Lucky Millinder

Lucky Millinder was a very unique bandleader to say the least. Millinder could not read or write music, he did not play an instrument and Lucky rarely sang. (Pretty strange, huh.) It was his showmanship and musical taste that made his bands so successful. What Lucky lacked in natural musical talent, he made up for with a good ear for a hot song, and a knack of making chart topping records.  His group was said to have been the greatest Big Band to play Rhythm and Blues. 

In the 1920's he worked in clubs, ballrooms, and theaters in Chicago as a master of ceremonies and dancer. Lucky first fronted a band in 1931, and the following year took over the leadership of Doc Crawford's Orchestra which was based in Harlem, New York.

The 1930's proved to be a successful decade for Millinder, in which many opportunities came his way.  In 1933, he took a band to Europe and played residencies in both Monte Carlo and Paris. After gaining a lot of experience in Europe, he returned to New York City to take over the leadership of the Mills Blue Rhythm Band, which included Henry "Red" Allen and Charlie Shavers among other big names at that time. The band had a regular slot at the famed Cotton Club.

In 1940, with Bill Doggett now a part of the mix, Millinder established a residency at New York's Savoy Ballroom and won a contract with Decca Records. Dizzy Gillespie was the band's trumpeter for a while and was featured on Millinder's first charted hit, "When the Lights Go On Again (All Over the World)."  The follow-up recordings of "Apollo Jump" and "Sweet Slumber" were also big hits, with vocals by Trevor Bacon.  

Listen to "Who Threw the Whisky in the Well" by Lucky Millinder and His Orchestra

By the mid-1940's the band was drifting towards what came to be known as rhythm and blues and ended up having many hits on the R/B Charts.

You can hear the swing music of Lucky Millinder right here on Swing City Radio.

Swing City Radio: Playing Your Big Band and Swing Music Favorites from the 1930's, 40's and Today! - Broadcasting Online from King of Prussia, PA.

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Liberty Magazine

In the Alvino Rey song "I Said No", female vocalist Yvonne King of the King Sisters teasingly turns down her male caller with a song filled with rejections: "I said no, no, no". The song's twist ending is that she is actually saying "no" to a Liberty Magazine subscription and finally gives in.

Listen to "I Said No" by Alvino Rey with Yvonne King

So what's the history behind Liberty Magazine?  Liberty was an American weekly, general-interest magazine, originally priced at five cents and subtitled, "A Weekly for Everybody."  It was launched in 1924 by publisher McCormick-Patterson.  At one time it was said to be "the second greatest magazine in America," ranking behind The Saturday Evening Post in circulation.

Liberty featured contributions and articles from some of the biggest politicians, celebrities, authors, and artists of the 20th-century. The contents of the magazine provides a unique look into popular culture, politics, and world events through the Roaring 20s, Great Depression, World War II, and Post-War America. 

In 1942, following the lead of The Saturday Evening Post, Liberty increased its price from five to ten cents, resulting in a major drop in sales.  It ceased publication in 1950.

It's believed that over 120 full-feature films and television shows have been produced from content published within Liberty, including "Mister Ed", "Double Indemnity" and "Sergeant York" to name a few.

Swing City Radio: Playing Your Big Band and Swing Music Favorites from the 1930's, 40's and Today! - Big Band Radio Station Broadcasting Online from King of Prussia, PA. Commercial Free!

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Harlan Leonard

Harlan Leonard was a clarinetist and bandleader whose career spanned from the early 1920's and lasted into the mid 1940's.  His bands didn't achieve huge national success, but still featured some great tunes. The music he released later in his career are great examples of the transition between swing and bebop. 

Leonard was born in Kansas City in 1905. He joined Bennie Moten's orchestra in 1923, where he led the reed section. In 1931, he left Moten's band and formed the Kansas City Skyrockets, which had some limited success in the Kansas City area.  

Leonard eventually retooled his sound a bit and in 1939 he formed Harlan Leonard and His Rockets.  The band featured a young Myra Taylor and soon became a top Kansas City regional band and toured nationally.

Listen to Harlen Leonard and His Rockets perform "Rock and Ride"

The band broke up during the Second World War, and sadly, Leonard had permanently left the music scene by 1945.

Interesting side note:  Rumor has it that Charlie Parker played in Leonard's band for five weeks, but he was fired by Harlan for lack of discipline.

Swing City Radio: Playing Your Big Band and Swing Music Favorites from the 1930's, 40's and Today! - Big Band Radio Station Broadcasting Online from King of Prussia, PA.

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Dinah Shore

Dinah Shore was a singer, actress and television personality, and the top-charting female vocalist of the 1940's. She rose to prominence as a recording artist during the Big Band era. I have to say, Dinah was a HUGE artist during the era, but history seems to remember Doris Day and Patti Page more, maybe because they were so similar stylistically. She eventually moved on to television and achieved even greater success a decade later.

Her music career started off bumpy, after failing singing auditions for the bands of Benny Goodman, and both Dorsey brothers, Shore struck out on her own. She became the first singer of her era to achieve huge solo success. She had a string of 80 charted popular hits, spanning 1940–1957.

