Dear Big Band Fans:

In keeping with the current trend, our newsletter has morphed into a blog. This gives me the flexibility to add items as they occur rather than waiting for the calendar page to reach a new month. 

David Miller 

January 27, 2010

Memory Lane #1

Some folks in my neighborhood were holding a two-day estate sale. As was my custom, I checked it out to see if there were any records I might want to add to my collection. There was a big stack of 78-rpm records. I quickly browsed through them but didn't see why I should pay 50 cents. That seemed a bit excessive.

I returned the next day. What the heck, I thought, maybe the prices have gone down. I went over to the bin of records. Sure enough the price had dropped to a quarter. I went through them more carefully this time. Nothing from the big band era that I didn't already have. But then my eyes lit on an old Victor ten-inch recording. Ordinarily I would have paid little attention, but this one had something written in white ink on the label. I examined it more closely. It was Washington Post March and El Capitan played by Sousa's Band. And the white ink? It read in flowing script "John Philip Sousa." Could it actually be an autographed copy? I risked 25 cents and took it home.

The next day I headed over to the Houston Public Library during lunch hour. I found a biography of Sousa that included an autographed picture among its illustrations. No question about it, the inscription on the record matched the writing on the photo. It was put there by the March King himself!

The woman who held the estate sale told me that they were selling the possessions of her father. When he died, they shipped all his household goods to Houston, where they thought they would get a better price.  He had been a high-ranking executive at Cities Service, the petroleum company headquartered in Bartlesville, Oklahoma. That rang a bell for me. I recalled that there was a weekly national radio program during the 1930's, the Cities Service Band of America, featuring march music.

It's my theory that Sousa was invited to appear on the program as guest conductor. While he was in town the top brass of the sponsoring company probably held a reception for him, where he graciously autographed a stack of records.

It's only a theory, but that's my story and I'll stick to it. I still have the record, which will go along with all my other recorded materials when the appropriate time arrives.

January 4, 2010

Tune Me In

I phoned a friend in Indiana to wish him a Happy New Year. In the course of the conversation he asked whether he could receive my weekly broadcasts on a nearby station. I told him that's not possible at the moment but offered an alternative, which anyone anywhere in the world can use. If one clicks on the following website, http://www.publicradiofan.com/cgibin/program.pl?programid=1388, there's a listing of all the stations that live-stream "Swingin' Down the Lane," along with day and time of broadcast.

December 26, 2009

Upcoming Broadcasts

December is typically a slow business period. Prospective clients routinely say, "Let's talk again after the first of the year." In some instances it's because they've already reached the year's budget limit and have no more money to spend until January. In other cases, people are wrapped up in the holiday season and in no mood to take on new research ventures. That has left me free to plan to produce several programs to be aired the second half of January and the first three weeks in February.

January 19: Jurgens and Reinhardt, a study in contrasts. They were born in January 1910, within two weeks of each other. They were both musicians. Otherwise they had little in common.

Dick Jurgens was born in Sacramento, California. He took up trumpet at an early age, attended Sacramento Junior College and The University of California. He was a composer and bandleader who enjoyed great popularity during the big band era. His biggest commercial hits were One Dozen Roses, Elmer's Tune and his theme song, Daydreams Come True at Night.

Django Reinhardt was born 5,000 miles away, in a village in Belgium where his family's caravan was situated. He grew up in a family of gypsy entertainers. He took up the violin and guitar at an early age. He became mesmerized by jazz when he heard a Louis Armstrong record. He and violinist Stefan Grappelli formed a duo emulating the style of Joe Venuti and Eddie Lang, members of Paul Whiteman's orchestra. They constituted the nucleus of the Quintette of the Hot Club of France, which recorded both American and French melodies. Django's musical career nearly came to an end when he was severely burned in a fire. Doctors thought they would have to amputate one arm, but he would have none of that. He convalesced for 18 months, keeping himself occupied by devising a re-fingering procedure to allow him to play the guitar again using only his thumb and first two fingers.

