the Jerry Atkins Collection. Jerry had a show on Saturdays on the radio station I work at called The Enjoyment of Jazz. He played recordings from his massive record collection and entertained us with stories of his meetings and befriending many of the jazz masters. Sadly, Jerry passed away in 2010. His son, who is also a great jazz musician, donated many of the albums and cds in his father's collection to our station. Jerry collected albums by lots of jazz musicians but he liked the more modern big bands. This week I have pulled out several of the Woody Herman albums in the collection. I have digitized them and cleaned up the ticks and pops and background noise as best I could. So as I pay a small tribute to my friend I hope you enjoy this set of recordings from the Jerry Atkins Collection. Please visit this podcast at http://bigbandbashfm.blogspot.com

Jerry Atkins was a well known musician, jazz historian, and record collector who lived in Texarkana, Texas until his passing in 2010. His record collection was huge and was donated to the the radio station where I work and produce Big Band Bash. Since most of these albums have not been purchased by the station, I have been digitizing some of them. It is amazing how well the software cleans up ticks and pops and eliminates surface noise from the records. I have decided to present four shows from the many albums that Jerry had. Part one features several albums by Les Brown, Part two will be Woody Herman, Parts three and four will be assorted bands. I hope you enjoy the music from the many record albums in the Jerry Atkins Collection. Please visit this podcast at http://bigbandbashfm.blogspot.com

Hello everyone. On this week's show I am going to wrap up Songs of the 1920's. We'll conclude the alphabet and then I'll present some odds and ends. This was a fun series to research and present. The 1920's was a time for great music from some of the best composers in America. Please visit this podcast at http://bigbandbashfm.blogspot.com

This week continues our look at the songs composed in the 1920s. We start with the letter N and go down to the Letter T. The puzzler is back this week so I hope you have your thinking caps on. Next week we'll conclude our series with the last part of the alphabet along with some odds and ends. I hope you enjoy the music from the big bands as they play the Songs of the 1920s. Please visit this podcast at http://bigbandbashfm.blogspot.com

Welcome back to this four part series on songs of the 1920s. Today we cover songs from that decade that begin with the letter "E" and go all the way down to "M". I broke my rule for this series by playing two songs on the show recorded by Artie Shaw. I had already recorded the introductions when I discovered I did this but I am sure you won't mind because it is one of his best sides. I hope you enjoy this look back at some of the many hit songs from the 1920s. As usual the puzzle is back so get your thinking caps on. Please visit this podcast at http://bigbandbashfm.blogspot.com