APRIL 2019 BIG BAND NEWS by Music Librarian CHRISTOPHER POPA THANK YOU TO A BIG BAND BUDDY One of the places I enjoyed visiting on the Internet was Pete King s Big Band Buddies website (bigbandbuddies.co.uk), with his online magazine. But after the last issue that was dated April 2018, nothing new was posted and I became concerned. Unfortunately, my worries proved true, as Pete has now announced that he no longer will be continuing with the magazine. His website had started in 1999, with many interesting articles and reports. He switched to an online-only format in 2017 and even had a Twitter account to keep his readers involved. Pete was justly proud that his August 2017 online issue was viewed by 1,000 visitors in just a seven-day period. He hoped to publish monthly, but it just wasn t meant to be. A portion of Pete s letter to his followers is reproduced on the next page. I wish Pete and his wife well, and thank Pete for sharing his interest in big band music over so many years and with so many people.
Dear Big Band Buddy member, Since my last 'On Line' published magazine it has been regrettable that I have been unable to continue with this publication, (this now the twentieth year since we first published) due to my personnel circumstances changing considerably. I regret to tell you that 18 months ago my wife was diagnosed with the symptoms of Dementia and for the past year it has become necessary for me to become her full time carer. Naturally I want her home with me for as long as possible rather than have her in a care home, which she may eventually have to go. We have been married now for 59 years next year being our Diamond Wedding. In view my situation I have no time or enthusiasm to continue with my magazine which I hope you can understand. I have enjoyed this work and have had great pleasure in having your support by way of phone calls, letters and emails and of course meeting so many people in the business that I have had great admiration and respect for over many years enjoying their music. In that 20 years it has hurt me to learn that so many of our members who joined us twenty years ago have now past on, some very prominent and famous names I have the privilege of meeting. It's been great these past years and I still go on enjoying all that music, so thanks to you supporters and thanks to all you music makers. Best wishes Pete
COMPACT DISC OF THE MONTH Sounds of YesterYear has now released the second in a three-part series of CDs focused on some of the major arrangers with the Glenn Miller Army Air Force Band. This second portion, catalog no. SOY 2145, contains arrangements made for Miller by Norman Leyden (1917-2014). Among the songs is Long Ago (and Far Away), which, in my opinion, is one of the very best ballad charts that the AAF band performed. Also heard on this CD are I Couldn t Sleep a Wink Last Night, Now I Know, Going My Way, and Embraceable You, which, like the above song, are all Johnny Desmond vocals. In addition, there are several selections performed by The Glenn Miller Orchestra under Tex Beneke s direction, such as I ll Remember April, sung by Glenn Douglas for a Beneke Thesaurus transcription. This CD even jumps ahead to 1959, for a few samples of the Columbia album which Desmond did with Norman Leyden, in which they recreated in stereo some of the AAF band things. Liner notes are by Glenn Miller expert Tony Eaton (in fact, Tony wrote the notes for all three CDs). I applaud Tony for not only telling the background and achievements of Leyden, but putting things into a context that people all these years later can understand and appreciate. This one deserves a place on your shelf next to the first part, which contained arrangements by Jerry Gray (1915-1976). You should also place an advance order for the final part of The Arrangers trilogy coming soon. It will feature some of the arrangements for Miller s AAF band by Ralph Wilkinson (1912-1990), and will really round out your collection.
MORE NEW COMPACT DISCS Acrobat in England has done several sweet band CDs lately, and here comes Sammy Kaye s turn. A 3-CD set, The Sammy Kaye Collection (no.atrcd9080) covers music from 1937 to 1953, with all of Sammy s expected hits while he was on Vocalion, Victor, and Columbia. 72 songs in total. Call it coincidence or by Acrobat s choosing, every song is a vocal (there are no instrumentals here). Earl Hines is heard live and in the recording studio during 1954 on A Jumpin Something, Sounds of YesterYear DSOY 2126. In February of that year, his Esquire All Stars performed such tunes as Sentimental Journey and Night Train at the Club Hangover in San Francisco, while Hines and a different group of musicians recorded Hollywood Hop, The Web, and others that July. Bandleaders Harry James and Duke Ellington are among those who accompany singer Rosemary Clooney on Riveting Rosie, Sounds of YesterYear DSOY 2127. With James, she sings You ll Never Know, Over the Rainbow, Sweet Leilani, and When You Wish Upon a Star. With Ellington, she does I Let a Song Go Out of My Heart. That s a pretty picture of Rosie on the cover.
