Swing 'n' Sweet -- Your Faves?

[LizzieMaine]

Which bands stand out the most for you? There's quite a few I like, but these are the tops for me --

Swing/Hot -- Benny Goodman, Duke Ellington, Count Basie, Artie Shaw

Sweet -- Hal Kemp, Richard Himber, Johnny Green, Freddy Martin

Crossover -- Casa Loma Orchestra, Paul Whiteman, pre-breakup Dorsey Brothers Orch.

Small Group -- Fats Waller and his Rhythm!

 

[johnnydnh]

Great choices all of them!

Looking at that list makes me remember "The Swingin' Years" radio program hosted by Chuck Cecil. I used to listen to that religously (it was on Sunday Evenings) when I was a teenager. I couldn't imagine a better introduction to Big Band music than that show as Chuck would introduce most of the songs and give a little background on each band. Another thing about that program is that it was on the AM band so that I could listen to it on one of my old radios.

For Swing/Hot I would add Charlie Barnet (with whom, you could swing and sweat)

For Sweet I would add Harry James

Crossover--Tommy Dorsey

Christmas--Stan Kenton did some great ( and I mean great) Christmas Instrumentals on "The Creative World of Stan Kenton Christmas Album" 1961, I think.

 

[scotrace]

Swing * Woody Herman and The Thundering Herd, Red Nichols and His Five Pennies

Sweet * The Nat King Cole Trio

Crossover * Artie Shaw, Glenn Miller

With Vocals * The Modernaires

 

[CharlieH.]

So many bands, so little time and no radio....

Swing- Cab Calloway, the Count, the Duke, the Kings (of swing and clarinet), Fletcher Henderson and Benny Carter.

Sweet - Glenn Miller, Rudy Vallee & his CT Yankees, Vaughn Monroe, Sammy Kaye, Ray Noble

Crossover - Tommy Dorsey, the Casa Loma orchestra, Paul Whiteman, Jack Hylton, Ambrose, Jimmy Dorsey, Waring's Pennsylvanians

Hot Jazz - Bennie Moten, Louis Armstrong, Jelly Roll Morton, Red Nichols

Small groups- Raymond Scott Quintette, Fats Waller and his Rhythm, the King Cole Trio, Benny Goodman's Quartet and Sextet.