https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PneBTSgZ4Wc

Bob Chester, swing band leader and tenor saxophonist, is this week’s Phantom Dancer feature artist. LISTEN HERE The Phantom Dancer is your non-stop mix of swing and jazz from live 1920s-60s radio and TV which I’ve been bringing you every week on 107.3 2SER Sydney since 1985. Listen here

Bob Chester began his music career as a sideman under Irving Aaronson, Ben Bernie, and Ben Pollack. He formed his own orchestra in Detroit in 1939, with a Glenn Miller-influenced sound. This band was unsuccessful in local engagements and quickly dissolved. He then put together a new band on the East Coast under the direction of Tommy Dorsey and with arrangements by David Rose. This ensemble fared much better, recording for Bluebird Records. Billed “The New Sensation of the Nation,” Chester’s band had its own radio show on CBS briefly in the spring of 1939. The twenty-five-minute program aired from the Hotel Van Cleve in Dayton, Ohio 12:30 Friday mornings some of which you’ll hear on this week’s Phantom Dancer. Chester’s Bluebird records have proved excellent sellers, both for retail dealers and coin phonograph operators such as “From Maine to California”; “Wait Till the Sun Shines, Nellie”; “Madeliaine”; and two songs from “Banjo Eyes” – “Not a Care in the World” and “A Nickel to My Name”. His one national hit was “With the Wind and the Rain in Your Hair” (b/w “I Walk With Music”; Bluebird 10614), which featured Dolores O’Neill on vocals and went to #18 on the charts in April 1940. Chester’s orchestra included saxophonist Peanuts Hucko and trombonist Bill Harris. His female singers included Dolores O’Neill, Kathleen Lane, and Betty Bradley. The orchestra disbanded in the mid-1940s, due in part to the shrinking market for big band sound. Chester assembled another band for a short time in the early 1950s, but after it failed he retired from music and returned to Detroit to work for the rest of his life in car manufacturing.

8 DECEMBER PLAY LIST

Play List – The Phantom Dancer 107.3 2SER-FM Sydney, Live Stream Community Radio Network Show CRN #445
107.3 2SER Tuesday 8 December 2020 12:04 – 2:00pm (+11 hours GMT) and Saturdays 5 – 5:55pm National Program 5GTR Mt Gambier Monday 2:30 – 3:30am 3MBR Murrayville Monday 3 – 4am 4NAG Keppel FM Monday 3 – 4am 2SEA Eden Monday 3 – 4am 2MIA Griffith Monday 3 – 4pm 2BAR Edge FM Bega Monday 3 – 4pm 3VKV Alpine Radio Monday 6 – 7pm 7MID Oatlands Tuesday 8 – 9pm 1ART ArtsoundFM Canberra Friday 10 – 11am 2ARM Armidale Friday 12 – 1pm 5LCM Lofty FM Adelaide Friday 1 – 2pm 7LTN Launceston Sunday 5 – 6am 3MGB Mallacoota Sunday 5 – 6am 6GME Radio Goolarri Broome Sunday 5 – 6am 3BBR West Gippsland Sunday 5 – 6pm
Set 1	Stan Kenton Radio Transcriptions
Trumpet Symphonette	Stan Kenton Orchestra	Radio Transcription Los Angeles Oct 1941
Concerto for Doghouse	Stan Kenton Orchestra	Radio Transcription Los Angeles 13 Feb 1942
El Choclo	Stan Kenton Orchestra	Radio Transcription Los Angeles Oct 1941
Set 2	1930s Radio
Station Open	Staff Announcer	W2XAF Schenectady NY 1938
Susannah	Harry Richman (voc) Dodge Orchestra	‘Dodge Program’ Radio Transcription 1936
There’s a Tavern in the Town	Rudy Vallee	‘Fleishmann Yeast Hour’ WEAF NBC Red NY 13 Dec 1934
I’ve Got a Pocketful of Dreams + Theme	Al Goodman Orchestra (voc) The Hit Paraders	‘Your Hit Parade’ WABC CBS NY 22 Oct 1938
Set 3	1940s Swing Radio
One O’Clock Jump (theme) + Fine	Scatman Carruthers Orchestra (voc) Scatman	‘Jubilee’ AFRS Hollywood 13 Mar 1944
Theme + Sherwood’s Forest	Bobby Sherwood Orchestra	‘One Night Stand’ Casino Gardens Ocean Park Ca AFRS Re-broadcast Jan 1947
Do Nothing Till You Hear From Me + Take The A-Train	Gus Arnheim Orchestra	Sherman’s Dine and Dance Mutual Network San Diego 20 Nov 1943
Set 4	Bob Chester
Theme + Shoot The Sherbert To Me, Herbert	Bob Chester Orchestra (voc) Kathleen Lane	Mayfair Restaurant Hotel Van Cleve CBS Dayton OH 22 Sep 1939
Speak Low	Bob Chester Orchestra	‘One Night Stand’ Panther Room Hotel Sherman Chicago AFRS Re-broadcast 8 Oct 1944
Stay In My Arms, Cinderella + Theme + News + Station Close	Bob Chester Orchestra (voc) Stu Braden	Mayfair Restaurant Hotel Van Cleve CBS Dayton OH 22 Sep 1939
Set 5	Count Basie
Red Bank Boogie	Count Basie with Harry Sosnick’s Orchestra	‘Guest Star’ Radio Transcription 23 Oct 1949
One O’clock Jump (theme) + Out of Nowhere	Count Basie Orchestra	Birdland WNBC NBC NY 31 Aug 1952
Basie Boogie	Count Basie with Harry Sosnick’s Orchestra	‘Guest Star’ Radio Transcription 23 Oct 1949
Lullaby of Birdland + Close	Count Basie Orchestra	‘Stars in Jazz’ Birdland WNBC NBC NY 14 Jan 1953
Set 6	Eddie Condon
Monday Night Special	Eddie Condon	‘Chamber Music Society of Lower Basin Street’ WJZ NBC Blue NY 5 Jan 1941
Singin’ the Blues	Eddie Condon (featuring Bobby Hackett)	‘Eddie Condon Town Hall Jazz Concert’ WJZ NBC Blue NY 16 Sep 1944
The Blues	Eddie Condon	‘Chamber Music Society of Lower Basin Street’ WJZ NBC Blue NY 5 Jan 1941
Sweet Georgia Brown	Eddie Condon	‘Eddie Condon Town Hall Jazz Concert’ WJZ NBC Blue NY 14 Oct 1944
Set 7	Bing Crosby
Open + She Loves Me Not	Bing Crosby (voc) Georgie Stoll Orchestra	‘Woodbury Soap Program’ KHJ Mutual LA 18 Sep 1934
I’ve Got To Pass Your House To Get To My House	Bing Crosby (voc) Jimmy Grier Orchestra	Los Angeles 9 Jun 1933
Remember Me	Bing Crosby (voc) John Scott Trotter Orchestra	‘Kraft Music Hall’ KFI NBC Red LA 7 Oct 1937
Shadows of Love	Bing Crosby (voc) Jimmy Grier Orchestra	Los Angeles 10 Mar 1934
Set 8	1950s Mod Radio
Hot House	Miles Davis	‘Stars of Modern Jazz Concert’ Carnegie Hall Voice of America 25 Dec 1949
Night in Tunisia	Dizzy Gillespie	‘Symphony Sid Show’ Birdland WJZ NY 31 Mar 1951