Phantom Dancer :: 12:00pm 14th Apr 2020
Sauter-Finegan, Stan Kenton and Billy May were three 1953 bands making way-out sounds on NBC radio and are this week’s Greg Poppleton Phantom Dancer feature artists. You’ll also hear from vocal group The Hi-Los, an influence on young pianist, Herbie Hancock. Read the three band leader stories below…
The Phantom Dancer is your non-stop 2 hour mix of swing and jazz from live 1920s-60s radio. On-air with Greg Poppleton since 1985.
The Phantom Dancer produced and presented by 1920s-30s singer and actor Greg Poppleton can be heard online from 12:05pm AEST Tuesday 14 April at https://2ser.com/phantom-dancer/
The last hour is all vinyl.
SAUTER – FINEGAN
The Sauter-Finegan Orchestra was an American swing jazz band popular in 1953.
The orchestra was led by Eddie Sauter and Bill Finegan, who were both experienced big band arrangers. Sauter played mellophone, trumpet, and drums. He had attended Columbia University and Juilliard. Finegan had studied at the Paris Conservatory. They began recording together in 1952, using inventive arrangements that made use of a variety of unusual instruments, including many orchestral instruments as well as oddities like the kazoo and the beaten human chest.
A June 7, 1952, article in the trade publication Billboard described the new group as “a creative band, which will combine dance music as well as mood interpretations.”
The group initially had a three-year contract with RCA Victor, with plans “for about 16 sides a year.” Their first chart appearance was with “Doodletown Fifers”, their version of a Civil War tune called “Kingdom Coming and the Year of Jubilo”. “Nina Never Knew” (featuring vocalist Joe Mooney) and “The Moon is Blue” (with Sally Sweetland) soon followed on the charts. With the success of the singles, they put together a 21-member touring ensemble and began playing venues in 1953. Because the group played in dance halls rather than concert venues, they encountered little success on the road, and quit touring in 1955 after having accrued much debt.
STAN KENTON
In 1950 Kenton fput together the large 39-piece Innovations in Modern Music Orchestra that included 16 strings, a woodwind section, and two French horns. The music was an extension of the works composed and recorded since 1947 by Bob Graettinger, Manny Albam, Franklyn Marks and others. Name jazz musicians such as Maynard Ferguson, Shorty Rogers, Milt Bernhart, John Graas, Art Pepper, Bud Shank, Bob Cooper, Laurindo Almeida, Shelly Manne, and June Christy were part of these musical ensembles. The groups managed two tours during 1950–51, from a commercial standpoint it would be Stan Kenton’s first major failure.
In order to be more commercially viable, Kenton reformed the band in 1951 to a much more standard instrumentation: five saxes, five trombones, five trumpets, piano, guitar, bass, drums. The charts of such arrangers as Gerry Mulligan, Johnny Richards, and particularly Bill Holman and Bill Russo began to dominate the repertoire. The music was written to better reflect the style of cutting edge, be-bop oriented big bands like those of Dizzy Gillespie and Woody Herman. Young, talented players and outstanding jazz soloists such as Maynard Ferguson, Lee Konitz, Conte Candoli, Sal Salvador and Frank Rosolino made strong contributions to the level of the 1952–53 band. The music composed and arranged during this time, which you hear from live 1953 radio, was far more tailor-made to contemporary jazz tastes and was one of the high points in Kenton’s career as band leader.
BILLY MAY
After playing tuba for a few local bands, May heard Charlie Barnet’s band on the radio in his hometown of Pittsburgh. In the summer of 1938, he approached the bandleader and asked if he could write arrangements for the band. From 1938–40, he wrote arrangements and played trumpet for Barnet’s big band.
His arrangement of the Ray Noble composition “Cherokee” became a major hit of the swing music era. During the Barnet days, May revealed a significant flair for satire on a composition, “The Wrong Idea”, composed with Barnet, ridiculing the bland “Mickey Mouse” style of safe big-band music, with specific aim at bandleader Sammy Kaye, known for his “swing and sway” trademark. May’s caustic lyrics to the song called it “swing and sweat with Charlie Barnet”. Bandleader Glenn Miller hired May away from Barnet in 1940. “May points out that he was not responsible for any of the [Glenn Miller] band’s signature hits, but he did write the beautiful left-field introduction to [Bill] Finegan’s [arrangement of] ‘Serenade In Blue'”.
May’s charts often featured brisk tempos and intricate brass parts. One distinctive feature of his style is his frequent use of trumpet mute devices; another, a saxophone glissando, is widely known as his “slurping saxes”. He wrote in slower tempos, sometimes using string arrangements.
LOOK AT THIS 1930s DRUM KIT
Your Phantom Dancer Video of the Week is from a Larry Clinton 1939 Vitaphone short with vocals by Bea Wain and Ford Leary. Also note the clear shots of the 1930s drum kit where the cymbals are on bent poles attached to the bass drum.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j0sFGcnokjs
14 APRIL PLAY LIST
Play List – The Phantom Dancer
107.3 2SER-FM Sydney, Live Stream, Digital Radio
Community Radio Network Show CRN #432 |
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107.3 2SER Tuesday 14 April 2020 |
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Set 1
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1930s True Crime, Fox and Gypsy | |
Calling All Cars Theme
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Studio Orchestra
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‘Calling All Cars’
KNX CBS LA 17 Nov 1938 |
Unidentified Song
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Jaroslav Jezek Orchestra
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Comm Rec
Prague 1938 |
Hallelujah!
