SWING AND SWAY

Sammy Kaye, the band leader who went by the memorable tag-line ‘Swing and Sway with Sammy Kaye’ is this week’s Greg Poppleton Phantom Dancer feature artist in radio excerpts from 1945 and 1949.

Check out the full Phantom Dancer play list of swing and jazz mixed from live 1920s-60s radio below.

ONLINE

This week’s Phantom Dancer will be online right after the 9 July 2SER live mix at 2ser.com.
Hear the show live every Tuesday 12:04-2pm on 107.3 2SER Sydney

KAYE

Samuel Zarnocay was a Swing Era band leader and composer whose musical style could at times be described as ambient, through in the 1940s-50s was described as ‘sweet’.

GIMMICK

Kaye had a very personable style on stage and was apt to engage in quick conversations with his audience during radio band remotes.

He had an audience participation gimmick called ‘So You Want to Lead a Band?’ where audience members would be called onto stage in an attempt to conduct the orchestra, with the possibility of winning batons.

Kaye was also known for his use of ‘singing of song titles’, which was emulated by Kay Kyser and Blue Barron.

Band members sometimes sang backing vocals on songs as the ‘Kaydettes’.

TV

Sammy Kaye was one of the few Swing Era band leaders who became a fixture on US TV in the 1950s. His TV shows include:

The Sammy Kaye Show CBS (1951–52)
The Sammy Kaye Show NBC (summer 1953)
So You Want to Lead a Band ABC (1954–55)
Sammy Kaye’s Music From Manhattan ABC (1958–59)

SEND UP

In October 1939, Kaye’s sweet band sound was sent-up by Charlie Barnet and his Orchestra with the song ‘The Wrong Idea (Swing and Sweat with Charlie Barnet)’ written by Barnet and Billy May.

FIRE

Sammy Kaye was among hundreds of artists whose material was destroyed in the 2008 Universal fire.

VIDEO

This week’s Phantom Dancer video of the week we Swing and Sway with Sammy Kaye for the original 1937 record. Swing and Sway!

9 JULY PLAY LIST