Duke Ellington was born on April 29, 1899 so to remember his birthday and to listen to some of his amazing music, I am repeating this show from 2013. There is lots of Ellington originals in this show as well as some information on his amazing life. I hope you will join me in celebrating the birthday of one of music's greatest composers, Duke Ellington.
Steven Spielberg and Tom Hanks have produced their third series about World War Two called Masters of the Air. It is a nine part series abot the pilots who flew the B-17 Bombers into Germany during WW2. There are several big band songs played throughout the series so I researched what songs were played and put together this show. There were only a couple of songs that I did not have so I don't think you'll mind my substitutions. I hope you enjoy the songs from the nine part series called Masters of the Air.
Copilot is the name of an artificial intelligence engine that is now included in Microsoft's Edge web browser. I posed this question to Copilot: could it pick out 16 songs from the 1930's and 1940's that were representative of the big bands of that era. After a couple minutes had gone by, Copilot displayed this list. It is a very interesting list and I had most of the songs in my collection and if I didn't have the version Copilot suggested I substituted one that I did have. Also, the little blurbs about the songs that I read were generated by Copilot. I think this is going to be a very useful tool for content creators going into the future. The puzzler is back this week so I hope you enjoy these selections from an artificial intelligence engine name Copilot.
Well, hello everyone and welcome to part four of our Glenn Miller Birthday salute. On today's show, as on the other three parts, we will be looking at the Band of the Allied Training Command. I have two radio remotes from the I Sustain the Wings series. That was a show of most patriotic music by the Army Air Force Orchestra. So I hope you will sit back and relax and listen to Glenn announce the numbers as we honor one of the most popular bandleaders of all time.
Hello and welcome to this week's Big Band Bash. We are continuing our Glenn Miller Birthday Salute with a look at the Army Air Force Orchestra. Today's show features a live broadcast by that orchestra with Glenn doing the announcing. It is a great broadcast and is sure to stir up some patriotic feelings. Glenn was born on March 01, 1904 and it is his bands and orchestra we think of when we had so many of our soldiers fighting in World War Two. I hope you enjoy this broadcast of the Allied Expeditionary Forces Orchestra directed by Major Glenn Miller.
Hello everyone. I am a little late with this week's program. This week I am going to continue with our birthday salute to the late Glenn Miller. This is part two of a four part series I produced back in 2022. To celbrate Glenn's birthday that year I decided to put together a look at his Army Air Force Orchestra. The recordings come from a four disc set that I have in my collection. We will be learning about that great organization and their importance towards the war effort and listening to those great Miller recordings.
Greetings everyone. March first is the birthday of the late Glenn Miller. To celebrate his birthday, I am running a repeat of a four part series looking at Glenn's Army Air Force Orchestra. This comes from a four record set that i have in my collection. There is a lot of great songs in this set and I hope you enjoy the music. I apologize for being late. The radio statio where I work and produce Big Band Bash is under going some maintenance. I should be back on schedule next week. Happy Birthday Glenn!
This past week we observed a leap day, February 29th. Born on February 29, 1904 was Jimmy Dorsey. To observe his birthday and pay tribute, I went through my cds and came across two that were recorded in the years of 1939 and 1940. There are some nice recordings in this set. I wanted to do something different rather than play all his hits which I have done on other programs. So we will learn about the career of the late Jimmy Dorsey and listen to music that he recorded in 1939 and 1940.
We wind up our celebration of Black History Month with a look at some of the many vocalists recording during the big band era. Some of the singers on the show today include Ella Fitzgerald, Billie Holiday, Billy Eckstein, Helen Humes and many more. I hope you enjoy this selection of the many talented African-American vocalists as we conclude Black History Month.
Duke Ellingon's band and music holds an important place among my musical heroes. I have been collecting records and cds by Ellington for many years. So I have decided to include him in our list of bands as we continue our celebration of Black History Month. I have narrowed our focus on Duke to the years of 1940 through 1941. This was a very productive period for Ellington and I am sure to play some of your favorites by the Duke. I hope you enjoy this focus on the late Duke Ellington as we continue Black History Month.
We continue our celebration of Black History Month this week with a look at the big band of Jimmie Lunceford. Jimmie Lunceford's band differed from other great bands of the time because it was better known for its ensemble than for its solo work. Additionally, he was known for using a two-beat rhythm, called the Lunceford two-beat, as opposed to the standard four-beat rhythm. We'll be playing many of the Lunceford band's many hits.
We start our celebration of Black History Month with a look at the big band of Earl Fatha Hines. Earl was a very influential pianst in whose big band he had players such as Dizzy Gillespie and Charlie Parker. Count Basie called him the greatest pianist in the world. He made a lot of recordings with small groups but we are going to focus in on his big band. I hope you enjoy this look at the career and big band of the great Earl Hines.
Well, ths is week four and the last in the series The Complete RCA Victor Recordings of Artie Shaw. These recordings were in the the years of 1944 and 1945 when Artie was living in California after his discharge from the US Navy. After these recordings were made, Artie signed with the MusicCraft label and never recorder for RCA again. There are some great recordings here as Artie liked to make recordings out of the Great American Songbook. I hope you enjoyed this series and will tune in again for more music of the fabulous big bands.
Benny Goodman's orchestra was the first big band that I ever listened to. But I kept reading about his rival, Artie Shaw. So I bought a vinyl two record set called This is Artie Shaw. Well, I was just knocked out with those 1938 recordings. Today we will continue with part three of the Complete RCA Bluebird Recordings of Artie Shaw. We are now in Volume 5 which includes the period shortly before the start of World War II. Artie was in California during this time and was including a string section with his orchestra which gave the recordings a different sound. I hope you enjoy this set as we will be winding up this series next week.