One of her most popular recordings was the holiday perennial "Baby, It's Cold Outside" with Buddy Clark. The song was covered by many other artists, such as Ella Fitzgerald. Other hits included "Laughing on the Outside (Crying on the Inside)", "I Wish I Didn't Love You So", "I Love You (For Sentimental Reasons)", "Doin' What Comes Naturally", and "Dear Hearts and Gentle People".

 

Listen to Dinah Shore sing "He's My Guy"

During World War II, Dinah Shore participated in the USO tours to Europe. She appeared in person, on radio, and on record with a number of British and American stars, including Major Glenn Miller and his large Army Air Force Band.

After appearing in a handful of feature films, she went on to a four-decade career in television.  I remember watching her shows with my Pop-Pop. I was too young to recall any details, but I know he was a fan of her.  Or maybe it was because there was only a handful of channels back then so you just watched what was on.  Regardless, I have memories of her on the tube.  :)

Watch Dinah Shore sing "See the U.S.A in Your Chevrolet" from a 1953 Commercial

TV Guide ranked her at number 16 on their list of the top 50 television stars of all time.

Listen to Swing City Radio to hear many of Dinah Shore's songs.

Swing City Radio: Playing Your Big Band and Swing Music Favorites from the 1930's, 40's and Today! - Big Band Radio Station Broadcasting Online from King of Prussia, PA.

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Andy Kirk

Andy Kirk was a jazz saxophonist and bandleader who led the Twelve Clouds of Joy, a band that was popular during the swing era.

Kirk grew up in Denver, Colorado, where he was tutored by Wilberforce Whiteman.  (Wilberforce Whiteman was Paul Whiteman's father.  We play many of Paul Whiteman's tunes on Swing City Radio as well.)  Kirk started his musical career playing with George Morrison's band, but then went on to join Terrence Holder's Dark Clouds of Joy. In 1929, he was elected leader after Holder left for personal reasons.

Kirk renamed the band Clouds of Joy and relocated the band from Dallas to Kansas City. Although named the Clouds of Joy, the band has also been known as the Twelve Clouds of Joy due to the number of musicians in the band.

Listen to a recording of “Christopher Columbus” by Andy Kirk and His Twelve Clouds of Joy.  The song was later adopted by the Benny Goodman band for inclusion in their famous arrangement of “Sing, Sing, Sing.”

After Kirk moved the band to Kansas City they grew in popularity as they epitomized the Kansas City jazz sound. In mid-1936, he was signed to Decca and made scores of popular records for the label until 1946.

Listen to Andy Kirk and His Twelve Clouds of Joy right here on Swing City Radio.

Swing City Radio: Playing Your Big Band and Swing Music Favorites from the 1930's, 40's and Today! - Big Band Radio Station Broadcasting Online from King of Prussia, PA.

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Buddy Clark

Buddy Clark was a popular Big Band Era singer. In the late 1940's, after returning from service in World War II, his career blossomed and he became one of the nation's top crooners. His life and career were cut short due to a tragic plane crash in 1949.

He made his Big Band singing debut in 1932, with Gus Arnheim's Orchestra, but was not successful. He gained wider notice in 1934, with Benny Goodman on the Let's Dance radio program. In 1936, he began performing on the show Your Hit Parade, and remained until 1938. In the mid-1930's, he signed with Vocalion Records, having a top-20 hit with "Spring Is Here". He continued recording until he entered the military, but did not have another hit until the late 1940's.

In 1946, after returning from World War II, he signed with Columbia Records and scored his biggest hit with the song "Linda."

Interesting little fact:
Now here is something I didn't know until making this post. Buddy Clark's popular hit song "Linda" was written especially for the six-year-old daughter of a show business lawyer named Lee Eastman, whose client, songwriter Jack Lawrence, wrote the song at Lee’s request. When she reached adulthood, Linda became Linda McCartney. She was famous as a photographer, a musician (as a member of Wings), and a spokeswoman for animal rights.

Watch a Soundie of Buddy Clark performing "Linda"

Getting back to Buddy Clark, 1947 also saw hits for Clark with such titles as "How Are Things in Glocca Morra?", "Peg O' My Heart", "An Apple Blossom Wedding", and "I'll Dance at Your Wedding". The following year he had another major hit with "Love Somebody."

On October 1, 1949, hours after Buddy had completed a broadcast on CBS Radio with The Andrews Sisters, Clark joined five friends in renting a small plane to attend a college football game in Stanford, California. On the way back to Los Angeles after the game, the plane ran out of fuel, lost altitude, and crashed on Beverly Boulevard in West Los Angeles. Clark didn't survive the crash.  A month after his death, his recording of "A Dreamer's Holiday" hit the charts.

Listen to "A Dreamer's Holiday" performed by Buddy Clark

You can hear many of Buddy Clark's songs right here on Swing City Radio.

Swing City Radio: Playing Your Big Band and Swing Music Favorites from the 1930's, 40's and Today! - Big Band Radio Station Broadcasting Online from King of Prussia, PA.

