[78-L] 1950s big band (was Frosty)

[David Lennick]

We haven't mentioned the obvious factors that killed off the big bands. The 
war, the draft, the 1942-44 AFM ban, the ASCAP ban which made much more C&W and 
"urban" music available, the proliferation of post-war independent labels, the 
increased costs for little return which killed touring for big bands (who also 
faced a populace that wanted to stay home and watch television), the rise of 
the vocalists DURING the ban while the big bands were disintegrating....

dl

simmonssomer wrote:
> ----- Original Message ----- 
> From: "Julian Vein" <julianvein at blueyonder.co.uk>
> To: "78-L Mail List" <78-l at klickitat.78online.com>
> Sent: Monday, January 11, 2010 11:43 AM
> Subject: Re: [78-L] 1950s big band (was Frosty)
> 
> 
>> David Lennick wrote:
>>> Julian Vein wrote:
>>>> simmonssomer wrote:
>>>>> "April In Paris" was played over and over again in all the saloons near 
>>>>> my
>>>>> college campus in the early 50's. (So they tell me.)
>>>>>
>>>>> Al S.
>>>> ==================
>>>> Willis Conover did the same on the VOA's "Music USA - Jazz Hour".
>>>>
>>>> Weren't bands like the Elgarts, Buddy Morrow and Ralph Flanagan very
>>>> popular?
>>>>
>>>> In Britain we had Ted Heath, Johnny Dankworth and the Basil and Ivor
>>>> Kirchin band.
>>>>
>>>>       Julian Vein
>>>>
>>> Nobody's saying they weren't popular, only that there were virtually no 
>>> big
>>> band hit singles after 1954. And I think we've listed the two exceptions.
>>>
>>> dl
>> ==================
>> But how many big bands were there prewar? Were they outclassed by
>> singers and sweet bands?
>>
>>      Julian Vein
>>
> The question is..how many pre-war big bands were there before the big band 
> (or swing) era.
> Let's list a few that played swing madly *before* the so called swing era.
> Joe Haymes, Luis Russell, Duke Ellington, Jimmie Lunceford, Earl Hines,
> Benny Moten, Don Redman, McKinney's Cotton Pickers, Chick Webb,
> Mills Blue Rhythm Band, Casa Loma Orch. Fletcher Henderson, Claude Hopkins,
> Dorsey Bros, Teddy Hill, Ben Pollack.
> In the U.K. Hylton, Lew Stone, Roy Fox.
> 
> They tell us it was Benny Goodman who started it all.
> Balderdash!
> 
> And, yes ..the singers were vastly outclassed in numbers and in public favor 
> by the big bands. The big bands , of course, had their "boy singers" but 
> these fellows with a few exceptions such as Al Bowlly,Frank Sinatra and 
> perhaps Bob Eberle and such were popular but not nearly the primary 
> attractions that
> singers were to become in the middle and late forties.
> Guy Lombardo lasted longer and made more money than any other band leader, 
> sweet or hot.
> Many sweet and "hotel" (tenor lead)  bands were the  favorites in the 
> Mid-Western dance palladiums but the kids who paid the freight liked the 
> hundreds of "hotter" swing orks with Shaw, Miller, Dorsey and Goodman 
> usually leading the huge pack.
> 
> Al S.
>