Michael Feinstein Gershwin Melody

Skyliner from Charlie Barnet

'My Music: Big Band Vocalists' PBS special next week

Yes, it's Pledge Drive time on your local PBS station. Starting this weekend, PBS stations will be airing a special My Music: Big Band Vocalists  

Hosted by Nick Clooney and Peter Marshall, this My Music special takes a nostalgic look back at the greatest "crooners" and "canaries" of the 1940s, featuring the incomparable vocalists of the period as they started their careers performing with orchestras and dance bands. The most popular singers from the era, among them Louis Armstrong, Perry Como and Doris Day, ultimately became stars in their own right.

My Music: Big Band Vocalists presents rare and vintage footage, from the 1940s and 1950s, of performances by an all-star lineup of legendary artists, including Louis Armstrong, Nat King Cole, Rosemary Clooney (photo), Alice Faye, Dick Haymes, Peggy Lee, Dinah Shore, Jo Stafford & the Pied Pipers and many more. The singers are backed by some of the most celebrated and influential ensembles of the World War II era led by Benny Goodman, Harry James, Bob Crosby, Jimmy and Tommy Dorsey, Duke Ellington, Ray Noble and others.

 The program is produced by T.J. Lubinsky (photo below with Rick Busciglio).

Song List

"Don’t Sit Under the Apple Tree” — The Andrews Sisters with Harry James Orchestra
“I Can’t Give You Anything but Love” — Louis Armstrong
“Somebody Loves Me” — Tex Beneke
“Tampico” — June Christy with Stan Kenton Orchestra
“I’ll Dance at Your Wedding” — Buddy Clark with Ray Noble Orchestra
“I’ve Got My Love to Keep Me Warm” — Rosemary Clooney
“On the Sunny Side of the Street” — Nat King Cole & Tony Martin
“I Wonder Who’s Kissing Her Now” — Perry Como with Ted Weems Orchestra
“Big Noise from Winnetka” — Bob Crosby & Orchestra
“It’s Magic” — Doris Day
“Green Eyes” — Bob Eberle & Helen O’Connell with Jimmy Dorsey Orchestra
"You’ll Never Know” — Alice Faye
“I Had the Craziest Dream” — Helen Forrest with Harry James Orchestra
“You Send Me” — Dick Haymes
“Why Don’t You Do Right” — Peggy Lee with Benny Goodman Orchestra
“Cow-Cow Boogie” — Ella Mae Morse with Freddie Slack Orchestra
“We Mustn’t Say Goodbye” — Lanny Ross with Freddy Martin Orchestra
“Blues in the Night” — Dinah Shore with Duke Ellington Orchestra
“Night & Day” — Frank Sinatra
“God Bless America” — Kate Smith
“It Started All Over Again” — Jo Stafford & the Pied Pipers with Tommy Dorsey Orchestra

T.J. Lubinsky and Rick Busciglio

Credits: 

NJN TV off-air photo

Paul McCartney sings classic standards in new album

Paul McCartney will debut the songs from his new album "Kisses on the Bottom" in a free live streaming performance on iTunes.

The performance takes place at 10 p.m. EST Thursday from Capitol Studios in Los Angeles where much of the new album was recorded.

"Kisses on the Bottom" features McCartney's interpretation of several beloved standards like "I'm Gonna Sit Right Down and Write Myself a Letter," "Ac-Cent-Tchu-Ate The Positive" and "Bye Bye Blackbird," and has two new songs, "My Valentine" with Eric Clapton and "Only Our Hearts" with Stevie Wonder.

The album's title, "Kisses on the Bottom", comes from the album's lead track "I'm Gonna Sit Right Down and Write Myself a Letter," originally a hit for Fats Waller in 1935. Said McCartney on the album, "I worked with Diana Krall, and great jazz musicians like John Clayton. This is an album very tender, very intimate. This is an album you listen to at home after work, with a glass of wine or a cup of tea."

The Best of Big Band Swing with the Jack Million Band in Antwerp

This week we received notice of a Best of The Big Band Swing concert...it isn't in New York, San Francisco, Los Angeles or Chicago...it is in Europe, in the Belgium city of Antwerp. On Feb.19th, the 3 pm concert will feature one of Europe's finest big bands...The Jack Million Band.

The Bandleader Jack Coenen promises a varied program of big band hits from Jimmy Lunceford, Tommy Dorsey, Glenn Miller, Billy May, Artie Shaw, Benny Goodman, Sidney Bechet, Count Basie, Duke Ellington, Les Brown and others.

The Jack Million Band members are mostly from the Netherlands, Belgium and Germany. 

Also, from Belgium they will present an Andrews Sisters tribute trio....The Jacquelines with Eva Buchmann, Iris Berardocco, Sara Raes (Photo).