January 26: Milwaukee Mini, a souvenir of a four-day college mini-reunion in Wisconsin. I play music by two natives, Woody Herman and Hildegarde and reprise some commercials for beers that made Milwaukee famous --- Blatz, Pabst, Schlitz and Miller.

February 2: You Asked For It, an all-request program. Last fall I taught an eight-week course in big bands to a group of students in the 50-plus age group. I devoted the last session to requests from the class. It makes for an interesting potpourri of music ranging from The Drinking Song from "The Student Prince" to The Old Piano Roll Blues by Joe "Fingers" Carr. It's the 86th in a series that dates back to 1983.

February 9: Swiss and German Swing, a session with Max Wirz, who, like me, presents a once-monthly big band program on a Hamburg, Germany radio station. Max presents examples of outstanding music created by bands in Switzerland and Germany, starting in the early 30's and bringing things right up to date.

February 16: May I Borrow a Tune?, another in a series that presents different arrangements of songs associated with a particular vocalist or band. We hear Tom Jones' hit, What's New, Pussycat?, as performed by Sammy Kaye. The Glenn Miller orchestra under the direction of Buddy DeFranco give us their take on Herb Alpert's mega-hit, What Now, My Love? And Doc Severinsen presents an instrumental interpretation of Dionne Warwick's Walk On By. A really fun session!

December 9, 2009

Misinformation

I've been busy preparing the first two broadcasts of 2010. It's been a tradition over the past few years to salute musicians who would celebrate their 100th birthday if still alive. There's such a large number who were born in 1910 that it'll take two consecutive broadcasts to cover them all.

It's not as easy as one would think to determine whom to honor. For instance, I had Bob Zurke on the list since one trusted source said that he was born on January 17, 1910. I had everything set to play one of his piano recordings when I noticed an account of his death in 1944 at the age of 32.  Oh-uh, I thought --- something doesn't compute. Upon further research I determined that he was born in 1912. I'll have to wait till 2012 to play Honky Tonk Train Blues in his honor.

I ran into a similar problem with Chu Berry. I had his birth date as September 13, 1910. Yet one source says that he died in 1941 at the age of 33. If so, he must have been born in 1908 and I missed my chance to honor him on his 100th birthday.

A fan magazine of the 1940's reported that Sammy Kaye was a track star at Ohio State. NOT TRUE. Sammy attended Ohio University in Athens, Ohio, not the Big Ten powerhouse.

You gotta take everything with a grain of salt.

November 25, 2009

Just in Time for Christmas

Today I processed a new membership to the SDL Club that will run through 2010. The order was placed by a lady who wanted to present the membership as a Christmas present to her in-laws. I can't reveal anything more since she wants it to be a surprise. But it occurs to me that this is an easy way to honor one's parents on special days -- Christmas, Hanukkah, birthday or anniversary. Details on signing up are included at the end of this blog.

November 17, 2009

So there it is, a review of two months of big band-related activities. I'll make a sincere effort to post on a more timely basis in the future.

September 17, 2009

Oscar for Best Song

Yesterday was Week One of my big band class, with about 45 seniors enrolled. By "seniors" I mean people over 50 rather than people in their fourth year of college or high school. I gave them a pop quiz to show I meant business from Day 1. I played the songs nominated for Academy Awards in 1934 through 1937. Their job was to pick out the song in each year that won the Oscar. I'm glad to report that four students got three out of four. The correct answers are listed at the end of today's blog. See if you can get them all right without clicking on your search button.

It was such an interesting roster of songs that I plan to present them on a forthcoming episode of "Swingin' Down the Lane." In checking my records I find that I did two hours of Academy Award winners back in 1984. The difference this time is that I'm going to give due credit to the "also-rans," songs that tried hard but didn't catch the judges' attention.

More About Major Miller in 1944

I have received two photos that date back to August 28-29, 1944 when Major Glenn Miller and his orchestra gave concerts in Plymouth, England. One photo shows a group outside the Officers Club at the U. S. Naval Advanced Amphibious Base. The group includes three naval officers, Major Miller and another Army Air Corps officer, and three enlisted men. The other photo shows a scene inside the Officers Club. It's unremarkable except for the fact that Major Miller splashed his autograph across the photo. Facsimiles of both photos have been forwarded to Alan Cass, curator of the Glenn Miller Archives at the University of Colorado.