Benny Goodman's orchestra was the first big band that I ever listened to. But I kept reading about his rival, Artie Shaw. So I bought a vinyl two record set called This is Artie Shaw. Well I was just knocked out with those 1938 recordings. Today we will continue with part two of the Complete RCA Bluebird Recordings of Artie Shaw. Some of the songs we will hear inclue Out of Nowhere, Day In, Day Out, Stardust, Summit Ridge Drive and others. We will also continue with our biography of Artie Shaw. These are some of the best big band songs from that era. I hope you enjoy Part Two of the Complete RCA Victor Recordings of Artie Shaw.
Hello everyone and Happy New Year. I hope everyone had a great holiday season. Benny Goodman's orchestra was the first big band that I ever listened to. But I kept reading about his rival, Artie Shaw. So I bought a vinyl two record set called This is Artie Shaw. Well I was just knocked out with those 1938 recordings. When RCA started it's Complete Bluebird reissues, I bought them from a record store that wasn't having much success selling them They put them in the cutout bin and I snatched them up. On the program today we will start at the beginning of Artie's Bluebird recordings and make it into volume two. We will also learn about his career as we start part one of this four part series. I hope you enjoy Part One of the Complete RCA Bluebird Recordings of Artie Shaw.The Big Bands are alive on stereo 91.5 Saturday nights starting at 10:00pm on KTXK Texarkana Fine Arts radio. If you live in the Marion, Ohio area don't miss Big Band Bash which is broadcast each Sunday morning at 9:00 on WZMO. Listen to the big bands on your favorite radio station.
Happy New Year to everyone as we welcome in the New Year. On the show today is repeat of a program I produced in 2016 called New Year's Radio Dance Party 1945-1946. The Armed Forces Radio Service gave a real treat to American troops still stationed around the world in the aftermath of World War II---live performances, by remote hookups from their respective New Year's Eve hotel and/or ballroom performances. We'll get to hear some of the titans of the time in American jazz and popular music. Including but not limited to Harry James, Count Basie, Louis Armstrong, Jimmy Dorsey, Artie Shaw (with guest Roy Eldridge), Stan Kenton, Benny Goodman, Duke Ellington, and---of course!---Guy Lombardo. It was a gift to our troops then and it's a perfect gift for our troops---and New Year's Eve shut-ins---today.
This is a repeat of a show I produced in 2011. There are a couple of segments on Christmas Eve of 1941. Also, I have the only radio remote from that date that I could locate which featured Glenn Miller's band. In addition I have some assorted big bands with holiday favorites. I hope everyone had a nice holiday and I hope you enjoy this rebroadcast of Christmas 1941 from twelve years ago.
For the next few weeks I am repeating a couple of shows that I produced almost ten years ago. This first one was called A 1940's Christmas. I tried to pick out as many songs from the Big Bands that were recorded during the 1940s as I could find. Today, there are lots of songs about Christmas but back in the forties there were not that many. I tried to put all of the forties Holiday songs in this show that I could find. I hope you enjoy this encore presentation of A 1940s Christmas.
This episode of Big Band Bash is a repeat of a show I produced in 2011 where we paid tribute to the men and women who lost their lives during the attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. Also, I pay tribute to Major Glenn Miller who dissappeared in the plane he was flying in across the English Channel on December 15, 1944. I always like to remember those events as they were very significant in American History. A lot of things changed in the music industry because of these events so I hope you like the music as we pay tribute to those patriotic Americans.
Hello everyone. This week concludes our salute to the late Tommy Dorsey. We will be looking at his career and music from about 1939 to 1956 when he passed away. We will be listening to a lot of the Sinatra - Dorsey classics from that era. He really didn't have many hits after 1946 when many bandleaders disbanded, the result of effects from World War 2. So I hope you enjoy this tribute to the late Tommy Dorsey.
Hello everyone. November 19, 1905 is the birthday of the late bandleader and trombonist Tommy Dorsey. He also passed away on November 26, 1956. Since both these date occur in the mon of November, I though I would like to revisit the music and career of the Sentimental Gentleman of Swing, Tommy Dorsey. I decided to play many of the classic Dorsey hits so I hope some of your favorites are on today's show which will conclude next week. We will also take a look at his amazing career so I hope you enjoy part one of my Tommy Dorsey salute.
Well, we're down to the last part of this series highlighting songs composed during the 1930's. We are highlighting the years of 1938 and 1939. There were some nice songs composed in these years and unfortunately I had to omit a few as there were more songs than I could fit in the amount of time. I have enjoyed researching and choosing songs for this series. As always, thank you for listening and supporting Big Band Bash.
There were some fantastic songs composed in the years of 1936 and 1937. Composers Gershwin, Rogers, Kern and Duke wrote many hit songs that are still being played today. Benny Goodman's big hit Sing, Sing, Sing was recorded in 1937 and I have included both parts. There was one song I didn't have time for but I only found one big band version. Someday My Prince Will Come is a popular jazz standard but was not recorded by many big bands. I hope you enjoy this potpourri of 1930's popular songs as played by many different big bands.
The 1930's was a time in popular music that saw many changes. Jazz standards are musical compositions that are widely known, performed and recorded by jazz artists as part of the genre's musical repertoire. In the 1930s, swing jazz emerged as a dominant form in American music. Today, we focus on the years of 1934 and 1935. The number of hit songs from these two years had dwindled down in part because of the Great Depressions. But nevertheless there were some great songs composed then and we'll learn a little bit about them as we listen to performances by the big bands.