Ernest Loring "Red" Nichols was an American jazz cornetist, composer, and jazz bandleader. He was one of the most prolific and influential jazz musicians in the late 1920s and early 1930s, appearing on over 4,000 recordings. In 1959, a biopic was made of his life and career, The Five Pennies, starring Danny Kaye.
Pee-wee Herman is a comedy character created and portrayed by the American comedian Paul Reubens. He starred in films and television series during the 1980s. The childlike Pee-wee Herman character developed as a stage act that quickly led to an HBO special in 1981. As the stage performance gained further popularity, Reubens took the character to motion picture with Pee-wee's Big Adventure in 1985, toning down the adult innuendo for the appeal of children. This paved the way for Pee-wee's Playhouse, an Emmy Award-winning children's series that ran on CBS from 1986 to 1991. Another film, Big Top Pee-wee, was released in 1988.
The Victor Recording Orchestra was a jazz band led by Jean Goldkette. It was known for its innovative arrangements and strong rhythm.
Charles James Shavers was an American jazz trumpeter who played with Dizzy Gillespie, Nat King Cole, Roy Eldridge, Johnny Dodds, Jimmie Noone, Sidney Bechet, Midge Williams, Tommy Dorsey, and Billie Holiday. He was also an arranger and composer, and one of his compositions, "Undecided", is a jazz standard.
Urban Clifford "Urbie" Green was an American jazz trombonist who toured with Woody Herman, Gene Krupa, Jan Savitt, and Frankie Carle. He played on over 250 recordings and released more than two dozen albums as a soloist. He was inducted into the Alabama Jazz Hall of Fame in 1995.
The Palomar Ballroom, built in 1925, was a famous ballroom in Los Angeles, California, in the United States. It was destroyed by a fire on October 2, 1939.
Martin Block was an American disc jockey. It is said that Walter Winchell invented the term "disc jockey" as a means of describing Block's radio work.
James Dugald "Jimmy" McPartland was an American cornetist. He worked with Eddie Condon, Art Hodes, Gene Krupa, Benny Goodman, Jack Teagarden, and Tommy Dorsey, often leading his own bands. He was married to pianist Marian McPartland.
Leonard William Hambro, known as Lenny Hambro, was a journeyman jazz musician who played woodwinds, primarily alto saxophone, with a host of bands, orchestras, and jazz notables from the early 1940s through the mid-1960s, and continued as a session musician, music producer, booking agent, and entertainment coordinator through the mid-1990s. Early in his professional career, Hambro spelled his name "Lennie" but changed it to the former spelling in 1954, although he was occasionally referred to as "Lennie" in the press as late as 1957. Hambro broke into the profession with Gene Krupa in 1942. However, he is best known for his time as manager and assistant band leader with the New Glenn Miller Orchestra under the direction of Ray McKinley. He was well known in the Latin Jazz community and was closely associated with Chico O'Farrill.
Michael Joseph O'Sullivan was an American jazz pianist.
A big band remote was a remote broadcast, common on radio during the 1930s and 1940s, involving a coast-to-coast live transmission of a big band.
Frank Rehak was an American jazz trombonist. He began on piano and cello before switching to trombone. He worked with Gil Evans and Miles Davis. He also appeared with Davis on the broadcast "The Sounds of Miles Davis."
Cliff Leeman was an American jazz drummer. His nickname was "Mr. Time".
Hindsight Records is an American record label that specializes in issuing previously unreleased radio broadcast recordings of Big Bands and Jazz artists.
Gordon Claude "Chris" Griffin was an American jazz trumpeter.
The Big Band and Jazz Hall of Fame is part of a US-based non-profit organization that began operations in 1978 and continues to the present (2022) in San Diego County, California. David Larkin is current president.
Karl Kiffe was an American jazz drummer featured in specialty numbers in a number of Hollywood feature films during World War II and later as a featured member of Jimmy Dorsey's orchestra.