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Svenskahotkvintetten
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Comm Rec
Stockholm Oct 1939 |
Set 2
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1930s European Pop on 1930s US Radio | |
The Lambeth Walk
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Benny Goodman Orchestra (voc) Martha Tilton
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‘Camel Caravan’
WABC CBS NY 6 Sep 1938 |
Harbour Lights
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Rudy Vallee (voc) Robert Ambruster Orchestra
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‘Chase and Sanborn Hour’
WEAF NBC Red NY 3 Oct 1937 |
My Prayer
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Paul Whiteman Orchestra (voc) Joan Edwards
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‘Chesterfield Show’
WABC CBS NY 25 Oct 1939 |
Set 3
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Spotlight Bands 1943-45 Blue Network | |
Open + Blue Skies
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Jimmy Joy Orchestra
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‘Spotlight Bands’
Harlingen Tx Blue Network 6 Jan 1945 |
Chatanoogo Choo Choo Boogie
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Sammy Kaye Orchestra
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‘Spotlight Bands’
Washington DC Blue Network 31 Jan 1942 |
Take It Down + What Is This Thing Called Love + Close
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Leo Reisman Orchestra
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‘Spotlight Bands’
National Press Club Washington DC Blue Network 23 Jan 1943 |
Set 4
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Way-Out Sounds on 1953 Radio | |
Open + Tweedle-Dee Tweedle-Dum
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Sauter – Finnegan Orchestra
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‘All Star Parade of Bands’
Blue Note WMAQ NBC Chicago 12 sep 1953 |
Blue Eyes
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Stan Kenton Orchestra (voc) Conte Condoli
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‘Concert in Miniature’
Student Union Teachers’ College WBOW NBC Terre Haute Indiana 16 June 1953 |
Do You Ever Think Of Me?
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Billy May Orchestra (voc) The Encores
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‘All Star Parade of Bands’
Palladium Ballroon KFI NBC LA 21 Dec 1953 |
Set 5
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Mellow Swing on 1940s Radio | |
Brahm’s Lullaby
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Les Elgart Orchestra
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Radio Transcription
New York City 1946 |
Trouble, Trouble
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Benny Carter Orchestra (voc) Betty Roche
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‘Jubilee’
AFRS Hollywood 1944 |
It’s Mellow
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Glen Gray and the Casa Loma Orchestra
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Terrace Room
Hotel New Yorker WABC CBS New York May 1944 |
Way Low
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Duke Ellington Orchestra
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‘A Date With The Duke’
400 Restaurant WJZ ABC NY 28 Apr 1945 |
Set 6
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Trad Jazz on 1930s-40s Radio | |
Won’t You Come Over To My House, Baby?
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Lazy Ade’s Big 4 (voc) Ade Monsborough
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3AW
Melbourne 1949 |
Waiting For The Evening Whistle
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Eddie Condon Group
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‘Eddie Condon’s Town Hall Jazz Concert’
Town Hall WJZ Blue NY 30 Sep 1944 |
You’re Driving Me Crazy
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Bob Crosby’s Bobcats
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‘Camel Caravan’
WABC CBS NY 18 Jul 1939 |
Dixieland Band
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Benny Goodman Orchestra (voc) Helen Forrest
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Palomar Ballroom
KFI NBC Red LA 22 Aug 1935 |
Set 7
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1940s Radio Big Band Swing | |
Open + Jeep Rhythm
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Jimmie Lunceford Orchestra
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‘Spotlight Bands’
Jefferson Barracks, Missouri Mutual Network 23 Nov 1945 |
The New Look
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Charlie Spivak Orchestra
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Palladium Ballroom
KNX CBS LA 4 Apr 1948 |
Mister Pastor Goes To Town
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Tony Pastor Orchestra
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Broadcast
New York City 1945 |
One O’Clock Jump
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International Sweethearts of Rhythm + Armed Forces Radio Service Orchestra
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‘Jubilee’
AFRS Hollywood Mar 1945 |
Set 8
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Mod Sounds on WHDH Boston 1953 – 54 | |
Hi Beck
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Lee Konitz
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Storyville
Copley Square Hotel WHDH Boston 5 Jan 1954 |
Them There Eyes
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Billie Holliday
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Storyville
Copley Square Hotel WHDH Boston Oct 1953 |
Groovin’ High
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Charlie Parker
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Storyville Copley Square Hotel WHDH Boston 22 Sep 1953 |
PLAYLIST
Studio Orchestra   Calling All Cars Theme
Svenskahotkvintetten   Hallelujah!
Benny Goodman Orchestra (voc) Martha Tilton   The Lambeth Walk
Rudy Vallee   Harbour Lights
Paul Whiteman   My Prayer
Jimmy Joy   Blue Skies
Sammy Kaye   Chatanooga Choo Choo
Leo Reisman   Take It Down + What Is This Thing Called Love?
Sauter-Finegan Orchestra   Tweedle Dee Tweedle Dum
Stan Kenton   Blue Eyes