White-Hot Jazz: Show Notes 7/29-8/2

The Lunceford Magic

Jimmie Lunceford - 1939

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Jimmie's band started in Memphis, Tennessee, back in the late 1920s. He was a high school band director (the first in Memphis), and he started his first band with his most promising students. They made their first records for Bluebird in 1930, and it was, even then, a very credible band indeed. And it only got better throughout the 1930s.

With all that youthful exuberance in the band, of course they played lots of hot jazz, much of it arranged by the band's pianist Ed Wilcox, later joined in that endeavor by trombonist Eddie Durham. These two provided the charts for the first Lunceford recordings to gain noticeable traction - Jealous, Bird of Paradise, Rhapsody Jr. Next came the formidable alto sax and clarinet savant Willie Smith, who wrote the intricate arrangements for such Lunceford trademarks as Mood Indigo, Rose Room and Runnin' Wild. Nearly all of these arrangements put the melody in the brass at a slow dance tempo, underpinned by intricate obbligato lines for the reeds, doodling and looping around the melody. Then, sometimes, as in Sleepy Time Gal, the deft reeds would take the spotlight, taking an acrobatic unison chorus filled with sixteenth and thirty-second notes. This formula was the sole property of the Jimmie Lunceford band for several years, and it brought them much success with the jitterbugs and dedicated dancers. 

Then there was Sy Oliver, who grew up playing trumpet in the Lunceford band. Sy wrote his first arrangements for Jimmie, and they remain standouts on the jazz landscape - most notably Stomp It Off, Rain, Since My Best Gal Turned Me Down, and of course, 'Tain't What 'Cha Do (It's the Way that You Do it). Sy's mastery of two-beat jazz on these songs and others like them is what got Tommy Dorsey's attention and prompted him to hire Oliver away from Lunceford in 1940. Of course, Sy went on to write some legendary charts for Dorsey as well.

The World's Greatest Record Library is blessed with a plentiful selection of Lunceford classics, and we will hear a pile of them on this week's show, including Stomp it Off, 'Tain't What 'Cha Do, Rose Room and Margie, as well as White Heat, a "killer-diller" recorded at one of the band's last sessions for Bluebird. Just a few months later, the band would switch to the new Decca label, and find immediate popular success. 

Of course, it takes great players to execute these complex and demanding arrangements, and we will hear ample evidence of the strength of Lunceford's lineup. We will hear the Great Eddie Tompkins, Tommy Stevenson and Sy Oliver on trumpets, Ed Wilcox on piano, Jimmy Crawford on drums, Moses Allen on bass...and then there's that amazing reed section populated with Willie Smith, Laforet Dent, Joe Thomas and Earl Carruthers. That section alone was responsible for more standing ovations than many bands got in their entire careers. 

Needless to say, this will be a fantastic way to kick off the show this week. Hope you're ready to be impressed!

Hour 2 begins with about 20 minutes of extremely high-quality dance music from one of the clarinet Greats, Artie Shaw and his orchestra. Artie proved early on that his band could make a lot of noise and bring the Lindy Hoppers onto the dance floor. And by 1939, Artie was moving toward a smoother, more sophisticated sound. We will hear some excellent examples of both from his 1938-40 bands, including Jungle Drums, I Surrender Dear, and a live broadcast of April in My Heart, from the Blue Room of the Hotel Lincoln in New York. We will even go back and spin our original Vocalion 78 of The Blues A & B from 1937

Besides the amazing segments dedicated to Jimmie Lunceford and Artie Shaw, this week's In the Mood brings on a tall stack of red-hot shellac from the best of the Big Bands of the 1930s, 40s and 50s, including, but not limited to, Count Basie, Woody Herman, Duke Ellington, Benny Goodman, Glenn Miller, Tommy Dorsey, Ralph Flanagan, Lionel Hampton and many others. We'll hear from the Andrews Sisters, Helen O'Connell, Eddie Heywood, Jack Teagarden, and even Bing Crosby singing with Paul Whiteman in 1928. 

Yes, I must admit, I am a shameless name-dropper!

Remember to contact a young player or band student and invite them to listen to the show with you this week! With all of our affiliates streaming online 24/7, you'll have plenty of chances to catch the show this week on any of our 9 affiliates! 

Of course, we would love to hear from you with a comment or a request, either here or on our 

Be good to one another this week, and above all, 

Keep Swinging! 

Scott 

Technique to Spare: Show Notes 7/22-26

Too Good for Swing?

