Where Swing is King!
“Yard Dog Mazurka” Composed and arranged by Gerald Wilson. Recorded by Jimmie Lunceford and His Orchestra for Decca on August 26, 1941 in New York. Jimmie Lunceford, directing: Eugene E. “Snooky” Young, first trumpet; Paul [..]
“4:30 Blues” Composed and arranged by Duke Ellington. Recorded by Duke Ellington and His Orchestra in concert on November 25-26, 1969 in Manchester, England. Duke Ellington, piano, directing: William “Cat” Anderson, Charles M. “Cootie” Williams, [..]
“New Blues” Composed and arranged by Donall Piestrup. Recorded by the Buddy Rich Big Band on June 15, 1967 for Pacific Jazz/Liberty in Hollywood. Buddy Rich, drums, directing: Ollie Mitchell, Chuck Finley, John Scottile and [..]
“Invitation” Composed by Bronislaw Kaper; arranged by Walt Stuart. Recorded by Buddy Morrow and His Orchestra in New York in 1963. The Story: Bronislaw Kaper (shown at left in the 1950s) was born on February 5, 1902 [..]
“Malibu” Composed and arranged by Benny Carter. Recorded by Benny Carter and His Orchestra for Capitol on April 9, 1945 in Los Angeles. Benny Carter, alto saxophone, directing: Paul Cohen, first trumpet; Gerald Wilson, Emmett [..]
“The Folks Who Live on the Hill” Composed by Jerome Kern; arranged by Johnny Keating. Recorded by Ted Heath and His Music for Decca in London, England in 1956. Ted Heath, directing: Bobby Pratt, first [..]
“Harlem Nocturne” Composed and arranged by Earle Hagen. Recorded by Ray Noble and His Orchestra for Columbia on August 8, 1940 in Chicago. (*) Ray Noble, directing: Don Anderson, Bob Goodrich, Bert Harry, trumpets; Earle [..]
“Undecided” Composed by Charlie Shavers; arranged by Eddie Sauter. Recorded by Benny Goodman and His Orchestra for Victor on December 15, 1938 in New York. Benny Goodman, clarinet, directing: Harry James, first trumpet; Ziggy Elman [..]
“Detour Ahead” Composed by Johnny Frigo, Lou Carter and Herb Ellis. (* see below). Recorded by Ella Fitzgerald with Herb Ellis, guitar, on March 25, 1959 for Verve in Hollywood. The story: By the time [..]
“Remember” Composed by Irving Berlin; arranged by Eddie Sauter. Recorded by Red Norvo and His Orchestra for Brunswick on March 22, 1937 in Chicago. Kenneth “Red” [..]
“Blues for Francine” Composed and arranged by Ralph Burns. Recorded by Ralph Burns at Group IV Recording, Hollywood, California in February of 1987. Ralph Burns, piano, conducting: Rick Baptist, first trumpet; Oscar Brashear, Gary Grant, [..]
“Rocks in My Bed” Composed by Duke Ellington; arranged by Duke Ellington and Billy Strayhorn. Recorded by Duke Ellington and His Orchestra for Victor on September 29, 1941 in Hollywood, California. Duke Ellington, piano, directing: [..]
The story: Back in early 2016, I was about to launch this blog. Over several decades I had accumulated a lot of recorded music, books, images and articles about the musicians who made the music, [..]
The story: In this, the second installment of our salute to arranger Bill Finegan, we present two different Finegan arrangements on two separate melodies, done at two different times for two different bandleaders. Nevertheless, there [..]
“Jeepers Creepers” Composed by Harry Warren (music) and Johnny Mercer (lyric); arranged by Jerry Gray. Recorded from an NBC network radio broadcast by Artie Shaw and His Orchestra emanating from the Blue Room of Hotel [..]
Trumpeter Mannie Klein (pictured above), was born in New York City on February 4, 1908. The silent film presented below was shot at his 25th birthday party on February 4, 1933. As you will see, it [..]
“In a Persian Market” Composed by Albert W. Ketelbey; arranged by Larry Clinton. Recorded by Larry Clinton and His Orchestra for Victor on June 7, 1939 in New York. Larry Clinton,directing: Steve Lipkins, first trumpet; [..]
“Sent for You Yesterday” Composed by Count Basie, Jimmy Rushing and Eddie Durham; arranged by Eddie Durham. Recorded by Count Basie and His Orchestra live on April 2, 1939 from the Columbia Dance Hour – [..]
“Too Many Tears” Composed by Harry Warren (music), and Al Dubin (lyric). Recorded by Maxine Sullivan and Bob Wilber for Monmouth-Evergreen on June 11, 1969 in New York. Maxine Sullivan, singing, with: Bob Wilber, soprano [..]
“Parker’s Mood” Composed by Charlie Parker; arranged by Buddy Clark. Recorded by Supersax for Capitol Records in Los Angeles in February 1972. Supersax on this recording consisted of the following musicians: Med Flory and Joe [..]
“G.T. Stomp” Composed by Walter Hirsch and Gerald Marks; “head” arrangement later formalized by Earl Hines and Budd Johnson. Recorded by Earl Hines and His Orchestra for RCA Bluebird on July 12, 1939 in New [..]
“Caravan” Composed by Juan Tizol; arranged by Joe Lippman. Recorded by Bunny Berigan and His Orchestra on August 18, 1937 for Victor in New York. Bunny Berigan, trumpet, directing: Steve Lipkins, first trumpet; Irving Goodman, [..]
“Blues in the Night” Composed by Harold Arlen (music) and Johnny Mercer (lyric); arranged by Lennie Hayton. Recorded by Artie Shaw and His Orchestra for Victor on September 2, 1941 in New York. Artie Shaw, [..]
“Blue Champagne” Composed by Grady Watts and Frank Ryerson; arranged by Toots Camarata. Recorded by Jimmy Dorsey and His Orchestra for Decca on April 29, 1941 in New York. Jimmy Dorsey, alto saxophone; directing: Jimmy [..]
“The Happy Stranger” Composed by John Benson Brooks; arranged by Gil Evans. Recorded by Claude Thornhill and His Orchestra on November 4, 1947 for Associated Transcription Service in New York. Claude Thornhill, piano, directing: Paul [..]
“Stairway to the Stars” Composed by Matty Malneck and Frank Signorelli (music), and Mitchell Parish (lyric). Arranged by Jerry Gray. Recorded by the New York All-Star Big Band on August 8-9, 2016 in New York. [..]
“Star Dust” Composed by Hoagy Carmichael; arranged by Bill Finegan and Glenn Miller. Recorded by Glenn Miller and His Orchestra on January 29, 1940 for Bluebird in New York. Glenn Miller, trombone, directing: R.D. McMickle, [..]
“Lush Life” Composed by Billy Strayhorn; arranged by Harold Mooney. Recorded on April 1, 1956 by Sarah Vaughan for Mercury Records in New York. Billy Strayhorn met Duke Ellington backstage at the Stanley Theater in [..]
“Forty Days” Composed by Dave Brubeck. Head arrangement by Dave Brubeck Quartet. Recorded by the Dave Brubeck Quartet for Columbia Records in New York between September 20 and October 13, 1965. Dave Brubeck, piano; Paul [..]
“These Foolish Things” Composed by Eric Maschwitz (Holt Marvel), lyric; Jack Strachey and Harry Link, music. Arranged by Ray Conniff. Recorded by Artie Shaw and His Orchestra on June 8, 1945 for RCA Victor in [..]