Phantom Dancer :: 12:00pm 30th Jan 2018

The Phantom Dancer, presented by 1920s-1930s singer and band leader, Greg Poppleton, since 1985, is your non-stop two hour mix of swing and jazz from live 1920s – 1960s radio and TV.

See this week’s play list and video of the week below…

Hear this week’s The Phantom Dancer live-streamed here from 30 January, then afterwards streamed online, on the Radio 2SER website.

CLARINET
Benny Goodman may have been ‘The King of Swing’, Artie Shaw may have been the ‘King of the Clarinet’ but the most interesting clarinet player of the 1920s-60s for me is Pee Wee Russell.

The butt of jokes on Eddie Condon’s Town Hall Concert radio shows, accused of playing wrong notes, the drunk clarinettist’s excuse, “I’m going to play like Pee Wee tonight”, Pee Wee Russell has always stood out like a music beacon to me. An individual, whose unique sound will stand the test of time.

PEE WEE RUSSELL

Pee Wee Russell 1945

Charles Ellsworth ‘Pee Wee’ Russell (March 27, 1906 – February 15, 1969), was a jazz reeds player.

He played saxophones but is known most for his unique clarinet playing. The clarinet was the instrument he mostly played. He has been described as playing with a mournful look on his face, which touches a chord with me, because I’m told I look the same way when I sing.

And he played with the greats of jazz. He preferred playing in small groups, mostly Dixieland, though he wasn’t a strictly Dixie player and he did broaden his range in modern groups. For example,  Russell recorded with Thelonius Monk and even recorded songs by Coltrane and Ornette Coleman in the 1960s.

On The Phantom Dancer, Russell is mostly heard on one of the 45 broadcasts of the Blue Network Eddie Condon Town Hall Jazz series. Russell would play in Condon groups from 1937 till his death just weeks after playing for Richard Nixon’s presidential inauguration.

On this week’s Phantom Dancer we hear him with Mary Lou Williams at the piano on a 1948 ‘Eddie Condon’s Floor Show’ TV program. See the full play list below…

BULLYING
Phantom Dancer listeners would have heard Russell being the butt of jokes. Even his nickname ‘Pee Wee’ was belittling. Russell himself said,
“Those guys [at Nick’s and Condon’s] made a joke, of me, a clown, and I let myself be treated that way because I was afraid. I didn’t know where else to go, where to take refuge.”

ALCHOHOLISM
In 1951, following years of heavy drinking and not taking care of himself, Russell fell ill with pancreatitis. Near death, a benefit concert was held in his honour. He spent weeks in the hospital, receiving several blood transfusions. But within a year he was playing again, this time in modern settings with Thelonious Monk, Duke Ellington, and others

“I lived on brandy milkshakes and scrambled-egg sandwiches. And on whiskey … I had to drink half a pint of whiskey in the morning before I could get out of bed.”

FUNNY NOTES
Coleman Hawkins was quoted in the sleeve notes for ‘Pee Wee Russell / Coleman Hawkins, Jazz Reunion’ (Candid 9020) as saying, “For thirty years, I’ve been listening to him play those funny notes. He used to think they were wrong, but they weren’t. He’s always been way out, but they didn’t have a name for it then.”

pee wee russell and coleman hawkins

POST-SWING
Charles Ellworth Russell expanded the vocabulary of the clarinet. He was the pioneering post-swing modernist on the instrument.

He was also something of a natural comic actor, too. See him in this 1937 Louis Prima short, ‘Swing It’. It’s your Phantom Dancer Video of the Week.

 

Play List – The Phantom Dancer
107.3 2SER-FM Sydney, Live Stream, Digital Radio
Community Radio Network Show CRN #301

107.3 2SER Tuesday 30 January 2018
After the 2SER 12 noon news, 12:04 – 2:00pm (+11 hours GMT)
National Program:
ArtSoundFM Canberra Sunday 7 – 8pm
and early morning on 22 other stations.

