Where Swing is King!
“I Surrender, Dear” Music by Harry Barris; arrangement by Jerry Gray and Artie Shaw. Recorded on August 27, 1939 by Artie Shaw and his Orchestra for RCA/Bluebird in New York. Artie Shaw, clarinet, directing: Bernie [..]
“Well, Git It” Composed and arranged by Sy Oliver. Recorded by Tommy Dorsey and His Orchestra for Victor on March 9, 1942 in Hollywood, California. Tommy Dorsey, trombone, directing: Ziggy Elman, Chuck Peterson, Jimmy Blake, [..]
“No Name Jive” Composed and arranged by Larry Wagner. Recorded by Glen Gray and the Casa Loma Orchestra for Decca on March 18, 1940 in New York. Glen Gray, directing: Frank Ryerson, first trumpet; H. [..]
“Hay Burner” Composed and arranged by Sammy Nestico. Recorded by Count Basie and His Orchestra for Dot on September 3-4, 1968 in Hollywood, California. Sammy Nestico, piano, directing: Gene Coe, first trumpet; George “Sonny” Cohn, [..]
“Arab Dance” Composed by Pyotr Ilych Tchaikovsky; arranged by Gil Evans. Recorded by Claude Thornhill and His Orchestra for Columbia on July 17, 1946 in New York. Claude Thornhill, piano, directing: Louis Mucci, first trumpet; [..]
“Something to Live For” Composed and arranged by Billy Strayhorn. Recorded by Ella Fitzgerald with Duke Ellington and His Orchestra on December 20, 1965 in Hollywood, California. Ella Fitzgerald, vocal; with Duke Ellington, directing: William [..]
“Flat Foot Floogie” Composed by Slim Gaillard, Slam Stewart and Bud Green; probably arranged by Edgar Sampson. Recorded by Benny Goodman and His Orchestra for Victor on May 31, 1938 in New York. Benny Goodman, [..]
“Gypsy Without a Song” Composed by Duke Ellington, Juan Tizol and Lou Singer; arranged by Lou Singer. Recorded by Duke Ellington and His Orchestra for Master/Brunswick on June 20, 1938 in New York. Duke Ellington, [..]
“Bijou” Composed and arranged by Ralph Burns. Recorded by Woody Herman and His Orchestra on August 20, 1945 in New York. Woody Herman, alto saxophone, directing: Walter “Pete” Candoli, first trumpet; Sonny Berman, Neal [..]
“My Funny Valentine” Composed by Richard Rodgers (music) and Lorenz Hart (lyric). Privately recorded by the Artie Shaw Gramercy Five in Hollywood in June of 1954. Artie Shaw, clarinet, directing: Hank Jones, piano; Joe Puma, [..]
“Easy Does It” Composed by Sy Oliver and James “Trummy” Young; arranged by Jimmy Mundy. Recorded by Count Basie and His Orchestra for Columbia on March 20, 1940 in New York. William J. “Count” Basie, [..]
“Just Kiddin’ Around” Composed and arranged by Ray Conniff. Recorded by Artie Shaw and His Orchestra on October 30, 1941 in Chicago for Victor Records. Artie Shaw, clarinet, directing: Steve Lipkins, first trumpet; Aniello “Lee” [..]
“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, [..]
The story: Try to rewind your mind to the summer of 1945, in the San Fernando Valley district of Los Angeles, California. I quote singer Mel Torme’ to fill in the rest of the details: “One [..]
“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 [..]
Johnny Mercer…Poet of American Popular Song The story: I have found over time that my reading is very often directed by the music I have listened to recently. Last month, I rediscovered (for the umteenth [..]
“Swanee River” Composed by Stephen Foster; arranged by Sy Oliver. Recorded by Jimmie Lunceford and His Orchestra for Decca on September 23, 1935 in New York. Jimmie Lunceford, directing: Eddie Tompkins, Paul Webster and Sy [..]
“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 [..]
“The Chant” Composed and arranged by Artie Shaw. Recorded from a CBS Melody and Madness radio broadcast on March 12, 1939. Artie Shaw, clarinet, directing: John Best, first trumpet; Chuck Peterson and Bernie Privin, trumpets; George [..]
“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, [..]
Victor’s 24th Street New York Recording Studio The Story: What do Benny Goodman’s “King Porter Stomp,” Artie Shaw’s “Begin the Beguine,” Bunny Berigan’s “I Can’t Get Started,” Glenn Miller’s “Moonlight Serenade,” Tommy Dorsey’s “I’m [..]
“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 [..]