Original air date - Phantom Dancer :: 12:00pm 4th Oct 2022

Lenny Herman accordionist and xylophonist led what was dubbed 'The Mightiest Little Band in the Land' in the 1940s and 50s. For fans of 1950s Lounge Music albums, here's one of those bent easy listening orchestras live on 1948 and 1957 radio as this week's Phantom Dancer feature artist. [embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OgETLB6aUd0[/embed] The Phantom Dancer is your weekly non-stop mix of swing and jazz from live 1920s-60s radio and TV every week. LISTEN to this week's Phantom Dancer mix (online after 2pm AEST, Tuesday 4 October) and two years of Phantom Dancer mixes online at, at https://2ser.com/phantom-dancer/ [embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ioXy3KuD8sM[/embed]

LENNY

Lenny was a 'best-seller on stereophonic tape' (he released songs on reel-to-reel tape) and a band with bright party-like LP album covers from the 1950s beloved of record bin hunters with a penchant for the staidly wacky. The Lenny Herman Quintet that you'll hear on this week's Phantom Dancer airchecks: Lenny Herman - Accordion, Vibraphone, And Vocals Alan Shurr - Tenor Saxophone, Clarinet, Bass Clarinet, And Vocals Charles Shaw - Piano, Celeste, And Organ Earl "Gumpy" Comfort - Violin, String Bass, And Vocals Stan Scott - Drums Lenny Herman's legacy has been dumped on from great heights by contemporary music reviewers such as Eugene Chadbourne who wrote in All-Music: "Lenny Herman is sometimes described as a jazz bandleader of the '40s and '50s, yet his band bus was really more of a bandwagon, using the latter word in terms of a fad or flavor of the day. He got in early on [sic], covering "Daddy's Little Girl" in 1947, and not with the shroud that might have really been appropriate with this anthem of treacle. Alternate publications of the sheet music for this song featured photographs of artists who recorded it; the version with the Lennie Herman Quintet describes the group as "Latin-American." Despite this stylistic designation the small combo was also featured on a recording of "Grandfather's Clock" the year before. Herman also took charge of much larger groups, building a reputation as a big-band leader that eventually eclipsed that of the quintet, if a word as mighty as "eclipsed" can be used to describe something more like a radar blip than a super nova. He recorded orchestra sides such as "When You Fall in Love" for Decca and a nifty red vinyl 45 entitled "Mightiest Lil' Band in the Land." During the early '50s Herman was on the front line of the new trends in commercial children's music, waving a diaper like a flag of surrender. He used the quintet to cut "Percy the Pale Faced Polar Bear" in 1951 and eventually had enough tracks for tots and tykes to tote up the early-'60s Family Album LP, also featuring singer Ginny Gibson. The 1957 Dance Party showcases Herman's talents on both accordion and xylophone, the set list consisting mostly of Tin Pan Alley hits." The reviewer, Eugene Chadbourne, and his Electric Rake... [embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-zaQao-MDyk[/embed]

HERMAN

Lenny gets a fairer review in musicbio.org: "Although generally uncelebrated during his career being a band head, Lenny Herman made a substantial contribution towards the dance band music of NY, USA, from the first 50s onwards. Located in hotels like the Astor, Edison, Roosevelt, Waldorf-Astoria and New Yorker, his small band, frequently dubbed ‘The Mightiest Small Music group In The Property’, etched an absolute impression over the night time dancers of these establishments with music such as for example ‘No Foolin’’. Led by Herman’s accordion playing, the music group, which hardly ever numbered a lot more than ten and sometimes significantly less than eight, also discovered engagements additional afield in Philadelphia (the Warwick Resort), Atlantic Town (the Straymore Resort), Virginia Seaside (the Cavalier Resort) and Dallas (the Baker Resort). With the middle-60s the music group had moved completely towards the Lake Tahoe region, where the right now five or six solid ensemble gained its living playing to combined audiences in the resort hotels." So now enjoy Lenny Herman on this week's Phantom Dancer in airchecks from 1948 and 1957... [embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_dyO3KX4ofQ[/embed]