Oscar winners: 1934 The Continental; 1935 Lullaby of Broadway; 1936 The Way You Look Tonight; 1937 Sweet Leilani. Let me know how you did by e-mailing me. 

September 12, 2009

Filling In the Time Gap

Whaddaya know, a whole month has passed by without any report from me. As usual, that means it's been a busy time. Besides turning out a one-hour program each week, I've been incorporating new acquisitions into my collection. One member of the SDL Club sent a list of all his LP's and offered any and all albums that were missing from my collection. They arrived a couple of days ago and will, over the next few weeks, be integrated into my collection, duly catalogued so that I can find them easily when future broadcasts call for those songs.

I'm wrapping up plans for Program #1416 Art Tatum Centennial, scheduled for broadcast on October 6. I found in my files an article from The New Yorker reviewing a recently released LP of rare Tatum tracks. Back in 1940, Jerry Newman, a student at Columbia University, made recordings of Tatum's piano playing, some of them in Newman's apartment. Newman owned a portable disk recording player that he also took to Harlem nightspots to record Tatum and various other musicians. In 1972, the estate of Jerry Newman gave permission to release these tracks on a series of albums. the first one, reviewed in The New Yorker, was released as Onyx 205.

(Halfway through the last paragraph, the doorbell rang. Our postman delivered Onyx 205. I had been high bidder for it on eBay.)

My wife received the program of classes offered by LifeQuest, our local organization that offers courses for individuals over 50. "Did you know you're giving a big band course this fall?" she asked. I told her I had no such plans. "Well, it's listed here," she said. Sure enough, there it was. I was listed as giving eight lectures between mid September and mid-November. Only problem was that they forgot to ask me whether I would be available. Somehow it'll all work out. I plan to present the Oscar-nominated songs for 1934 - 44 and run it as a contest, to see who can correctly name the winners year by year. Only one small glitch: I can't find some of the nominated songs. Maybe someone reading this can help me out. The ones I'm missing are: From 1938, The Cowboy and the Lady, Merrily We Live and A Mist on the Moon; from 1941, Out of the Silence; from 1942, Pennies for Peppino; from 1943, Saludos Amigos; and from 1944, Remember Me to Carolina, Silver Shadows and Golden Dreams and Rio de Janeiro.

I also have in mind a series of lectures entitled "Road Trip." Using songs that have the names of states in their title, I'll cover "Fifty Nifty States," to borrow a song title from composer Ray Charles. I'll start with Rudy Vallee singing The Maine Stein Song and travel to bordering states. Here again I have some problems, missing Wisconsin, Minnesota, Washington, Oregon, Arizona and New Mexico. I may have to depend on fight songs from state universities, such as On, Wisconsin.

Incidentally, I filled some gaps by downloading material from amazon.com. The artists are not big band performers, but I feel some deviation is in order. Thus I'll present Dan Fogelberg's Illinois, Wild Montana Skies by John Denver and Emmylou Harris and Larry Gatlin's If I Ever See Utah Again. Come to think of it, this medley of 50 songs will make a great three-part series on "Swingin' Down the Lane."

Last month I was pleased to have dinner at the home of Ingrid Davis, widow of Howard Davis, who played with several of the big bands before focusing his attention on studio work in California. Another guest was Alan Cass, who is curator of the Glenn Miller archives at the University of Colorado. We chatted about an upcoming addition to the archives. Next week I'll receive copies of photographs taken in Plymouth, England when Miller and his orchestra played there in 1944. Martin Schwartz, father of a friend of mine, was assigned to escort Major Miller while he was in town. The scheduled one-day visit turned into two when foggy weather prevented the orchestra from making their next stop in another English community. Mr. Schwartz spent the entire next day with Miller and has photographs to mark the event. That meeting took place about four months before the major's disappearance in a plane flight over the English Channel.