Connor Sings Kenton Swings, Sounds of YesterYear DSOY 2138, captures bandleader Stan Kenton with his vocalist Chris Connor in a number of broadcast renditions, including Everything Happens to Me, Darn That Dream, and All About Ronnie. Or would you prefer June Christy as Stan Kenton s vocalist? If so, The June Christy / Stan Kenton Collection (Acrobat ADDCD 3290) should satisfy you. There are 49 songs recorded from 1945 to 1955 contained on 2 CDs, each one with a vocal by Christy. Some are Capitol studio recordings, others are live radio airchecks. Here s a pleasant surprise: today s Lionel Hampton Big Band featuring drummer Jason Marsalis, recorded live in concert in California and released as a CD on the Alfi Records label. Things open with Air Mail Special and close with, you guessed it, Flyin Home. ALSO IN THE GROOVE Squatty Roo returns to its Illinois Jacquet Files for Volume 10, no.sr- 308, of Jacquet s big band live at the Village Vanguard in New York City in August 1987. On this disc, Jacquet plays tunes associated with Basie and Ellington, and gives shout-outs to drummers Panama Francis and Mel Lewis, among others... Dreyfus Jazz is releasing some Count Basie music on an LP titled Swinging the Blues... Not Now Music, which already had a 2-CD Essential Duke Ellington set with many famous tunes in its catalog is now bringing out a 3-CD Ellington package that has 60 of Duke s biggest selections...
NECROLOGY FRANK SAVARESE, bassist, 89, d.feb. 4, 2019. With Morrow 52 / 53 (including Morrow s hit, Hey Mrs. Jones, recorded for RCA Victor on December 9, 1952); Zentner 78 (at Resorts International Casino in Atlantic City). CARL JANELLI, saxophonist, 91, d.dec. 3, 2018. Was on the Pickwick album Lee Castle & The Jimmy Dorsey Orchestra Play The Big Band Beatles Bag, and played the tenor solo on one of the selections, The Fool On the Hill. From 1981 to 1990, he was the Secretary of American Federation of Musicians Local 802 in New York City.
ITINERARIES JIMMY DORSEY ORCHESTRA DIRECTED BY DAVID PRUYN April 12, 2019, Chicago, IL April 13, 2019, Theatre of Western Springs, Western Springs, IL DUKE ELLINGTON ORCHESTRA DIRECTED BY CHARLIE YOUNG April 11, 2019, Midland College, Midland, TX HARRY JAMES ORCHESTRA DIRECTED BY FRED RADKE April 2, 2019, Music Hall Ballroom, Cincinnati, OH April 6, 2019, Hillsdale, MI GLENN MILLER ORCHESTRA (USA) DIRECTED BY NICK HILSCHER April 2, 2019, Alberta Bair Theater, Billings, MT April 4, 2019, The Golden Husk, Ord, NE April 5, 2019, The Arts Center, Council Bluffs, IA April 7, 2019, McAninch Arts Center, Glen Ellyn, IL April 8, 2019, Derby Dinner Playhouse, Clarksville, IN April 9, 2019, Lancaster Grand Theatre, Lancaster, KY April 11, 2019, Center for the Perf Arts, Bloomington, IL April 12, 2019, Effingham Performance Center, Effingham, IL April 13, 2019, Missouri Theatre, Columbia, MO April 14, 2019, CL Hoover Opera House, Junction City, KS April 23, 2019, Paramount Theatre, St. Cloud, MN April 25, 2019, The Park Center, Hayward, WI April 28, 2019, Wilcox Theatre, REIF Ctr, Grand Rapids, MN April 30, 2019, Cottey College Center for the Arts, Nevada, MO GLENN MILLER ORCHESTRA (SWEDEN) DIRECTED BY JAN SLOTTENAS April 5, 2019, Kulturkyarterel, Kristianstad, Sweden April 6, 2019, Palladium, Malmoe, Sweden April 7, 2019, Ahaga, Boras, Sweden April 14, 2019, The Theatre, Halmstad, Sweden April 15, 2019, Gummfabriken Auditorium, Varnamo, SE April 27, 2019, De La Gardieskolan, Lidkoping, Sweden
A FEW NOTES ABOUT THE NICOLLET HOTEL That was then, when it was adjacent to Gateway Park in downtown Minneapolis, Minnesota, and hosted such musicians as Tommy Dorsey, Artie Shaw, Gene Krupa, Lawrence Welk, and Glenn Miller in its Minnesota Terrace lounge. The original hotel, sometimes called the Nicollet House Hotel, had been constructed in 1858, but when city inspectors ordered expensive fire sprinklers to be installed in the building in 1922, the owners decided to demolish it and start from scratch. The new Nicollet Hotel opened in 1924, designed by the famed Chicago architectural firm of Holabird & Roche. By the 1930s, the place was managed by the National Hotel Management Company, with Ralph Hitz NHM s President. (The same Ralph Hitz who oversaw the Congress Hotel in Chicago, the Adolphus Hotel in Dallas, and, as mentioned in the February 2019 Big Band News, the Lexington Hotel in New York City.) The Nicollet was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1987, but it was torn down in 1991. Since then, it s been a parking lot, though lately there s been talk of building a new hotel, 36-story residential tower, retail and office space, and a plaza on the land if financing can be arranged.