4 OCTOBER PLAY LIST

Play List - The Phantom Dancer 107.3 2SER-FM Sydney LISTEN ONLINE Community Radio Network Show CRN #565
107.3 2SER Tuesday 4 October 2022 12:04 - 2:00pm (+10 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 2YYY Young Monday 3 - 4am 3VKV Alpine Radio Monday 6 - 7pm 7MID Oatlands Monday 6 -7pm 6GME Radio Goolarri Broome Tuesday 12am - 1am 2SEA Eden Tuesday 6 - 7pm 2MCE Bathurst Wednesday 9 - 10am 2RDJ Burwood Wednesday 12 - 1pm 1ART ArtsoundFM Canberra Friday 10 - 11am 2RRR Ryde Friday 11am -12 noon 2ARM Armidale Friday 12 - 1pm 5LCM Lofty FM Adelaide Friday 1 - 2pm Denmark FM (West Australia) Saturdays 10 – 11am Repeat: Wednesdays 10 – 11pm 7LTN Launceston Sunday 5 - 6am 3MGB Mallacoota Sunday 5 - 6am 3BBR West Gippsland Sunday 5 - 6pm
Set 1	Tex Beneke
Moonlight Serenade (theme) + Uncle Remus	Tex Beneke and the Glenn Miller Orchestra (voc) Tex Beneke, Jenny O'Conner and the Mellowlarks	'March of Dimes' Radio Transcription 1 Dec 1946
Falling Leaves	Tex Beneke and the Glenn Miller Orchestra	'March of Dimes' Radio Transcription 1 Dec 1946
Somewhere in the Night	Tex Beneke and the Glenn Miller Orchestra (voc) Gary Stevens	'March of Dimes' Radio Transcription 1 Dec 1946
Give Me Five Minutes More + Moonlight Serenade (theme)	Tex Beneke and the Glenn Miller Orchestra (voc) Tex Beneke	'March of Dimes' Radio Transcription 1 Dec 1946
Set 2	Your Hit Parade
Intro + I'm Gunna Love That Guy + It's Gotta Be This or That	Joan Edwards	'Your Hit Parade' AFRS Re-broadcast 27 Oct 1945
I'll Buy That Dream	The Hit Paraders	'Your Hit Parade' AFRS Re-broadcast 27 Oct 1945
On The Atcheson, Topeka and Santa Fe	Dick Todd	'Your Hit Parade' AFRS Re-broadcast 27 Oct 1945
Set 3	Latin Rhythms
My Shawl (theme) + In a Little Spanish Town	Xavier Cugat Orchestra	Roseland Ballroom WABC ABC NY 1958
Rhumba	Xavier Cugat Orchestra	Roseland Ballroom WABC ABC NY 1958
Besume	Xavier Cugat Orchestra	Roseland Ballroom WABC ABC NY 1958
Rhumba	Xavier Cugat Orchestra	Roseland Ballroom WABC ABC NY 1958
Set 4	Lenny Herman
Cecilia	Lenny Herman Quintet	Golden Thread Room Hotel New Yorker WCBS CBS NYC 1957
Kisses Are Better Than Roses	Lenny Herman Quintet (voc) Alan Shurr	Golden Thread Room Hotel New Yorker WCBS CBS NYC 1957
Don't Forbid Me	Lenny Herman Quintet (voc) The Hermanaires	Golden Thread Room Hotel New Yorker WCBS CBS NYC 1957
Noon Balloon to Rangoon + In Ol' Kalua (theme)	Lenny Herman Quintet	Hotel Astor WNBC NBC NYC 25 Jun 1948
Set 5	Western Swing
Does My Baby Love Me, Yes Sir!	Jimmie Revard and his Oklahoma Playboys	Comm Rec San Antonio TX 14 Sep 1937
Baby Won't You Please Come Home	W. Lee O'Daniel (voc) Texas Rose	Comm Rec Dallas TX 15 May 1938
Sam the Old Accordian Man	Adolph Hofner and His Texans	Comm Rec Dallas TX 13 Feb 1940
Get Hot	W. Lee O'Daniel	Comm Rec San Antonio TX 21 Nov 1936
Set 6	Tommy Dorsey
Swing Low Sweet Chariot	Tommy Dorsey Orchestra (voc) Bob Allen	Meadowbrook Ballroom Cedar Grove NJ 11 Feb 1941
I Dream of You	Tommy Dorsey Orchestra (voc) Bob Allen	'For the Record' WEAF NBC Red NYC 17 Apr 1944
Always in My Heart	Tommy Dorsey Orchestra (voc) Frank Sinatra	'Raleigh Show' Capitol Theatre WJSV CBS Washington DC 18 Aug 1942
Losers Weepers	Tommy Dorsey Orchestra	Palladium Ballroom KNX CBS LA 26 Nov 1940
Set 7	Lester Young
Lullaby of Birdland (theme) + Three Little Words	Lester Young Quintet	Birdland WABC ABC NYC 5 Sep 1956
How High the Moon	Lester Young Jam Session (voc) Ella Fitzgerald	'Symphony Sid Show' WMCA NYC 27 Nov 1948
Set 8	Blues & Cool
Empty Bed Blues + Love My Baby + Improvised Blues + Theme	Johnny Otis Orchestra and Jubilee All-Stars (voc) Ivie Anderson + Joe Turner	'Jubilee' AFRS Hollywood Oct 1945
I'll Remember April	Dave Brubeck Quartet	Aircheck Jan 1954