Harry James - 1953

Harry James was from Albany, Georgia, born into a circus family in 1916. In fact, Harry's middle name was the same as the name on the circus wagons: Haag. Harry's father, Everette, was the circus bandmaster, and determined early on that Harry was to be a musician too. 

Starting at age 10, Harry took trumpet lessons from his father. Everette gave him a new page from the Arban's book to learn every day, often withholding recreation and play time from the boy until the new lesson was thoroughly learned. I once told Chuck King that story, and asked how difficult it might be to learn a page from Arban's every day. "That depends on the page," was his reply. 

Like many young men of that time, Harry dreamed of being a baseball player. He'd missed the chance to play as much as he wanted as a kid, and he tried to make up for it for the rest of his life. There are many stories about the informal baseball league that existed among the Big Band musicians of the 1930s and 40s. Harry's team was a strong competitor, and none more so than Harry himself. He was known to have the band bus pull over at almost any time of the day or night for a quick game of catch. And his band's  on-the-field rivalry with the Tommy Dorsey band was the stuff of legends. 

Circus music is a brand of endeavor all its own, and Harry spent several years in the Haag Circus Band, playing these demanding pieces from America's brass band tradition. These thrilling and difficult marches and concert pieces, sometimes called "screamers," provided a rigorous course of study for Harry, and the experience served him well.

This musical tradition of trumpet pyrotechnics was a priceless training ground for a young trumpeter, and its herculean demands are evident in the showpieces in the James repertoire, including Flight of the Bumble Bee, Trumpet Blues and Cantabile, and others. Harry learned these amazing feats of trumpet prowess in the circus band. 

Harry's talent and technique was recognized immediately when he joined the Ben Pollock band in Chicago in 1934. They called him "Hawk" because of his sight-reading abilities. And by the time Harry landed in the Benny Goodman band in 1937, he was already, at age 20, the whole package. He was a consummate professional, capable of reading and playing any style from classical to swing, as well as  composing and arranging. Such was Harry's talent and temperament that when he left Goodman to start his own band, Benny bought in with a cash investment.

We begin this week's show with a 20-minute Spotlight feature on Harry James, and we're playing some great examples of his outsize talents. We start from his 1972 recording of Don't Be That Way, which contains some of his potently swinging solo work. We will also hear big chart hits with singers Kitty Kallen and Dick Haymes. And then there is Moten's Swing, an extended arrangement that comes directly off of our original 78 copy. We've combined the two sides of the record into one for your dining and dancing pleasure. We hear some impressive solos from Harry, Willie Smith, Jack Gardner, and others. Know a young trumpet student? They need to hear this segment! 

Was Harry James "too good for Swing?" IMHO, there is no such thing. I don't think there is any doubt that, if anything, Harry James elevated Swing music by playing it with all the quality and technique at his command. For many players and fans alike, Harry was the greatest trumpeter of the Big Band Era, without peer until the emergence of Al Hirt in the late 1940s. There is ample evidence to support this proposition, and we will hear some fine examples this week.

Hour 2 kicks off this week with approximately 20 minutes devoted to the amazing talent of Ella Fitzgerald. We start with her beginnings in the Big Band Era, singing with Chick Webb, and then her own band in the 1930s and early 40s. We trace her steps through her duets with the Ink Spots and Louis Armstrong to her sensational scat-singing to her mastery of the Great American Songbook on Verve Records in the 1950s and 60s. In the end, we are left to marvel at her versatility and virtuosity. Even as early as age 16, you could tell that Ella Fitzgerald "had something." And we celebrate that "something" this week.

Besides Swingin' Spotlight features on Harry James and Ella Fitzgerald, this week's In the Mood is a swinging garden of delights dotted with major hits from Glenn Miller, Benny Goodman, Tommy Dorsey, Russ Morgan, and many more. We'll hear some Blues from Duke Ellington, some danceable swing from Ralph Flanagan, and a toe-tapper from Ray McKinley. We've just done a much-needed digital restoration on our thoroughly-played LP copy of the 1955 Coleman Hawkins gem, The Hawk in Hi Fi, and we'll hear a sample, plus some unforgettable treats from Tiny Hill, Casa Loma, and Louis Armstrong. 

Think you can afford to miss this show? Think again!

Please feel free to leave us a comment or request either here or on our Facebook Page.  Invite a band student to listen to the show with you this week! Be good to one another, and above all, 

Keep Swinging! 

