Phantom Dancer :: 5:00pm 13th Nov 2021

Original air date - Phantom Dancer :: 12:00pm 9th Nov 2021

Ray Miller, popular 1920s band leader and trombonist, whose jazz band was the first to play at the White House (in 1924) is this week's Phantom Dancer feature artist. This is a 'classic' Phantom Dancer from May of this year. I won't be in the studio due to a film commitment. Check out this scholarly article about that first White House encounter with jazz which included Ray Miller and his Orchestra, Al Jolson and a host of New York City showbiz stars http://vjm.biz/white_house.pdf

The Phantom Dancer is your non-stop mix of swing and jazz from live 1920s-60s radio and TV which I've had the plaesure of producing and presenting for you since 1985.

LISTEN TO a whole library of Phantom Dancer mixes online now at https://2ser.com/phantom-dancer/.

HEAR show will be online after 2pm AEST, Tuesday 9 November at https://2ser.com/phantom-dancer/

[embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lTO8ZASCf4Y[/embed]

 

RAY

Not much is known about Ray Miller outside of his performance career which stretched from 1916 until he disappeared off the scene in 1930. In 1916, he worked as a singing waiter at the Casino Gardens in Chicago, home of the Original Dixieland Jazz Band (ODJB). Miller followed the ODJB to New York City, where he formed a band, the Black and White Melody Boys, featuring himself on drums and New Orleans native Tom Brown on trombone.
 
The band performed in vaudeville and featured in musical productions before disbanding. Around 1920s, Miller formed a dance band. At different times, its members included Ward Archer (drums); Charlie Rocco (trumpet); Miff Mole (trombone); Danny Yates (violin); Roy Johnston (trumpet); Rube Bloom and Tommy Satterfield (piano); Louie Chasone (tuba); Frank TrumbauerAndy Sannella, Billy Richards and Andy Sandolar (saxophones); and Frank O. Prima (banjo). The orchestra recorded for  Columbia and OKeh before signing an exclusive contract with Brunswick Records in late 1923.

MILLER

The Ray Miller Orchestra played more  jazz-influenced music after Mole and Trumbauer joined in 1924.  Late, in thart year, after performing for President Coolldge at the White House on 17 October, they recorded  Irving Berlin's song "All Alone" with Al Jolson singing.

The band had residencies at the New York Hippodrome and Arcadia Ballroom in New York City as well as in Atlantic City. Their most successful recordings included "The Sheik of Araby" (OKeh, 1922), "I'll See You In My Dreams" (Brunswick, 1925), and "When It's Springtime in the Rockies" (Brunswick, 1930).  After Mole and Trumbauer left, Miller moved his base to the Hotel Gibson in Cincinnati, Ohio, in 1927, and performed regularly for the powerful radio station WLW.

He left Cincinnati and formed a new band in Chicago in 1928, which for a few months included trumpeter Muggsy Spanier and clarinetist Volly De Faut. Miller and his orchestra recorded regularly for Brunswick in Chicago until 1930. On this week's Phantom Dancer you'll hear the Miller Band on radio transcriptions recorded to advertise Sunny Meadows washing machines recorded on five minute 78 rpm radio discs between December 1928 and February 1929.

His last Brunswick recording, 'Kiss Me With Your Eyes' with 'When It's Springtime in the Rockies', was recorded in Chicago in March 1930. He disbanded in 1930 afterwhich he disappeared from the record. It is guessed that he died in 1974.

 

[embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yhQjyfXb-X0[/embed]

9 NOVEMBER PLAY LIST

Play List - The Phantom Dancer
107.3 2SER-FM Sydney LISTEN ONLINE Community Radio Network Show CRN #517

107.3 2SER Tuesday 9 NOVEMBER 2021 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 2MIA Griffith Monday 3 - 4am 2BAR Edge FM Bega Monday 3 - 4am 2BRW Braidwood Monday 3 - 4am 3VKV Alpine Radio Monday 6 - 7pm 7MID Oatlands Monday 3 - 4am + 6 -7pm 2SEA Eden Tuesday 6 - 7pm 6GME Radio Goolarri Broome Tuesday 4am - 5am 2MCE Bathurst Wednesday 9 - 10am 1ART ArtsoundFM Canberra Friday 10 - 11am + Sunday 11pm - 12am 2ARM Armidale Friday 12 - 1pm 5LCM Lofty FM Adelaide Friday 1 - 2pm Denmark FM (West Australia) Saturday 10 – 11am + Wednesday 10 – 11pm 7LTN Launceston Sunday 5 - 6am 3MGB Mallacoota Sunday 5 - 6am 3BBR West Gippsland Sunday 5 - 6pm

