Anyone who questions the drawing power of a big band today should have been at Memorial Hall in Melrose, Mass. on Saturday evening, November 12. The American Big Band Preservation Society (ABBPS) sponsored its first major fundraiser concert and dance called “The Big Bands Are Back” to help fund in-school band music programs in Melrose. Continue Reading
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“Here’s to Anita” by Arnie Koch
Anita O’Day was one of our premier jazz and big band artist who lived her life without ever looking back – as described in the award-winning film documentary Anita O’Day – The Life of A Jazz Singer and her autobiography High Times Hard Times . Both are no- holds-barred accounts of her career’s ups and downs, including a 20-year addiction to heroin and alcohol.
Jazz SInger is filled with vivid, candid images of many of her compatriots in the world of jazz and big bands. Some of her more fascinating observations: Continue Reading
“The Leader” Author Unknown
THE LEADER
And so it came to pass, during one evening’s performance
that the Sidemen were assailed by Doubts – and Darkness
descended on the Bandstand. And the Leader turned to his
quaking flock, and saith, “Mv children, why do you doubt me?
Have I not led you through the Valley of the Loading Dock to
the Great Land of Long Breaks, Hot Meals, and Undertime ?
Have I not banished the dreaded Macarena from the Set List
and allowed thee to Blow on selected numbers? Continue Reading
“Looking Back: Goodbye Benny, et al” by Arnie Koch
When the Benny Goodman Orchestra appeared at the Metropolitan Theater in Boston in May 1937, the Boston Morning Globe reported: “The Metropolitan Theater yesterday appeared to hold every boy and girl in Greater Boston who could beg a school ‘absent’ excuse from a tolerant parent. Benny Goodman, King of Swing, is in town, which means that the youngsters of the city are in their seventh heaven of rapture. What shrieks of joy as he played ‘Alexander’s Ragtime Band’ in his own swingy rhythms! What yells and whistles and stampings followed Gene Krupa’s drumming exhibitions!” Read more at the Melrose Free Press: http://www.wickedlocal.com/melrose/archive/x1259742252/Looking-Back-Goodbye-Benny-et-al#ixzz1TG0j8R8c
Here’s to The Vocalists! by Arnie Koch
Seldom acknowledged is how many big bands provided the “launching pads” for their vocalists who went on to fame and. sometimes, fortunes. Many became as important and familiar to the public as their former employers, .As the big band era began to fade, their careers blossomed. It is an impressive list: Continue Reading
Charlie’s Angel by Arnie Koch
Dick Ruedebusch from Milwaukee was a powerhouse on the trumpet, similar to Al Hirt. In 1965, Dick was playing with the Salt City Six in the Lounge at the Cape Colony Inn in Cocoa Beach, Florida. The Tommy Dorsey Orchestra, led by Sam Donahue with featured vocalist, Frank Sinatra, Jr. was playing in the main ball room.
The band also featured lead trumpet player, Charlie Shavers. Shavers had first joined Tommy Dorsey in1945 to play the jazz chair and sometime lead trumpet. It was the first time an African-American had become a regular member of the band. Peggy Schwartz, a member of Dorsey’s Sentimentalists, recalled that, despite his importance to the band, “Charlie had to go through the backdoor of hotels on the road. He could never eat with the rest of the band. We had to bring him whatever he wanted from the restaurant or diner.” Continue Reading
“A Night to Remember at Carnegie Hall” … by Arnie Koch
On November 1976, drummer Danny D’Imperio joined Woody Herman’s “Thundering Herd” for a 40th Anniversary Concert at Carnegie Hall. It was in November, 1936 that the fledgling Herman crew, newly- constructed from musicians from the disbanded Isham Jones orchestra, played its first job at the Roseland in Brooklyn.
As the “Alumni Herd” gathered at the rehearsal studio, a jazz columnist described the scene: Continue Reading
Those Were the Days…By Arnie Koch
Most of top jazz clubs have long since faded away, but not from our memories. In Boston, there was the Hi Hat at Massachusetts and Columbus Avenues where Billie Holiday, Charlie Parker, Lester Young and Roy Eldridge frequently appeared and Symphony Sid did his nightly broadcasts over WCOP. Nearby was The Savoy which featured more traditional jazz as did Storyville in the basement of the Buckminster Hotel in Kenmore 
. It was run by former BU student and jazz impresario, George Wein, who later founded the Newport Jazz Festival. The clubs provided work for many future stars such as George Benson who appeared at Estelle’s on Tremont St. I can remember going to Paul’s Mall on Boylston Street and seeing Bette Midler with a young accompanist named Barry Manilow. Continue Reading
Meet our resident Blogger…
Keep up with big band news, stories and history with our blogger, Arnold “Arnie” Koch, former manager of the famous Salt City 5/6 band. For almost the entire two decades of their existence, beginning as their Talent Scout on Arthur Godfrey’s Talent Scouts, Arnie Koch was the Salt City Five/Six Personal Manager. Under his management, the band had four recording contracts (Jubilee, MGM, Roulette and Audiophile) and two major talent agencies: Music Corporation of America and Associated Booking Corp. They played in about every major jazz club in the U.S. During this time, Arnie managed to represent Roy Liberto’s Bourbon St. Six, and Red Richard’s and Vic Dickenson’s Saints and Sinners.Fortunately for his family, Arnie never had to give up his day job with General Electric in public relations. (Photo of Salt City 5/6 members, left to right: Arnie, Don, Will & Jack)