Scott       

           

The Next Best Thing: Show Notes 7/15-20

Reunion 2020 - Pandemic Style

Toni Tennille & the Auburn Knights Orchestra 1960

For about the last 25 years or so, I've been a regular and enthusiastic attendee at the annual Auburn Knights Orchestra Reunions, held at the Marriott Grand National Hotel in Opelika, Alabama in July each year. This is a magical event that reunites the many talented musicians who have played in the AKO down through the years. As you might imagine, these players come to play, and they bring their horns.

Truth be told, they do a lot more than that. The Auburn Knights Alumni Association has seen the event grow beyond the borders of band members, their families and friends. This event draws attendees from all over the country, many who have no connection to Auburn or the band itself beyond fandom. The Association has built and fostered a tradition of former players reuniting to play the charts they played as youthful students and band members.   

Let's say your name is Steve and you played trumpet in the Auburn Knights in 1968, and then grew up to become Mayor of Gadsden. Every year, Steve gets a packet of sheet music in the mail - charts he will play at this year's AK Reunion. He'll brush up on his parts until the second Monday in July, when he and the other alumni will gather at the hotel in Opelika to start rehearsing. They work together day and night all week, polishing their performance, until they hit the ballroom stage downstairs either Friday or Saturday night. 

This is a ritual engaged in simultaneouisly by the members of the 1950s & 60s Band, the 1970s Band, the 1980s Band, and so on. There's even a group of players who goes back and re-creates the original charts played by the band in the 1930s and 40s. 

As an audience member, you can expect to hear each of these "decade" bands play a 45-minute set either Friday or Saturday night, culminating around 10:00 Saturday night, when the current Auburn Knights Orchestra takes the stand. They will proceed to blow the roof off the place (from the basement!) for the next couple of hours. After all, there is no substitute for youth. 

The Reunion event is a tangible demonstration that we are all - players and fans alike - part of the great continuum of Jazz. Reaching across the generations, it connects us each to one another, and to all the great and humble students of Jazz who've come before us. And the Auburn Knights is a family, like all families, bound together by History and by its love and respect for the music and the musicians who play it. 

That begins to explain why the cancellation of this year's Auburn Knights Reunion was such a bitter disappointment for so many of us. We're getting to that age now when familiar faces start to go missing. It begins to dawn on us that we won't be here forever. 

And then, we lift our heads to see the next two or three generations of young players coming up behind us, respecting the master craftsmen of Jazz, blowing their heads off and making great music with all their hearts. And we know that, even though we may pass on through this ballroom, the music will still be here. It will always be here. Because those young lions will always be coming up behind us.

As a pale substitute for this year's Auburn Knights Reunion, In the Mood offers a little over 20 minutes of the best of the AKO's studio recordings from the last 60 years. We'll hear the teenage Toni Tennille singing with the 1960 band. We'll hear the 1968 band with our friend Steve in the trumpet section. And we'll hear from some of the "young" hot-shots from the 2001 band as well. Even if you have no connection to the AKO or Auburn University...or the State of Alabama for that matter...I think you'll agree - it's just Good Jazz. For More about the Auburn Knights Alumni Association, visit their website HERE. 

Normally, I'd walk and talk a little here about the other records coming up on this week's show, but I think I'm just going to invite you to listen and leave it here. To see our full broadcast schedule and program updates, or to leave us a comment or request, visit our Facebook Page. 

As always, remember to call a young music student and invite them to listen to the show with you this week. They will be especially inspired to hear the college students in the Auburn Knights Orchestra swinging out. Be good to one another this week, and above all, 

Keep Swinging! 

Scott          

Blow Your Top: Show Notes 7/8-12

Ballads Schmallads!

Ballads? We don't need no stinking ballads! The Count Basie band is famous for many things, but its delivery of sentimental ballads is not one of them. That's apparent to me every time I put together a Basie feature for the show. That band loved to SWING! And swing they did, in best Kansas City style. What is Kansas City style Jazz? Well, the Basie band can explain it much better than I could. 

We open the show with a perfect example - Blow Top from 1940. You'll recognize the sax riff right away. You hear it, and your brain says, "Oh yeah, THAT one!" The saxes are riffing at top speed, the brass is punching away in the cracks, and then The Count opens things up with a piano solo that's so transparent that the mood lightens instantly...but that tempo is rockin' steady. We get a couple of minutes of solos from Basie's great sidemen of 1940, a guitar-and-bass break, and then it's a rollicking finish with a Harrier-jet-style vertical landing. The guys on the stand are lighting cigarettes and checking racing forms before the applause even starts. And that's the sure-handed confidence of the Count Basie band. They did it for over 50 years, and nobody did it better. 