August 14, 2009

An Interesting week

I had a nice long conversation with Daryl "Flea" Campbell, who at age 85 has put his trumpet aside in favor of enjoying his hobbies, including stained glass artistry. Flea had a remarkable career with the big bands, beginning with one led by Bob Astor. I've heard of Astor but don't find any of his recordings listed in my reference books. No matter, because Flea soon graduated from that band into others who reached the heights of success --- Tony Pastor, Charlie Spivak, Tommy Dorsey, Benny Goodman. I first met him when he was playing first trumpet with the Tommy Dorsey orchestra under Buddy Morrow's direction.

My conversation with Flea will be the cornerstone of Episode #1411, to be broadcast the week of August 31st. The program will include items from his personal collection, including a vocal duet with his former wife, Lynn Roberts, and a rousing finale to Well, Git It, where Flea reprises the role of Ziggy Elman in the original Dorsey recording.

Yesterday I received a call from a lady who has been on a quest for the drum solo that's part of Bigelow's march, Our Director. It seems she heard the town band playing it but was disappointed not to hear that part. When she questioned the band director, he said that they didn't have the drum part. She called me because she recalled that some big band drummer --- maybe Gene Krupa or possibly Buddy Rich --- had adapted it for a swing number. I couldn't imagine what she was thinking of but went to the web and listened to a YouTube presentation of Our Director. Then it hit me --- the drum solo was precisely the one that Ray McKinley uses to start off St. Louis Blues March, the arrangement he did for the Army Air Corps orchestra under Glenn Miller's direction. I burned a CD and passed it along to her when she met up with me at my barber's.

July 28, 2009

Van Alexander's Memoirs

Yet another of the pioneers of the Big Band Era has set down his life story. Van Alexander has titled his book "From Harlem to Hollywood: My Life in Music." It should make for fascinating reading. The Harlem reference goes back to Van's stint as arranger for Chick Webb, with his special assignment to put together arrangements for Ella Fitzgerald vocals. As for Hollywood, well, Van has spent more than a half-century in Southern California, conducting orchestras backing up many of the top vocal stars of the 20th Century. I'll bet he has some fascinating tales to tell. After I've read the book, I'll interview him for my program, if he's willing.

If you want to read the book along with me, it's available at Amazon.com or directly from the publisher.

78-rpm Records Available

I received a communication from a lady who is trying to find a good home for a treasure chest of 78-rpm records that have been in her mother's possession since the late 1940's.  Could be some real gems there, I don't know. She welcomes inquiries from anyone who lives in the Los Angeles metro area. She can be reached at marcianelson@fastmail.fm.

Keepin' Busy

It's been a busy six weeks since my last blog entry. I've been doing four things simultaneously --- in addition to the regular activities of eating, sleeping, turning out weekly radio programs and pursuing my real profession in marketing.

Over the past 25 years I've produced more than 1,400 one-hour big band programs. I'm in the process of converting them to CD. The time-consuming part is separating the hour into tracks corresponding to each musical selection. Many of the more recent ones are already on CD, so that limits the size of the task somewhat. The target is to complete the conversion by the end of 2010. That means converting one program a day --- come rain or come shine.

As a consequence of publicity surrounding my 25th anniversary on-air, I've been granted access to three people's collections. I've made a deal with these individuals --- loan me your vinyl records, I'll convert them to CDs and make two copies, one for my archives and the other for the lender. Two days ago I finished a batch of 58 LP's that were of interest. There's more than enough good material to make another special episode of "Swingin' Down the Lane."

Several years ago a fellow collector who lived in suburban Philadelphia died, leaving a large collection of recorded music. The LP's have long since been integrated into my archives. He also left over 1,000 cassettes, many of them acquired through a "tapers group" he belonged to. They've been in my archives now for --- what is it, ten years? --- and I know that cassette tape deteriorates over time. Slowly, painstakingly, I'm loading them onto the computer, doing sound restoration, cataloging them and burning them to CDs. There are some marvelous gems in the collection, including live concert recordings that were never commercially distributed.

I'm also writing my memoirs, which is a daunting task to say the least. I've worked my way up to 1986. I'm only 23 years behind times!