John Robert Parker Ravenscroft, known professionally as John Peel, was an English disc jockey and radio presenter. He was the longest-serving of the original BBC Radio 1 DJs, broadcasting regularly from 1967 until his death in 2004.
Lindley Armstrong "Spike" Jones was an American musician and bandleader specializing in spoof arrangements of popular songs and classical music. Ballads receiving the Jones treatment were punctuated with gunshots, whistles, cowbells, hiccups, burps, and outlandish and comedic vocals. Jones and his band recorded under the title Spike Jones and His City Slickers from the early 1940s to the mid-1950s, and toured the United States and Canada as "The Musical Depreciation Revue".
William Clarence Eckstine was an American jazz and pop singer and a bandleader during the swing and bebop eras. He was noted for his rich, almost operatic bass-baritone voice. In 2019, Eckstine was posthumously awarded the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award "for performers who, during their lifetimes, have made creative contributions of outstanding artistic significance to the field of recording." His recording of "I Apologize" was given the Grammy Hall of Fame Award in 1999. The New York Times described him as an "influential band leader" whose "suave bass-baritone" and "full-throated, sugary approach to popular songs inspired singers like Earl Coleman, Johnny Hartman, Joe Williams, Arthur Prysock, and Lou Rawls."
Xavier Cugat was a Spanish musician and bandleader who spent his formative years in Havana, Cuba. A trained violinist and arranger, he was a leading figure in the spread of Latin music. In New York City he was the leader of the resident orchestra at the Waldorf–Astoria before and after World War II. He was also a cartoonist and a restaurateur. The personal papers of Xavier Cugat are preserved in the Biblioteca de Catalunya.
Leroy Anderson was an American composer of short, light concert pieces, many of which were introduced by the Boston Pops Orchestra under the direction of Arthur Fiedler. John Williams described him as "one of the great American masters of light orchestral music."
"Again" is a popular song with music by Lionel Newman and words by Dorcas Cochran. It first appeared in the movie Road House (1948), sung by Ida Lupino. An instrumental rendition was used in the movie Pickup on South Street (1953). By 1949, versions by Vic Damone, Doris Day, Tommy Dorsey, Gordon Jenkins, Vera Lynn, Art Mooney, and Mel Tormé all made the Billboard charts.
"Isle of Capri" is a popular song. The music, a tango foxtrot, was written by Wilhelm Grosz, with lyrics by Jimmy Kennedy and was published in 1934. Ray Noble and his Orchestra with vocalist Al Bowlly, recorded it in London, UK, on August 30, 1934. It was released in November on Victor Records in the United States, reaching number one for seven weeks in early 1935.
"It's a Sin to Tell a Lie" is a 1936 popular song written by Billy Mayhew, introduced early that year on records by many dance bands including Dick Robertson on the 78rpm record Champion 40106, and later popularized by Fats Waller on Victor 25342 and re-issued on Victor 20-1595. It was recorded in French by Cajun singer Cléoma Breaux in 1936 or 1937. Four further recordings of the song were made in 1936, namely by Freddy Ellis and His Orchestra (April), Victor Young and His Orchestra (April), Elton Britt (September), Roy Smeck and His Serenaders and Vera Lynn.
Leo F. Reisman was an American violinist and bandleader in the 1920s and 1930s. Born and reared in Boston, Massachusetts, United States, he was of Jewish ancestry; from German immigrants who immigrated to the United States in the 19th century. Inspired by the Russian-American violinist Jascha Heifetz, Reisman studied violin as a young man. After being rejected by the Boston Symphony Orchestra, he formed his own band in 1919. He became famous for having over 80 hits on the popular charts during his career. Jerome Kern called Reisman's orchestra "The String Quartet of Dance Bands".
Alfred J. Gallodoro, was an American jazz clarinetist and saxophonist, who performed from the 1920s up until his death. He is notable for having played lead alto sax with the Paul Whiteman Orchestra and bass clarinet for 12 years with the NBC Symphony Orchestra under Arturo Toscanini. Bandleader Jimmy Dorsey praised him as "the best sax player who ever lived."
This is the discography of recordings by Duke Ellington, including those nominally led by his sidemen, and his later collaborations with musicians with whom Ellington had generally not previously recorded.
Thomas James Dalglish Ravenscroft is a British radio presenter and disc jockey. He currently hosts a BBC Radio 6 Music show featuring new and unsigned music. He is the son of DJ John Peel.
"That's a Plenty" is a 1914 ragtime piano composition by Lew Pollack. Lyrics by Ray Gilbert were added decades later. Several popular vocal versions have been recorded, but it is more often performed as an instrumental.
Frederick James Gardner was a British jazz and dance band saxophonist during the 1930s and 1940s.
Joe Venuti, regarded by some as the Father of Jazz Violin, enjoyed a recording career under his own billing that stretched from 1926 to 1978. Besides momentary lapses in the years after 1935 and one big gap from 1961 to 1967, this activity is practically continuous. But in his last decade, Joe effectively surpassed his prodigious 1926 to 1960 output in the sheer number of late recordings he made, transforming it into a large and bewildering legacy. For most listeners, a decent collection drawn from the years 1926 to 1935 is sufficient, and the number of compilations derived from that period nearly equals the number of original 78 rpm record releases themselves.
The Moonmaids were an American female jazz and popular vocal quartet that started out as college student entertainers under the name "North Texas Swingtet." As the Swingtet, they launched and performed with the Aces of Collegeland at the University of North Texas in 1943 and grew in popularity throughout the region. Vaughn Monroe hired the group, renamed it "The Moonmaids," and debuted them with his orchestra on April 11, 1946, at Loews Theater in Washington, D.C. The Moonmaids rapidly rose to national acclaim performing and recording with the Vaughn Monroe Orchestra for RCA Victor. Within four months of joining Monroe, the Moonmaids were on the cover of Down Beat and featured in Radio Mirror With personnel changes now and then, the Moonmaids performed with Vaughn Monroe from 1946 to 1952.
Phil Carreón(akaPhillip Lozano Carreón, Jr.; néAlonzo Carreón; May 6, 1923 – October 13, 2010) was an American big band leader based in Los Angeles who flourished from 1946 to 1952, retiring from music in 1952.
Harlem Jazz, 1930 is a compilation album of phonograph records assembled by Brunswick Records during the American Federation of Musicians strike, cataloguing the effect of the Harlem Renaissance on what was known as Dixieland, or "hot" jazz in New York City. The album features venues the orchestras played at the time of the recordings, such as Connie's Inn or The Cotton Club.
Ellingtonia, Vol. One is a compilation album of phonograph records assembled by Brunswick Records during the American Federation of Musicians strike, cataloguing the early, experimental Brunswick and Vocalion recordings of Duke Ellington in the middle of the Harlem Renaissance. During the later Swing era, the recordings were praised for accurately predicting the developments in the Big band genre several years in advance.