And we're off and running with Basie and his men for our first 20 minutes or so. We hear from trumpet soloists Harry "Sweets" Edison (almost always muted) and Buck Clayton, tenor saxists Lester Young and Herschel Evans, altoist Earl Warren, and, in a superb cut from the band's tenure on Verve Records in the mid-1950s, the great Frank Wess on both flute and tenor sax. Our selection even includes outstanding performances from two of Basie's most exciting vocalists, Jimmy Rushing and Joe Williams. 

And not a ballad among them!

Hour Two kicks off with 20 minutes from the King of Swing, Benny Goodman. We are confining ourselves to Benny's big band here, since we often highlight his smaller combos. The Goodman Big Band played a book heavily populated with top-shelf arrangements from Fletcher Henderson, Jimmy Mundy and Eddie Sauter, three of the best in the business. And what strikes you as you listen is that, no matter what the tempo of the song, fast or slow, this band swings relentlessly. Even the ballads swing. And the dance tempos are always perfect. If you're not a dancer, you might not appreciate this aspect of the best of the Big Bands. Tempo is SO important, with just a slight variation changing the complexion of a song entirely. In those days, it was a dancer's world. And no matter whether you were Wayne King or Artie Shaw, your customers came to DANCE. 

We start our Goodman set with Swingtime in the Rockies, a Jimmy Mundy creation that was a real favorite out on the dance floor - and for obvious reasons. It's a real jitterbug, with Gene Krupa and guitarist Allen Reuss laying down the breakneck tempo with razor-sharp precision. Benny's brother Harry Goodman is on bass, but Gene and Allen just kind of push him out of the way; he can barely be heard on this famous recording. We are blessed with a pristine copy of the original Victor scroll label 78 from 1935. It's a genuine thrill to spin this one. 

This segment is loaded with examples from Benny's Victor and Columbia catalogs. They are all solid swingers, and offer ample evidence of the prowess of Benny's stable of talent - both the writing and the playing variety. This week's show marks the first time we have played Pound Ridge from 1941, which contains one of the dirtiest Cootie Williams trumpet solos on record from that period. He adds a few shakes to his solo in a nod to Harry James, who previously occupied that chair. We also get to hear from four of Goodman's most popular girl singers - Helen Forrest, Martha Tilton, Liza Morrow, and Helen Ward. It's amazing to hear how they all managed to put their own personal touches into these performances, just like Benny's great instrumentalists. 

If you're not knocked flat out by these special segments with Count Basie and Benny Goodman, you will surely be rendered unconscious by the superb offerings of Tommy Dorsey, Erskine Hawkins, Harry James, Glenn Miller, Will Bradley, Larry Clinton, Duke Ellington and Fats Waller. We get to hear from trumpet greats Harry James, Henry Busse (yes, THAT record!), and Ziggy Elman, along with the Ink Spots, Ella Fitzgerald and Cab Calloway (yes, THAT record!). 

Here's a suggestion: if you're a player,c do what I often do when listening to the show: grab your horn and jam along with the records. It'll do wonders for your improvising skills! If you're a singer, open up and sing right along with us! There are no better examples to follow for phrasing and accuracy.

Remember to call a band student and invite them to listen to the show with you this week! They need this music like tomatoes need salt. Be good to one another this week, and above all, Keep Swinging! 

Scott               

Crash & Croon: Show Notes 7/1-5

"Square" Doesn't Even Begin to Cover It

Before the advent of Swing, popular music in the United States was designed to appeal mainly to the dead. If you've ever listened to pop music from the 1920s, you've heard the dreck. Pretentious tenors and baritones rolling their "Rs" as they sing Tin Pan Alley songs about how they miss their old home Away Down South in Alabamy. Then there are the songs along the lines of Whatever Happened to that Old Gang of Mine? There were the romantic love ballads such as Jeanine, I Dream of Lilac Time. Oh, there were dance bands that played smooth waltzes and stiff fox trots...even peppy one-steps and two-steps. But none of it "swung." 

By the end of the 20s, young folks were thirsty for more than bathtub gin; they needed a new style of music that could express their pent-up energy, their zest for life, their desire to have a good time. In the early 30s, a few of the Black dance bands like Duke Ellington, Jimmie Lunceford and Fletcher Henderson were playing a smooth, flowing fox-trot with a "dotted quarter" syncopation that brought dancers to the floor like a magnet. It also inspired rhythmic solos from the musicians that covered a whole new range of expression. White kids started to hear these bands on the radio and in dance halls. And even more importantly, white musicians were paying attention. They were also paying the admission fees to hear these bands in person. The aforementioned Black bands were held in very high esteem by white players who were in the know. 

