Ben Pollack
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, Harry James; this ability earned him the nickname the "Father of Swing". Ben Pollack was born in Chicago, Illinois, in 1903, he formed groups on the side, performing professionally in his teens. He joined the Harry Bastin Band and the New Orleans Rhythm Kings in the 1920s. In 1924 he played for several bands, including some on the west coast, which led to his forming a band, the 12-piece Venice Ballroom Orchestra, there in 1925. In 1926, he had a band named the Ten Californians, which had some performances broadcast on WLW radio in Cincinnati, Ohio. Pollack formed his own band in 1926. Over time the band included Benny Goodman, Glenn Miller, Jack Teagarden, Jimmy McPartland. One of the earliest members of his band was Gil Rodin, a saxophonist whose business acumen served him well as an executive for the Music Corporation of America.
From about 1928, with involvement from Irving Mills, members of Pollack's band moonlighted at Plaza-ARC and recorded a vast quantity of hot dance and jazz for their dime store labels — Banner, Domino, Lincoln, Romeo — under the names Mills' Merry Makers, Goody's Good Timers, Kentucky Grasshoppers, Mills' Musical Clowns, The Lumberjacks, Dixie Daises, The Caroliners, The Whoopee Makers, The Hotsy Totsy Gang, Dixie Jazz Band, Jimmy Bracken's Toe Ticklers. Combining Pollack's regular recordings with these side groups made Pollack's one of the more prolific bands of the 1920s and 1930s. Pollack's band played in Chicago and moved to New York City around the fall of 1928, having obtained McPartland and Teagarden around that time; this outfit enjoyed immense success, playing for Broadway shows and winning an exclusive engagement at the Park Central Hotel. Pollack's band was involved in extensive recording activity at that time, using a variety of pseudonyms in the studios; the orchestra made a Vitaphone short subject sound film.
Pollack, in the meantime, had fancied himself as more of a bandleader-singer type instead of a drummer. To this end, he signed Ray Bauduc to handle the drumming chores. Benny Goodman and Jimmy McPartland left the band in the summer of 1929, they were replaced by Jack Teagarden's brother, Charlie, on trumpet. Eddie Miller was signed as a tenor saxophonist in 1930; the band broke up in 1934. Many of its members soon formed a group led by brother of Bing Crosby. Pollack reformed his band with Irving Fazola. With James he wrote the hit "Peckin'". In the early 1940s, he organized a band led by comedian Chico Marx, he started Jewel Records, opened restaurants in Hollywood and Palm Springs, appeared as himself in the movie The Benny Goodman Story, made a cameo in The Glenn Miller Story. Pollack's bands from the 1920s–1940s included Benny Goodman, Bud Freeman, Dick Cathcart, Eddie Miller, Frank Teschemacher, Freddie Slack, Glenn Miller, Harry James, Irving Fazola, Jack Teagarden, Jimmy McPartland, Joe Marsala, Matty Matlock, Muggsy Spanier, Yank Lawson.
Pollack and Doris Robbins, who had no children, were divorced in 1957. In years, after suffering a series of financial losses, Pollack grew despondent and committed suicide by hanging in his home in Palm Springs in 1971, he was buried in the Hollywood Forever Cemetery. In 1992, Pollack was inducted into the Big Jazz Hall of Fame. In 1926, Pollack began recording for the Victor Talking Machine Company. A 1927 newspaper ad promoted "a new Victor organization – Ben Pollack and His Californians."Pollack left Victor in late 1929 and recorded for Hit of the Week, the dime store labels, Columbia, Brunswick and Variety, Decca. Most of these records are listed in discographical books as by Irving Mills. Jack Teagarden's Music lists them as a "Ben Pollack Unit". Pollack co-wrote the jazz standard "Tin Roof Blues" in 1923 when he was a member of the New Orleans Rhythm Kings; the band's trombonist George Brunies is credited as a composer. In 1954, Jo Stafford recorded "Make Love to Me", which used Pollack's music from "Tin Roof Blues".
