First nighters for the first Phantom Dancer of 2020 – your non-stop mix of swing and jazz from live 1920s-60s radio and TV hosted by me, Greg Poppleton.

Hear excepts from the 1939 radio premier of Morton Gould’s ‘American Symphonette #2’, the first all African-American Variety show on NBC in 1948, and Duke Ellington introducing his Shakesphere suite over CBS from the 1957 Ravinia Festival

3MGB Radio Mallacoota plays The Phantom Dancer every week. Mallacoota has faced some of the worst of the 2019 – 2020 bushfires where the sky turned red and the Navy is now in the process of evacuating people from the town.

Map showing warning areas near bushfires in Victoria, Australia. The areas with a black line and grey fill are designated for evacuation. The red lines indicate “emergency warning”. The arrow points toward Mallacoota, Victoria. The width of the largest emergency warning area is approximately 204km (110 miles), east to west. Map by Vic Emergency, Dec. 31, 2019

The ABC (the Australian national broadcaster) has just posted news from 3MGB volunteer, Francesca Winterson, 2 Jan…

“Francesca Winterson is a volunteer at Mallacoota’s community radio station 3MGB, and plenty of you were concerned about her safety earlier in the week. We’ve been able to have a long chat with her this morning.

She said misinformation had been spreading on Facebook.

“I think people are starting to get incredibly anxious because they have been isolated for so long but they have to accept that right at the moment there’s absolutely nothing we can do,” she told ABC Gippsland.

“Some people have been able to get back into their homes. I was one person fortunate enough that at the moment my house is standing.”
Ms Winterson said water supplies had been restored but power was still out and the only road out of town was still closed.

Paramedics had been brought in by police helicopter and only people with acute medical emergencies were being airlifted out, she said, as the town waits for a navy ship docked nearby to start evacuating people.

But amid the chaos people were doing what they could to help.

“There’s a lot of smiles, a lot of waves,” she said.

“Yes there are some people who are incredibly anxious but basically the community is pulling together and that’s what we’ve got to do. We all have to pull together, reach out to other people, offer them accommodation, offer them a shower.

“We’re a strong little town and most of the people that come here have been coming here for a long time and they love Mallacoota so they’ll help us.”

Source – ABC Blog

You can hear The Phantom Dancer online now at https://2ser.com/phantom-dancer/

FIRST NIGHTERS

Every week The Phantom Dancer brings you a feature artist. This week, it’s feature programs. Excerpts from three historic first nighters with some explaination about why they are so important below…

AMERICAN SYMPHONETTE No.3 RADIO PREMIER – WOR MBS New York City / CBC CANADA, 1939

Joseph Stevenson writes,
“This 1939 composition is one of the most convincing classical attempts to create a jazz spirit. It succeeds in doing so without the presence of any jazz players or use of improvisation. Nevertheless, jazz devices of coloration are used, such as wire brushes on drums, glissandi and lip slurs, and chord voicings that are common to jazz arrangements of the time. In addition, the themes (and their scales and harmonies) are jazz- and blues-derived. So successful was Gould in devising “jazz” themes for this symphonette that the second movement, “Pavane” has been widely quoted in actual jazz performances by such masters as John Coltrane, Dizzy Gillespie, and Glenn Miller. The outer two movements of this three-movement piece are marked “Moderately fast” and “Very fast–Racy,” respectively. Incidentally, you have heard and are quite familiar with the theme of the Pavane, whether you know it or not. Outstanding listening. Gould is notable for creating excellent music, perfectly crafted, seemingly almost commercial in intent and yet, when really listened to, revealing unusual breadth. I always conclude listening to this piece believing that it is a true masterpiece without even trying to be. Wonderfully ingratiating music.”

‘SWINGTIME AT THE SAVOY’ WNBC NBC NY, 28 Jul 1948

New York Times headline: “The News of Radio; All-Negro Variety Show, ‘Swingtime at the Savoy,’ Will Bow Tonight on NBC”

“An all-Negro variety show, entitled “Swingtime at the Savoy,” will have its premiere at 8 o’clock tonight on NBC. The regular cast will include Lucky Millinder and his orchestra, Miller and Lee, comedians; Jackie (Moms) Pabley, comedienne, and the King Odem Quartet.” New York Times, 28 July 1948

RAVINIA FESTIVAL – DUKE ELLINGTON SHAKESPHERE SUITE PREMIER, CBS 1 JUL 1957

The Ravinia Festival is the oldest outdoor music festival in the United States, with a series of outdoor concerts and performances held every summer from June to September. In Ravinia Park’s first summer of 1905, it hosted the New York Philharmonic, and the prairie style Martin Theater dates from this time period. It has been the summer home of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra (CSO) since 1936. Located in Highland Park, Illinois, the festival operates on the grounds of the 15 ha Ravinia Park, with a variety of outdoor and indoor performing arts facilities – Wiki

“In 1957, Duke Ellington premiered the latest in what would become a series of suites based on various subjects and inspirations. This one, inspired by the plays of William Shakespeare, had its U.S. premier at the Ravinia Festival in Chicago and was broadcast (much, but not all of it) via CBS Radio on July 1st, with the performance already underway. An album of the suite was planned and recorded, slated for release in November of 1957, but apparently the stereo version was scrapped and only the mono version was available until 1999. The world premier of the piece was given at the Stratford Shakespeare Festival, where Ellington and his band were scheduled to play for two nights. It was there that Ellington got the idea to do a suite based on Shakespearean themes, and along with his co-writer Billy Strayhorn, worked on the suite to be premiered the following year at the festival. So the actual world premier of most of Such Sweet Thunder took place at Stratford around June 30 1957, but it wasn’t complete and no recording of it exists.” Gordon Skene.

Now, tirelessly searching YouTube for a swingy, jazzy, instructive, or ‘weird and wonderful’ Video of the Week, I’ve found this for your ocular delectation, a whole set of soundies by the 1940s all-women swing orchestra, International Sweethearts of Rhythm, recently featured on your Phantom Dancer with Greg Poppleton. Enjoy!

Make sure you come back to this blog, Greg Poppleton’s Radio Lounge, every Tuesday, for the newest Phantom Dancer play list and Video of the Week!

Thank you.

7 JANUARY PLAY LIST