Benny Goodman had this figured out before almost any of the other white bandleaders. He bought Fletcher Henderson's book, and hired Fletcher to write new arrangements for his band. Almost immediately, Benny was leading "The" cutting-edge Swing Band on the scene. There was a year or two (1934-35) when Swing, or simply, "hot music," as it was called before widespread use of the term "Swing," was a tough sell. But then came that night of August 21, 1935, at the Palomar Ballroom in Los Angeles, when the kids went crazy and rushed the bandstand, nearly causing a riot in their fervent embrace of Swing. Little did Benny know that these kids had been listening to his late-night radio broadcasts from the Midwest, and couldn't wait to hear the band swing out in person.

When Swing hit, it hit big. Within a matter of months, all the major bands were having their books re-arranged in Swing time. By early 1936, Swing was the Thing, and Goodman was the King. It was noting short of a pop music revolution that started in a few of the best Black bands. But it took a white performer with the wide acceptance of a Benny Goodman to really put it over on a national level. And Benny did it when almost no other white bandleader would even consider it. 

And Gene Krupa was there for all of it.

Benny had hired Gene Krupa back in 1934, in the early days of his band. Gene was the drummer who helped bring forth the Swing revolution, listening to Zutty Singleton and Baby Dodds for inspiration. By the time of the Goodman band's landmark Carnegie Hall Jazz Concert in January  of 1938, Gene was a star. And he now felt constrained by Goodman's vision for his band. Gene wanted the freedom to explore new musical territory with a band of his own. Also, Benny was a strange guy who could be very hard to work for. 

So, early in 1938, Gene struck out on his own, putting together an excellent band that always showed up very well-rehearsed and ready to play good Swing. Even the band's earliest recordings are impressive. And Gene was playing it to the hilt, engaging audiences with lots of physicality and movement on the stand. Some of the magazine critics chided him for playing it so big, but the public lapped it up. 

I always thought Gene had the looks of a Hollywood leading man, and I wondered why he hadn't tried his hand in the movies. And then I saw him in Ball of Fire with Barbara Stanwyck and Gary Cooper. It was a little bizarre. His movements were jerky and ungraceful, and he gave off a kind of a "wild man" vibe. He ended up coming off more like Cosmo Kramer than Cary Grant. But I digress.

We'll enjoy some tasty treats from Gene and his band this week, covering both his pre-war and post-war periods. We'll spin some of the sides Anita O'Day cut with the band, and include some solid Swing and even a little light Bebop from the mid-40s. We hear from Gene's great sidemen too, like trumpet star Roy Eldridge and tenor saxist Charlie Ventura. 

Hour 2 kicks off with about 20 minutes of great memories of Bing Crosby. We cover some of his earliest solo hits from the 1930s, movie songs from the 40s and memorable pop hits from the early 50s. Of course, Bing was there throughout the Big Band Era, but he wasn't actually part of a band after 1929 when her left Paul Whiteman's employ and went solo. He did make numerous personal appearances and a handful of records with his little brother Bob Crosby's band, and some of those were sizable hits. He also made a few successful records with his old drinking buddy Eddie Condon when both were signed to the Decca label in 1949-50. 

We begin with the famous Take B of St. Louis Blues, recorded by Bing with the Duke Ellington orchestra in 1932. It's a jazzy side of Bing that we saw less and less of over the next several years. We play our Brunswick 78 of his breakout hit Just One More Chance from 1931, along with some of his monster hits from the 40s. You might even hear a hilarious duet with Bob Hope.

Besides these delightful Spotlight features on Gene Krupa and Bing Crosby, we'll offer swinging sides from Benny Goodman, Duke Ellington (a Double-Play!), and Glenn Miller's Army Air Force Band. We've found a great example of Jack Leonard delivering one of his trademark vocals with the Dorsey band shouting the patter lyrics behind him (NOT the one you're thinking of), as well as a Boppish version of Tuxedo Junction from Harry James and his new 1947 Sextet. Besides Bing, we'll hear from great singers like Ella Fitzgerald, Louis Prima, the Andrews Sisters and more. 

Thanks for hanging out with the In the Mood blog! I hope it contributes to your appreciation for the music and to your enjoyment of the show. 

Remember to call a young music student and invite them to listen to the show with you this week! They NEED to hear this music! Be good to one another, and above all, Keep Swinging! 

Scott