Ben Pollack was an American drummer and bandleader from the mid-1920s through the swing era. His eye for talent led him to employ musicians such as Benny Goodman, Jack Teagarden, Glenn Miller, Jimmy McPartland, and Harry James. This ability earned him the nickname the "Father of Swing".
Willi Boskovsky was an Austrian violinist and conductor, best known as the long-standing conductor of the Vienna New Year's Concert.
Annunzio Paolo Mantovani, known mononymously as Mantovani, was an Anglo-Italian conductor, composer and light orchestra-styled entertainer with a cascading strings musical signature.
All Alone is an album by Frank Sinatra, released in 1962.
"Charmaine" is a popular song written by Ernö Rapée and Lew Pollack. The song was written in 1926 and published in 1927. However, Desmond Carrington on his BBC Radio 2 programme marked the song's writing as being in 1913.
Ernö Rapée was an Estonian-born American symphonic conductor in the first half of the 20th Century whose prolific career spanned both classical and popular music. His most famous tenure was as the head conductor of the Radio City Symphony Orchestra, the resident orchestra of the Radio City Music Hall, whose music was also heard by millions over the air.
Lew Pollack was an American song composer and musician active during the 1920s and the 1930s.
"Diane" - also known as Diane - is a song by Ernö Rapée and Lew Pollack, and was originally written as a theme song for the 1927 silent movie Seventh Heaven. The song title is sometimes mistakenly referred to as 'My Diane' or confused with The Beach Boys song "My Diane", which is a different song.
Cascading strings is an arrangement technique of British light music. This technique is associated in the U.S. with the style of easy listening known as beautiful music. The cascading strings effect was first developed by British composer/arranger Ronald Binge in 1951 for Annunzio Paolo Mantovani and his Mantovani Orchestra, with whom the sound would be most associated.
Bill Haley's Chicks was the eighth album of rock and roll recordings by Bill Haley & His Comets for Decca Records, Decca 8821. Released in January 1959 and produced by Milt Gabler, the album was the third "theme" album Haley recorded for Decca, following Rockin' the Oldies and Rockin' Around the World. This album is built on the theme of women's names, with each song being about a different girl. Included on the album is "Skinny Minnie", which was a major hit for the band in 1958, reaching no.22 on Billboard and no.25 on Cashbox, along with a mixture of originals and cover versions of standards and jazz songs. "Lean Jean", a song musically and thematically almost identical to "Skinny Minnie", also charted in 1958, reaching no. 52 on Cashbox. The song "B.B. Betty", co-written by Bill Haley and released as a Decca 45 single, featured a solo vocal by Haley's steel guitar player, Billy Williamson.
Bill Henderson with the Oscar Peterson Trio is a 1963 album by Bill Henderson, accompanied by Oscar Peterson.
Between 1938 and 1944, Glenn Miller and His Orchestra released 266 singles on the monaural ten-inch shellac 78 rpm format. Their studio output comprised a variety of musical styles inside of the Swing genre, including ballads, band chants, dance instrumentals, novelty tracks, songs adapted from motion pictures, and, as the Second World War approached, patriotic music.
Smooth Sailing is an album by the saxophonist Arnett Cobb recorded in 1959 for the Prestige label and released in 1960.
Hip Harp is an album by jazz harpist Dorothy Ashby recorded in 1958 and released on the Prestige label.
Harry Edison Swings Buck Clayton, subtitled (And Vice Versa), is an album by trumpeters Harry Edison, and Buck Clayton which was recorded in 1958 and released on the Verve label.
Girls I Have Known is an album recorded by Jim Reeves and released in 1958 on the RCA Victor label. The album was produced by Chet Atkins. The cover photograph was by Ben Somoroff.
Christmas Carols is an album of Christmas music by Mantovani and His Orchestra. It was originally released in 1953 by London Records. It was recorded at Kingsway Hall in London with Charles Smart playing Kingsway Hall's organ. The album was re-recorded in stereo in 1958. The album includes an original Mantovani composition, "Midnight Waltz".
American Waltzes is an album by Mantovani and His Orchestra. It was released in 1962 by London Recordings. It debuted on Billboard magazine's pop album chart on June 16, 1962, peaked at the No. 8 spot, and remained on the chart for 19 weeks. AllMusic later gave the album a rating of three stars.
An Album of Favourite Waltzes, also known as A Collection of Favorite Waltzes, is an album by Mantovani and His Orchestra. It was released in April 1952 by London Records in the United States and in October 1952 by Decca Records in the United Kingdom.
