Swing That Music Part 3

Part three of Swing That Music has a lot of hits from the golden age of the big bands plus three songs that were unknown to me until I listened to this set. Billie Holliday was a member of the Count Basie Orchestra from March 1937 until February 1938. During this time she was not on any of the studio recordings made by the Basie band. It was a simple explanation - she was under contract to Brunswick and Basie to Decca records. But someone recorded some of their performances off the radio and we have three of those songs in this set. Also, we have Frank Sinatra and Tommy Dorsey, Jimmy Rushing and Count Basie and Anita O'Day with Gene Krupa.

Swing That Music Continued

This week I am going to continue with part two of Swing That Music. This four disc set was produced by music crtitc and writer Martin Williams for the Smithsonian Institute. Released in 1994, this set focused on the Big bands between the years of 1928 and 1950. Today we will be hearing from Benny Goodman, Harry James, Jack Teagarden, and Jimmy Dorsey to name a few of the bands. I hope when I am finished presenting the music in this set that you will have heard something from your favorite bandleaders. Sadly, this set is no longer being sold. I hope that if you enjoy this set that you are downloading the podcasts. So let's start week two with some foot tapping music from Swing That Music Part 2.

Swing That Music Parts 1 - 5

Throughout the years, the Smithsonian Institute has produced some great collections of Jazz and Big Band music. My first three sets were collections of Duke Ellington's music from the years of 1938, 1939, and 1940. The liner notes were very extensive along with the nice packaging. While looking through the music library at the radio station, I came across a set that I haven't seen in a while. It was produced in 1994 and was called Swing That Music. I say was because it is no longer available. The set consisted of 4 cds from the years of 1928 to 1950. It is full of hits from the big band years as well as some that weren't as well known. For the next 5 weeks we are going to be listening to these great sides so get ready to go into the past as we Swing That Music. Here is a review of the set from AllMusic.com:

The Smithsonian's four-disc tribute to the swing/big band era, compiled by the late, great Martin Williams, offers as comprehensive a look at the genre as possible from a general perspective. Williams featured great and lightweight bands, highly popular vocalists like Bing Crosby and Frank Sinatra, dubious ones with large followings like Bob Eberly and Doris Day and underrated ones such as Al Hibbler and Helen Humes. Duke Ellington, Count Basie, Woody Herman and Benny Goodman are well-represented, but so are Harry James, Glenn Miller and Bob Crosby. The sound quality is first-rate and the liner notes are informative, and the material is nicely divided between familiar cuts and obscure tracks. The Smithsonian's sets are sometimes attacked for emphasizing one style over another or not representing each era of a genre; that cannot be leveled at this anthology.

A D-Day Anniversary Rememberance

This June 6th, 2017 is the anniversary of the invasion of Normandy better known as D-Day. It was a day that many American service men lost their lives. To pay tribute to those who served during that fateful time I would like to present some music from Glenn Miller and his Army Air-Force Orchestra. In order to get the timing right I've picked four numbers and two live radio remotes. Glenn's show was called "I Sustain The Wings". We'll be hearing a 13 minute show and a 29 minute show. There is some great music in these shows and I hope you enjoy it as we remember the many events that happened on June 6th, 1944.  Here is a little bit of information about the show from WikiPedia:

The radio show was initially on CBS from June to September, 1943. Glenn Miller was the host and conductor on the show, which also featured Ray McKinley, Jerry Gray, Johnny Desmond, and the Crew Chiefs, until June 10, 1944 when Harry Bluestone became the conductor. The Latin Sustineo Alas, "I Sustain the Wings", or "Keep 'Em Flying", was the motto of the U.S. Army Air Forces Technical Training Command. The I Sustain the Wings radio series continued until November 17, 1945.^[4]

^{When Band Leader Glenn Miller joined the military one of his first assignments was to form a large military marching band that would for the core of several service orchestras. One of these, The Band of the Army Air Force Training Command, was featured weekly as part of CBSs Service Band line up on I Sustain the Wings. From this core of musicians he was allowed to draw fifty to accompany him to England in the summer of 1944 where they gave at least 800 performances. The Orchestra of the AAF Training Command continued the weekly CBS broadcasts.}