Tuesday, January 21, 2020

Show Notes for 1/23-26/2020

This Week's In the Mood is a Dancer's Delight


Listening to Big Band Swing is such pure pleasure that it's easy to overlook the fact that, in its day, it was essentially all Dance Music. Nearly every label of every record included some kind of indication of what type of dance went with the song. Usually, it was a Fox Trot (sometimes abbreviated F. T.) in 4/4 time, a Waltz in 3/4 time, a Two-Step or a One-Step in 2/4 time. Really hot numbers, or "killer dillers" as they were called, went well with the more athletic Jitterbug and Lindy Hop.
America in the 1930s, 40s and 50s was a dancing country. Dance halls dotted the map, and every town of every size had at least one or two. In the larger cities, they were often huge, sprawling, opulent palaces that could accommodate literally thousands of couples. And the Big Bands counted on the thriving dance culture as their lifeblood. Name bands of every size and type criss-crossed the country by bus and auto caravan, doing strings of one-nighters in town after town. It was a grueling existence for the players, who were often ill-fed, ill-slept, and ill-compensated. But, for those with a true heart for the music and the performing experience, it was a dram existence.
This week's In the Mood spotlights two of the great Dance Bands of the era. In Hour One, we profile Ralph Flanagan, whose latter-day band of 1949-1961 was created for the express purpose of sparking new interest in dance music at a time when the dance culture was beginning its steep decline. Ralph had established himself as a respected arranger in New York, and had developed a keen talent for imitating the styles of other well-known arrangers such as Billy May, Jerry Gray, Ray Conniff and Duke Ellington. Ralph and his manager, Herb Hendler, who was also one of RCA Victor's top A & R men, convinced the Victor brass to create a top-notch studio band under Ralph's name. Ralph would write the band's book in the style of Glenn Miller with a strict emphasis on dance tempos. The band was a huge success with the record-buying public, and Hendler soon found himself responding to the calls of booking agents for hotels, nightclubs and dance halls. We will spin some of our favorite sides by this outstanding band to kick off this week's show.

In Hour 2, we will spend our first 20 minutes or so enjoying the solidly swinging sounds of the Charlie Barnet band. Charlie was a trust-fund kid who led a band because it was his passion to make the music he loved. "Lord knows, I'm not in it for the money," he used to say. From the age of 17, he idolized and managed to hang around as many Big Band musicians as he could. His first appearance on records was playing the orchestra bells on Duke Ellington's famous 1930 recording of Ring Dem Bells. He learned how to work hard for the music, and how to party hard as well. He mastered the alto, then the tenor sax, and a little later, the soprano sax, all of which he played with a swinging, booting drive out in front of his band. 

Charlie's lifelong admiration for Duke Ellington was obvious in many of his arrangements and recordings of Ellington tunes. We will play some of those this week, plus some sides that demonstrate Charlie's reed mastery.

Other highlights this week include appearances by the Benny Goodman Sextet, and major hits by Glenn Miller, Tommy Dorsey and Louis Jordan. We'll spin some original 1940s blues on 78 from Duke Ellington, and you won't want to miss the 2-sided 78 of St. James Infirmary by the Artie Shaw band of 1941. Lips Page takes the trumpet solo and the vocal.

As always, feel free to comment here on on our Facebook page.           

Tuesday, January 14, 2020

Show Notes for 1/16-20

TD and The Count are swinging this weekend


Every week, In the Mood brings you the best of the Big Band Era. This week, two of the biggest names in Swing are featured: Tommy Dorsey and Count Basie. 

Tommy's trombone technique was legendary among musicians and fans alike. No one, it seemed, could play as high, sweet and smooth as the Sentimental Gentleman of Swing. In fact, when Tommy died in 1956, Warren Covington took over the band, partly because he was one of the only trombonists alive who could play Tommy's solos. You'll hear what I'm talking about on the show this week when we play such Dorsey classics as Once in a While, Who? and Chicago. Tommy's ability to play very high notes in a sweet, mellow tone, and very long phrases without taking a breath is still astounding. Frank Sinatra, who spent three years singing with the Dorsey band, credited Tommy as his main influence when it came to phrasing and breath control.

We spend the first 20 minutes of Hour 2 this week enjoying some of the best of the Count Basie repertoire. We'll stick with the Basie band of the late 1930s and early 40s, as recorded on Decca and Columbia. Along with the Count's crisp piano work, we enjoy solos by some of his most famous sidemen, including tenor saxists Lester Young and Herschel Evans, trumpeters Buck Clayton and Harry "Sweets" Edison, and trombonist Dickie Wells. You'll especially enjoy the seldom-heard 1940 Columbia waxing of the band's theme, One O'Clock Jump.

Elsewhere in this week's show, I'll play one of my personal favorite 78 sides, the 1946 Capitol recording of Your Conscience Tells You So by Ella Mae Morse with pianist Freddie Slack. It's an infectious little tune, made even more delightful by Freddie's ability to invent a completely new fill phrase every time Ella Mae takes a breath.

I'm also pleased to present our shiny-new 78 copy of Alreet by the Gene Krupa Ork with a swell vocal by Anita O'Day.

Other highlights this week include Duke Ellington's 1938 Merry-Go-Round, Claude Thornhill's hypnotically serene Snowfall, and Jimmie Lunceford's sensational 1941 extended version of Blues in the Night with alto saxing and vocal by Willie Smith. 

All in all, this week should prove a superb mix of swinging sweetness, punctuated with pithy pronouncements from yours truly as needed. As always, please feel free to reach out with requests and comments on our Facebook page at facebook.com/inthemoodwithscottmichaels.   
    

Sunday, January 12, 2020

Introduction!

Welcome to the In the Mood Blog!

This is the official blog of the In the Mood with Scott Michaels radio program, heard on great radio stations in Alabama, across the USA, and around the world.  Here is a list of days and times you can hear the show on each station, along with LIVE LINKS to each station's Live Stream. All times are CST (GMT -6 hours).

Thursday:
10:00 am - 12:00 Noon: 920 WON The Apple in New York City  mixlr.com/920-won-the-apple/

Friday:8:00 - 10:00 pm: WSSE-DB in Clarksville, Tennessee wsseonline.com

Saturday:8:00 - 10:00 am: Jazz Hall Radio 91.1 FM in Birmingham jazzhall.com3:00 - 5:00 pm: WAAY/Massillon, OH waayradio.com10:00 pm - 12 midnight: WSSE-DB in Clarksville, Tennessee wsseonline.com

Sunday:3:00 - 5:00 pm: WVAS 90.7 FM in Montgomery wvasfm.org3:00 - 5:00 pm: WSMX-LP 98.3 FM in Clanton3:00 - 5:00 pm: WAAY/Massillon, OH WAAYRadio.com8:00 - 10:00 pm: Jazz Hall Radio 91.1 FM in Birmingham jazzhall.com

Monday:5:00 - 7:00 pm: WAAY/Massillon, OH WAAYRadio.com 

In addition to the above Live Broadcasts of the show, you can also hear recent shows ON DEMAND by going to mixcloud.com/920won.  
Scroll down through the list of shows till you get to In the Mood and hit the PLAY Button.