Set 1
Glenn Miller and his Legacy
Moonlight Serenade (theme) + Little Brown Jug
Glenn Miller Orchestra
Cafe Rouge
Hotel Pennsylvania
WJZ NBC Blue NY
23 Nov 1940
Troop Movement + Moonlight Serenade (theme)
Tex Beneke and the Glenn Miller Orchestra
Palladium Ballroom
KNX CBS LA
11 Sep 1946
Caribbean Clipper + Close
Ray McKinley and the Glenn Miller Orchestra
‘Guest Star’
Radio Transcription
New York City
30 Jun 1957
Set 2
Modern Jazz Radio 1959-60
Rhythm-a-Ning
Thelonius Monk
Connie Mack Park
WCAU CBS Philadelphia
3 Mar 1960
So What
Miles Davis
‘Treasury of Song’
Birdland
WNBC NBC NY
25 Aug 1959
Flamingo
Rudolfo Alchourron (g)
’Esta es Jazz’
LR1 Radio el Mundo
Buenos Aires
Argentina
28 May 1960
Set 3
Piano Led Dance Bands
Theme + Amor
Joe Reichman Orchestra
’One Night Stand’
Biltmore Bowl
Biltmore Hotel
AFRS Re-broadcast
Jul 1944
Sunrise Serenade (theme) + Let’s Do It Again
Frankie Carle Orchestra (voc) Band
’Your Saturday Dance Date’
Marine Ballroom
Edgewater Beach Hotel
WMAQ NBC Chicago
12 Aug 1950
The Doll Dance
Vincent Lopez Orchestra
’One Night Stand’
Grill Room Room
Taft Hotel
NYC
AFRTS Re-broadcast
1959
Set 4
The Outskirts of Trad on Radio
It’s Alright with Me + Hava Nagala
Henry ‘Red’ Allen
London House
WBBM CBS Chicago
30 Mar 1962
Slow Blues
Johnny Mercer (voc) Mary Lou Williams (piano) Pee Wee Russell (clarinet)
’Eddie Condon’s Floor Show’
WPIX TV NY
1948
Set 5
Jumping 1944 Radio
Paradise Valley
Andy Kirk and his Clouds of Joy
Aircheck
Apollo Theatre NYC
7 Jun 1944
Elk’s Parade
Bobby Sherwood Orchestra
Aircheck
Terrace Room NJ
17 Feb 1945
Bangs
Count Basie Orchestra
Blue Room
Hotel Lincoln
WABC CBS NY
14 Apr 1944
Futurama
Gene Krupa Orchestra
’Spotlight Bands’
Newport RI
Blue Network
2 Oct 1944
Set 6
1931-32 Radio
I’ve Got Five Dollars (Theme) + Copenhagen
Friendly Five Orchestra
‘Friendly Five Program’
Radio Transcription
New York City
1932
You Could Have Been The One, Baby
Jimmy Grier Orchestra (voc) Loyce Whiteman
Cocoanut Grove
Radio Transcription
Los Angeles
1932
Take It From Me
Gus Arnheim Orchestra (voc) The Three Ambassadors
Cocoanut Grove
Radio Transcription
Los Angeles
1931
Egyptian Shimmy
Anson Weeks Orchestra
Peacock Court
Hotel Mark Hopkins
KGO NBC San Francisco
1932
Set 7
Trumpeter Charlie Spivak on Radio
Charlie Horse
Charlie Spivak Orchestra
Radio Transcription
New York City
1941
You Turned The Tables On Me
Charlie Spivak Orchestra (voc) Irene Day
Palladium Ballroom
KNX CBS LA
7 Apr 1948
But None Like You
Charlie Spivak Orchestra (voc) Irene Day and Tommy Mercer
Palladium Ballroom
KNX CBS LA
7 Apr 1948
Half Past Jumpin’ Time
Charlie Spivak Orchestra
’One Night Stand’
Century Room
Commodore Hotel NYC
AFRS Re-broadcast
25 Feb 1945
Set 8
Post Swing Alto Sax
Let The Good Times Roll
Louis Jordan (as) Tympani 5
Aircheck
Empire Hotel
Los Angeles
Apr 1949
St Louis Blues
Dave Brubeck Quartet (as) Paul Desmond
’Timex Jazz Show’
WRCA TV NYC
30 Dec 1957
These Foolish Things
Lee Konitz (as)
Storyville
Copley Square Hotel
WHDH Boston
5 Jan 1954

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