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Chattanooga Gold

Chattanooga Choo Choo was released by Glenn Miller in the Spring of 1941.  It became the first song to be certified a "Gold Record" on February 10th of 1942.  Pictured above is Glenn receiving the award from executives from the RCA label.  A song is certified Gold when sales exceed the one million mark.

The song was originally featured in the 1941 movie Sun Valley Serenade.  The movie soundtrack contains many other Glenn Miller songs as well.  (I just watched that movie recently, check it out! Quite entertaining.)

The song describes the train route from New York City to Chattanooga, Tennessee including places like Baltimore and North Carolina.  The beginning of the song is famous for sounding like a train rolling out of the station, complete with the trumpets and trombones imitating a train whistle.

 

Watch: Video of  Glenn Miller performing Chattanooga Choo Choo.

The video above features an extended version of Chattanooga Choo Choo that was included in the movie "Sun Valley Serenade".

You can hear live and studio recordings of Glenn Miller performing Chattanooga Choo Choo right here on Swing City Radio.

Swing City Radio: Playing Your Big Band and Swing Music Favorites from the 1930's, 40's and Today! - Big Band Radio Station Broadcasting Online from King of Prussia, PA.

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Goodman at Manhattan Beach

This is a picture of Benny Goodman playing on the Manhattan Beach bandstand as Martha Tilton sings.  I just love this picture!  The picture can be found in the liner notes booklet of The Swing Years.  The Swing Years is record collection that was put out by Reader's Digest.  Those old Reader's Digest Big Band Collections are great! 

If you find a Reader's Digest Collection at a second hand store and own a record player they are usually a good purchase.  Many of them include six records or more.  Just make sure to look and see if the collection contains the original recordings by the original artists.  (Some of the collections feature newer recordings of the songs and aren't as good.)  Also, look through it and make sure the booklet is still included.  The booklets are just as entertaining as the recordings and are filled with interesting information and pictures.

Listen to Tracks from Record #6 of "The Swing Years" Collection

Be sure to check out our Pinterest page to see more pictures and liner notes from this record collection.

Swing City Radio: Playing Your Big Band and Swing Music Favorites from the 1930's, 40's and Today! - Big Band Radio Station Broadcasting Online from King of Prussia, PA.

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Larry Clinton

Larry Clinton was best known as a trumpeter.  He also became a prominent and influential bandleader.

While in his twenties, Larry Clinton became a prolific arranger for some of the bigger bandleaders at the time. Tommy Dorsey, Jimmy Dorsey, Glen Gray, Louis Armstrong, and Bunny Berigan all used Larry Clinton charts and arrangements.

He formed his first band in 1937.  Larry recorded a string of hits for Victor Records. The Larry Clinton Orchestra featured a mix of pop tunes of the day, instrumentals written by Clinton, and swing versions of classical music compositions. The classical music compositions swept the industry, and orchestras everywhere were "swinging the classics" by adding pop lyrics to melodies by Debussy, Tchaikovsky and other classical composers. His version of Debussy's "Reverie", with vocalist Bea Wain, was particularly popular.  His version of "My Reverie" peaked at #1 on Billboard in 1938.

Listen to "My Reverie" performed by Larry Clinton and His Orchestra

In 1941, Clinton and his band appeared in six short musical films which eventually became "Soundies." This was one of his last jobs as a bandleader; he temporarily quit the music business upon the outbreak of World War II, and joined the United States Army Air Forces. A rated pilot, he rose to the rank of captain, was stationed in Calcutta and China and was a flight instructor with the 1343rd Base Unit.

After returning home from service, he resumed his musical career and enjoyed further success as a bandleader from 1948 to 1950.

You can hear many of Larry Clinton's songs right here on Swing City Radio.

Swing City Radio: Playing Your Big Band and Swing Music Favorites from the 1930's, 40's and Today! - Big Band Radio Station Broadcasting Online from King of Prussia, PA.

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September Birthdays

Here is a list of September Birthdays of notable Big Band and Swing artists that we play right here on Swing City Radio.  For some reason the list doesn't seem as long as it has been for other months.  I also included the date the artist passed away for age purposes. If you feel that I missed someone, then send me an email through the website.  View more Big Band related Birthday and Events on our Swing City Radio Station Calendar.

September 4
Gus Arnheim (September 4, 1897 – January 19, 1955)
Jan Savitt (September 4, 1907 – October 4, 1948)

September 10
Cliff Leeman (September 10, 1913 – April 26, 1986)
Raymond Scott (September 10, 1908 – February 8, 1994)

September 12
Ella Mae Morse (September 12, 1924 – October 16, 1999)
Shep Fields (September 12, 1910 – February 23, 1981)

September 13
Dick Haymes (September 13, 1918 – March 28, 1980)
Mel Tormé (September 13, 1925 – June 5, 1999)

September 16
Andy Russell (September 16, 1919 – April 16, 1992)

September 26
Ted Weems September 26, 1901 - May 6, 1963)

September 30
Buddy Rich (September 30, 1917 – April 2, 1987)

Swing City Radio: Playing Your Big Band and Swing Music Favorites from the 1930's, 40's and Today! - Big Band Radio Station Broadcasting Online from King of Prussia, PA.

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