"Make Love to Me" was No. 1 for No. 2 in Cashbox. The song was recorded by Anne Murray and B. B. King. Presenting Lily Mars – saxophonist in Bob Crosby's Orchestra Dark City – bettor Disc Jockey – himself The Glenn Miller Story – himself The Benny Goodman Story – himself Jack Teagardenn's Music – His Career and Recordings by Howard J. Waters, Jr. Jazz Records 1897–1942 by Brian Rust, 5th revised and enlarged edition Discography of American Historical Recordings
Alvino Rey
Alvin McBurney, known by his stage name Alvino Rey, was an American jazz guitarist and bandleader. Alvin McBurney grew up in Cleveland, Ohio. Early in life he had a knack for music and electronics; when he was eight, he built his first radio, within a couple years he was one of the youngest ham radio operators in the country. In his teens, he was given a banjo as a birthday present, his professional career began in 1927 when he got a job playing banjo with Cleveland bandleader Ev Jones. During the following year, he became a member of the Phil Spitalny Orchestra, he switched from banjo to guitar changed his name to Alvino Rey to take advantage of the popularity of Latin music in New York City at the time. From 1932 -- 1938 he was a member of His Musical Knights, he drew attention to the band when he started playing pedal steel guitar. The Gibson corporation asked him to develop a pickup for the guitar. In 1937, he married Luise King of the King Sisters. In 1939, he formed his own band with the King Sisters and moved to Hollywood, where he became musical director at KHJ Mutual Broadcasting radio network.
As leader of the house band, he recorded a version of "Deep in the Heart of Texas", a hit in 1942. During the same year hired Al Cohn, Ray Conniff, Neal Hefti, Zoot Sims, arranger Billy May. In the 1940s he worked with saxophonist Herbie Steward, drummer Dave Tough, arrangers Nelson Riddle, Johnny Mandel, George Handy; the band didn't record in 1943 due to a strike. The band broke up, Rey found work at Lockheed as a mechanic. In 1944, he enlisted in the U. S. Navy, where he worked on radar systems and directed a band. After his service, he formed an orchestra that had fifteen horns and recorded a cover version of "Cement Mixer" by Slim Gaillard that became a hit. During the 1950s, he played steel guitar in small groups with Buddy Cole, his brother-in-law. Beginning about 1957, Rey produced many of the George Greeley piano recordings for Warner Bros. Records. During the 1960s, he was music director for The King Family Show with the King Sisters. Rey made frequent appearances on the show performing "The Alvino Rey Talking Guitar", in fact a pedal steel.
He played steel guitar in recording sessions with Jack Costanzo, George Cates and the studio group the Surfmen. These musicians were associated with the short-lived genre exotica, which combined Hawaiian music, Latin music, lounge jazz, unconventional instruments from Burma and Indonesia. In the early 1990s, Rey moved with his wife Luise to her native Utah. In Salt Lake City, he formed a jazz quartet which played in local clubs, sometimes with Luise sitting in, he quit performing in 1994. Luise died in 1997 after 60 years of marriage. In 2004, after breaking his hip and suffering complications including pneumonia and congestive heart failure, Rey died at the age of 95 at a rehabilitation center. Rey amplified his banjo in the 1920s. In 1935, Gibson hired him to develop a prototype pickup with engineers at the Lyon & Healy company in Chicago, based on the one he developed for his banjo; the result was used for Gibson's first electric guitar ES-150. The prototype is kept in the Experience Music Project museum in Seattle.
In 1939, Rey invented an early version of a "talk box" device that modified the sound of his electric steel guitar to sound like words. For performances of his big band, he created an animated mechanical character he named "Stringy", shaped like a guitar, that "sang" the altered guitar sounds. A commercial version of the talk box, using a different technology, was made famous by guitarist Peter Frampton. Around 1959 to 1960, Rey collaborated with composer Euel Box of PAMS Productions of Dallas to bring his distinctive pedal steel guitar sounds to radio jingles; this jingle package was part of the new Top Forty radio format and was heard on such innovative radio stations as K-BOX in Dallas and W-FUN Miami. Rey is credited with inspiring the ground-breaking "Sonosational" PAMS Jingles Series 18 in 1961 which featured the talking or singing instrument effects of Rey's "sonovox". Rey's daughter, Liza Rey, is the mother of Win and Will Butler, members of Canadian indie rock group Arcade Fire, their debut album, was influenced by Rey's death, along with the deaths of relatives of other members of the band, during the recording period.
