A Salute to the Golden Age of American Popular Music

We salute the music from Broadway, Hollywood, New Orleans, Tin Pan Alley and the "melody makers;" i.e. the bands and singers that brought the music to us via the radio, recordings and live events in the period from the 1920's to the 1960's. This is the golden period of Gershwin, Cole Porter, Irving Berlin, Jerome Kern, Richard Rodgers, Larry Hart, Oscar Hammerstein, Johnny Mercer, Hoagy Carmichael, Jimmy Van Heusen, Harold Arlen, Harry Warren, etc.

Thursday, April 29, 2010

The Glenn Miller Achive's reponse to The Glenn Miller Conspiracy-Pt One

The Glenn Miller Achive's reponse to The Glenn Miller Conspiracy-Pt One

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The Glenn Miller Achive's reponse to The Glenn Miller Conspiracy-Pt Two

The Glenn Miller Achive's reponse to The Glenn Miller Conspiracy-Pt Two

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The Glenn Miller Achive's reponse to The Glenn Miller Conspiracy-Pt Three

The Glenn Miller Achive's reponse to The Glenn Miller Conspiracy-Pt Three

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The Glenn Miller Achive's reponse to The Glenn Miller Conspiracy-Pt. Four

The Glenn Miller Achive's reponse to The Glenn Miller Conspiracy-Pt. Four

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The Glenn Miller Achive's reponse to The Glenn Miller Conspiracy-Pt Five

The Glenn Miller Achive's reponse to The Glenn Miller Conspiracy-Pt Five

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The Glenn Miller Achive's reponse to The Glenn Miller Conspiracy-Final Part

The Glenn Miller Achive's reponse to The Glenn Miller Conspiracy-Final Part

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Test your knowledge of big band leader Tommy Dorsey

Test your knowledge of big band leader Tommy Dorsey

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Friday, April 23, 2010

Remember Tommy Dorsey's hit 'Marie' ?







 








One of the biggest hits for Tommy Dorsey was the song "Marie". First in 1937 when it reached #2, and again a year later when it hit #16.  It  was a hit for The Four Tunes in 1953 (#13).  Words and music are from  Irving Berlin. Here are the lyrics;

Marie, Marie, Marie
Marie, the dawn is breaking
Marie, (ooh, Marie) you'll soon be waking
To find you heart is aching
And tears (and tears) will fall (will fall) as you recall
The moon in all its splendor
A kiss (ooh, a kiss) so very tender
The words, "Will you surrender
To me, (Marie), Marie, (Marie-ee)?"

Marie, you'll soon be waking
To find you heart is aching
And tears (and tears) will fall (will fall) as you recall
The moon in all its splendor
A kiss (ooh, a kiss) so very tender
The words, "Will you surrender
To me, (Marie), Marie, (Marie) Marie (Marie-ee-ee)?"


 HERE IS TOMMY DORSEY AND HIS BAND WITH "MARIE." (BOB EBERLY, JANET BLAIR). THIS IS A CLIP FROM THE MOVIE "THE FABULOUS DORSEYS"  Review: "Big-band greats Tommy and Jimmy (along with fellow bandleader Whiteman and a full stage of top-drawer musicians) star in their own biopic. You could watch this with your eyes closed and not miss anything, but the sounds are so hep it's worth the time. The numbers include, "At Sundown," "Green Eyes," "Runnin' Wild," and many more."





* Also visit: Swing-and-Big-Band-Examiner


 * Check out our Frank Sinatra   column.

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Monday, April 19, 2010

Remember Bunny Berigan?

Musician/bandleader, Bunny Berigan had a short life...born in 1908 and died in 1942. His career hauntingly paralleled that of Bix Beiderbeck.

Both Bunny Berigan's and Bix Beiderbeck's individualistic styles, compromising in playing with commercial bands, losing battle with alcoholism, and disintegration and death followed a similar pattern.
Bunny Berigan's first big hit records were with the Benny Goodman big band. For classic Bunny Berigan solos hear Goodman's version of King Porter Stomp and Sometimes I'm Happy both recorded in 1935. His solo on Tommy Dorsey's recording of Marie is a classic as well.

For up-tempo Bunny Berigan hear Gangbuster's Holiday also recorded with his own band or Blue Lou with the Metronome All Stars of 1939. Bunny Berigan won the Metronome Poll in both 1937 and 1939. Bunny Berigan's biggest hit was a ballad, recorded under his own name, in which he played and sang was the now classic I Can't Get Started. Bunny Berigan’s recording of I Can’t Get Started was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1974.

The song, surprisingly, was introduced by comedian Bob Hope. Hope sang it to Eve Arden in the Broadway revue Ziegfeld Follies of 1936. In a New York Times article, theater and film critic Vincent Canby said, “It was sung for laughs, with (Eve) Arden making caustic comments about Mr. Hope’s passion.”
Here are the Berigan lyrics to the great standard written by Vernon Duke (music) and Ira Gershwin (lyrics).
I've been around the world in a plane

I've settled revolutions in Spain

The North Pole I have charted

But man I can't get started with you

And at the golf course I'm under par

Metro-Goldwyn wants me to star

I've got a house and a show place

But can't get no place with you
You're so supreme

The lyrics I write of you

Dream, dream, day and night of you

Scheme just for the sight of you

But what good does it do

I've been consulted by Franklin D.

Greta Garbo has had me to tea

But now I'm broken hearted

Can't get started with you:
Here is Bunny Berigan and his orchestra with "I Can't Get Started With You."

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