The ladies pay tribute to the Andrews Sisters' vocal swing of the 1940's throughout Belgium and The Netherlands. 

All the members of the Jack Million band are highly trained musicians having met during their studies at the Royal Conservatory of Antwerp.

Also, on the program are several guest soloists; Bernard Berkhout from the Netherlands. Bernard is a world class swing clarinet player who plays in the style of his big band hero Benny Goodman. From the US is drummer Brooks Tegler who plays in the style of Gene Krupa. From the Netherlands is Robert Veen, who is very popular on the traditional Jazz and Swing scene in Europe having created and worked with several other big bands. He plays tribute to one of his heroes Sidney Bechet.

The venue is the Theater De Roma, Turnhoutsebaan 286, 2140 Borgerhout, in Antwerp, Belgium on Feb. 19, 2012, from 3pm.
To book visit:  http://www.deroma.be/

TICKETBALIE De Roma:+32 - 3 292 97 40
Turnhoutsebaan 327 2140 Borgerhout, Belgium
opening hours: Mon-Fri 9:30-12:30 and 13:30-17:00

View the two videos  1. Ray Eberle's daughter Jan and The Jack Million Band.

                  2.  "At Last" with Ellen Blieck and Geralt van Gemert.

Glenn Miller snubbed by the Nebraska Hall of Fame

Does Glenn Miller belong in a state Hall of Fame? 

The good folks who run the Nebraska Hall of Fame have deleted Glenn Miller from their list of candidates for their 2012 Hall of Fame election. Here is Glenn's list of states that he lived in; Miller was born on a farm in Clarinda, Iowa. He went to grade school in North Platte in western Nebraska. In 1915, Miller's family moved to, Missouri.  In 1918, the Miller family moved again, this time to Fort Morgan, Colorado. Later Glenn, as a professional musician, lived in California, New York and New Jersey.

The Garden State may have a better reason (except Iowa) to add Miller to their list, that includes Frank Sinatra, Tony Bennett, Count Basie, Bruce Springsteen and Meryl Streep, since Glenn had his earliest success at the famed Frank Dailey's Meadowbrook Ballroom in Cedar Grove, New Jersey and lived in Bergen County during his peak pre-Army days. His final concert was in Passaic, NJ, prior to entering the US Army Air Corp.

 

Here is the quote from the Nebraska Journal-Star: "Musician and army band man Glenn Miller, Heisman trophy winner and war hero Nile Kinnick and Navy Admiral Dr. Richard Shippen Silvis weren't born in Nebraska, nor did they gain their fame in the state, the commission said Friday.

"All are worthy of recognition, but we get to choose one every five years for the Nebraska Hall of Fame, and they don't make that cut," Commissioner Harold Andersen said. "They've all had wonderful careers, and I hope they get recognition somewhere."

What do you think?

Read the original article: http://journalstar.com/news/local/three-names-eliminated-from-nebraska-hall-of-fame-nominee-list/article_4842d992-0b61-5c47-af57-60f96539f1b6.html#ixzz1lRYd5Oda

 

To buy Glenn Miller recordings CLICK HERE

 

 

Tommy Dorsey's On The Sunny Side Of The Street

Do you have a few minutes to relax and listen to one of the greatest big band recordings?

Here is Sy Oliver's swinging arrangement for Tommy Dorsey of "On the Sunny Side of the Street." (Please read the question of authorship at the bottom of this article)

The lyrics: (multiple versions!)

Grab your coat, don't forget your hat
But, leave your worries on the doorstep
Life can be so sweet, just direct your feet
To the sunny side of the street

Can’t you hear the pitter-pat
You know that happy tune is my step
Life can be complete
On the sunny side of the street
Used to walk in the shade with my blues on parade
But what a drag old man, gettin' stuck in the shade, Get hip, don't be afraid...move it on over, get yourself in the clover
If I never had a cent
I’d be rich as Rockefeller, can't be beat
Gold dust round my feet
On the sunny side of the street

Who wrote this classic tune? Jimmy McHugh is the published composer of “On the Sunny Side of the Street,” but there are  rumors that “On the Sunny Side of the Street,” “I Can’t Give You Anything But Love,” and “If I Had You” were originally Fats Waller compositions that he sold the rights to for quick cash.  This is believed to be a not uncommon situation. For example, many question whether Irving Berlin actually composed all of the 1500 songs published in his name. Note: the Rutgers Jazz library has sheet music written in Waller's hand that seems to support the claim that Waller composed the music.

Here is the recording...vocals by the Clark Sisters. Enjoy.

Also read more about Sy Oliver: http://www.examiner.com/swing-and-big-band-in-national/frank-sinatra-fights-racial-discrimination

To buy this recording or more big band greats CLICK HERE