The 5 June Phantom Dancer is, like every Tuesday and online, your non-stop mix with Greg Poppleton of swing and jazz from live 1930s – 1950s radio and TV.

LISTEN NOW ONLINE AT 2SER.COM

For example, in the second set, the big swing band leaders speak briefly. That’s Glenn Miller, Tommy Dorsey (leading Harry James’ band) and Benny Goodman.

The final hour of the mix is all vinyl and in that you’ll hear a set of famous singers in their very early radio days, Bing Crosby, Doris Day and Frank Sinatra.

Johnny Saab plays the BC Hammond Organ with oil reverb over CBS in 1939.

The Phantom Dancer is also conveniently live-streamed as the show goes to air on Tuesdays 12 – 2pm (1 – 3am GMT), http://www.2ser.com.

After the Tuesday broadcast, you can then hear the show, and past Phantom Dancers archived, at 2ser.com/Phantom_Dancer as well.

HARRY BREUER

Breuer, who you’ll hear playing his xylophone in a 1929 broadcast with the Colonial Club Orchestra on this week’s Phantom Dancer was one of the first musical stars of radio.

To quote his bio in the Percussive Arts Society webpage,
“Harry Breuer, one of the great mallet players and composer of highly original xylophone solos such as “Back Talk,” “On the Woodpile” and “Bit O’ Rhythm,” achieved fame in the 1920s when he was a soloist in the big United States movie houses. He broadcasted [sic] from New York’s Roxy Theater, played the major radio shows during the 1920s and ’30s, recorded for Warner Bros. and Fox Movietone, and finally joined the NBC radio staff where he played for such conductors as Robert Russell Bennett and Skitch Henderson. In the 1940s and 1950s Breuer was featured in several films, and during the 1950s he recorded four feature record albums including Mallet Magic. Leaving broadcasting in the 1960s, he continued as a freelance artist and joined Carroll Sound in New York as a consultant.”

You’ll hear Harry Breuer playing “On The Wood Pile” in a 1929 “Brunswick Brevities” show on this week’s Phantom Dancer. See the play list below.

In the 1960s, he collaborated with Jacques Perrey to compose and record electronic music. Together, they recorded The Happy Moog for Pickwick. He was working with a Kurzweil synthesizer at the age of 86 on an album titled, Mallets in Wonderland.

Your Phantom Dancer Video of the Week is Stan Kenton in Berlin in 1953 from a film called “Schlagerparade” (Hit Parade). What a stage set up! Beautiful. Enjoy!