Set 1
Swing Bands One Night Stand Radio  
Tin Roof Blues (theme) + That's A'Plenty
Pee Wee Erwin
'One Night Stand' Nick's Restaurant AFRS Re-broadcast 14 Dec 1950
Tampico
Stan Kenton Orchestra (voc) June Christy and Band
'One Night Stand' Cafe Rouge Hotel Pennsylvania NYC 27 Sep 1945
I Get a Kick Out of You + Close
Ray Anthony Orchestra
'One Night Stand' Cafe Rouge Hotel Statler NYC AFRS Re-broadcast 11 Jan 1952
Set 2
Vincent Valsanti (Ted Fio Rito)  
Stay As Sweet As You Are
Vincent Valsanti Orchestra (voc) Bill Thomas
Cocoanut Radio Transcription TRANSCO Los Angeles 1934
Two Hearts
Vincent Valsanti Orchestra
Cocoanut Radio Transcription TRANSCO Los Angeles 1934
Miss Otis Regrets + What a Difference a Day Makes + Close
Vincent Valsanti Orchestra (voc) Spooky Dickinson
Cocoanut Radio Transcription TRANSCO Los Angeles 1934
Set 3
Trad  Radio  
Open + Mississippi Mud
Jimmy Dorsey 'Dorseyland' Band
'The Jimmy Dorsey Show' Radio Transcription 1950s
The Clock Watcher's Show
The Clock Watcher
KTSP St Paul-Minneapolis 1949
San Francisco Bay Blues
Jessie Fuller
Pier 23 KGO San Francisco 1959
Set 4
Ray Miller  
No Place Like Home (theme) + Angry
Ray Miller Orchestra + Vocal
Sunny Meadows Radio Show Radio Transcription Chicago 18 Jan 1929
I Ain't Got Nobody
Ray Miller Orchestra (voc) Mary Williams
Sunny Meadows Radio Show Radio Transcription Chicago 25 Jan 1929
Caressing You
Ray Miller Orchestra + Vocal
Sunny Meadows Radio Show Radio Transcription Chicago 14 Dec 1928
Royal Garden Blues + No Place Like Home (theme)
Ray Miller Orchestra
Sunny Meadows Radio Show Radio Transcription Chicago 14 Dec 1928
Set 5
Benny Goodman 1930s Radio  
Let's Dance + Hunkadola
Benny Goodman Orchestra
'Let's Dance' WEAF NBC Red NY 20 Apr 1935
Where or When
Benny Goodman Trio (voc) Audience
Madhattan Room Hotel Pennsylvania NYC WABC CBS NY 23 Oct 1937
Walk, Jenny, Walk
Benny Goodman Orchestra
'Let's Dance' WEAF NBC Red NY 4 May 1935
Swingtime in the Rockies
Benny Goodman Orchestra
Madhattan Room Hotel Pennsylvania NYC WABC CBS NY 27 Oct 1937
Set 6
1940s Radio Transcriptions  
A Little Bit Independent
Eddy Howard Orchestra (voc) Eddy Howard
Radio Transcription New York 1948
The Answer is Love
Sterling Young Orchestra (voc) Bobbie Ennis and Alan Simms
Radio Transcription Los Angeles 1940
Cherokee
Eddy Howard Orchestra
Radio Transcription New York 1948
It Had To Be You
Sterling Young Orchestra (voc) Bobbie Ennis
Radio Transcription Los Angeles 1940
Set 7
Esquire Jazz Concert  
Blues
Louis Armstrong and Jack Teagarden
'First Esquire All Star Jazz Concert' Metropolitan Opera House WJZ Blue NYC 18 Jan 1944
Esquire Bounce
Louis Armstrong and Jack Teagarden
'First Esquire All Star Jazz Concert' Metropolitan Opera House WJZ Blue NYC 18 Jan 1944
Ol' Rockin' Chair
Mildred Bailey
'First Esquire All Star Jazz Concert' Metropolitan Opera House WJZ Blue NYC 18 Jan 1944
Basin Street Blues
Jack Teagarden and Coleman Hawkins
'First Esquire All Star Jazz Concert' Metropolitan Opera House WJZ Blue NYC 18 Jan 1944
Set 8
1950s Jazz TV  
When the Saints Go Marching In
Dorsey Brothers
'Stage Show' CBS TV NY 1 Jan 1955
Basin Street Blues + Jeepers Creepers
Jack Teagarden (tp & voc) Louis Armstrong
'Timex All-Star Jazz Show' CBS TV NY 30 April 1958
Night Walk
Gerry Mulligan
'Timex All-Star Jazz Show' CBS TV NY 30 April 1958
St Louis Blues
Everybody
'Timex All-Star Jazz Show' CBS TV NY 30 April 1958
PLAYLIST

Pee Wee Erwin   Tin Roof Blues (theme) + That's A'Plenty

Stan Kenton Orchestra (voc) June Christy and Band   Tampico

Ray Anthony Orchestra   I Get a Kick Out of You + Close

Vincent Valsanti Orchestra (voc) Bill Thomas   Stay As Sweet As You Are

Vincent Valsanti Orchestra   Two Hearts

Vincent Valsanti Orchestra (voc) Spooky Dickinson   Miss Otis Regrets + What a Difference a Day Makes + Close

Jimmy Dorsey 'Dorseyland' Band   Open + Mississippi Mud

The Clock Watcher   The Clock Watcher's Show

Jessie Fuller   San Francisco Bay Blues

Ray Miller Orchestra + Vocal   No Place Like Home

Ray Miller Orchestra (voc) Mary Williams   I Ain't Got Nobody

Ray Miller Orchestra + Vocal   Caressing You

Ray Miller Orchestra   Royal Garden Blues + No Place Like Home (theme)

Benny Goodman Orchestra   Let's Dance + Hunkadola

Benny Goodman Trio (voc) Audience   Where or When

Benny Goodman Orchestra   Walk Jenny Walk

Benny Goodman Orchestra   Swingtime in the Rockies

Eddy Howard Orchestra (voc) Eddy Howard   A Little Bit Independent

Sterling Young Orchestra (voc) Bobbie Ennis and Alan Simms   The Answer is Love

Eddy Howard Orchestra   Cherokee

Sterling Young Orchestra (voc) Bobbie Ennis   It Had to be You

Louis Armstrong and Jack Teagarden   Blues

Louis Armstrong and Jack Teagarden   Esquire Bounce

Mildred Bailey   Ole Rockin' Chair

Jack Teagarden and Coleman Hawkins   Basin Street Blues

Dorsey Brothers   When the Saints Go Marching In

Jack Teagarden (tp & voc) Louis Armstrong   Basin Street Blues + Jeepers Creepers

Gerry Mulligan   Night Walk

Everybody   St Louis Blues

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