The band paid tribute to Rey by including Rey's recording of "My Buddy" as the B-side to their singles "Neighborhood #1" and "Neighborhood #2". 1958 My Reverie 1958 Swinging Fling 1960 Ping Pong 1960 That Lonely Feeling 1962 As I Remember Hawai 1996 Alvino Rey & His Orchestra With Esquivel 1958 Four Corners of the World 1958 Other Worlds Other SoundsWith Dean Martin 1997 Memories Are Made of This 1998 Return to MeWith others 1960 A Touch of Tabasco, Rosemary Clooney/Pérez Prado 1961 Blue Hawaii, Elvis Presley 1994 Guitar Rags and a Too Fast Past, Merle Travis 1995 Radio Days, Louis Armstrong 1997 Barrelhouse and the Blues, Ella Mae Morse 1997 Sail Along Silv'ry Moon, Billy Vaughn & His Orchestra 1998 I Hear Music, Frank Loesser 1999 Cry, Johnnie Ray 2000 Many a Wonderful Moment, Rosemary Clooney 2001 I Believe, Frankie Laine 2001 No Name Jive, Glen Gray & the Casa Loma Orchestra 2004 By Arrangement, Billy May 2005 It's Love, Love, The King Sisters 2005 The Classic Recordings 1939–1953, Metronome All-Stars 2007 Musical Nights, Horace Heidt Jazz Journalists Association SpaceAgePop.com New York Times obituary Alvino Rey at Find a Grave Alvino Rey Interview NAMM Oral History Program
New Haven, Connecticut
New Haven is a coastal city in the U. S. state of Connecticut. It is located on New Haven Harbor on the northern shore of Long Island Sound in New Haven County, is part of the New York metropolitan area. With a population of 129,779 as determined by the 2010 United States Census, it is the second-largest city in Connecticut after Bridgeport. New Haven is the principal municipality of Greater New Haven, which had a total population of 862,477 in 2010. New Haven was the first planned city in America. A year after its founding by English Puritans in 1638, eight streets were laid out in a four-by-four grid, creating what is known as the "Nine Square Plan"; the central common block is the New Haven Green, a 16-acre square at the center of Downtown New Haven. The Green is now a National Historic Landmark, the "Nine Square Plan" is recognized by the American Planning Association as a National Planning Landmark. New Haven is the home of Yale University; as New Haven's biggest taxpayer and employer, Yale serves as an integral part of the city's economy.
Health care, professional services, financial services, retail trade contribute to the city's economic activity. The city served as co-capital of Connecticut from 1701 until 1873, when sole governance was transferred to the more centrally located city of Hartford. New Haven has since billed itself as the "Cultural Capital of Connecticut" for its supply of established theaters and music venues. New Haven had the first public tree planting program in America, producing a canopy of mature trees that gave the city the nickname "The Elm City". Before Europeans arrived, the New Haven area was the home of the Quinnipiac tribe of Native Americans, who lived in villages around the harbor and subsisted off local fisheries and the farming of maize; the area was visited by Dutch explorer Adriaen Block in 1614. Dutch traders set up a small trading system of beaver pelts with the local inhabitants, but trade was sporadic and the Dutch did not settle permanently in the area. In 1637 a small party of Puritans wintered over.
In April 1638, the main party of five hundred Puritans who had left the Massachusetts Bay Colony under the leadership of the Reverend John Davenport and London merchant Theophilus Eaton sailed into the harbor. It was their hope to set up a theological community with the government more linked to the church than that in Massachusetts, to exploit the area's excellent potential as a port; the Quinnipiacs, who were under attack by neighboring Pequots, sold their land to the settlers in return for protection. By 1640, "Qunnipiac's" theocratic government and nine-square grid plan were in place, the town was renamed Newhaven, with'haven' meaning harbor or port; the settlement became the headquarters of the New Haven Colony, distinct from the Connecticut Colony established to the north centering on Hartford. Reflecting its theocratic roots, the New Haven Colony forbid the establishment of other churches, whereas the Connecticut Colony permitted them. Economic disaster struck Newhaven in 1646, when the town sent its first loaded ship of local goods back to England.
It never reached its destination, its disappearance stymied New Haven's development versus the rising trade powers of Boston and New Amsterdam. In 1660, Colony founder John Davenport's wishes were fulfilled, Hopkins School was founded in New Haven with money from the estate of Edward Hopkins. In 1661, the Regicides who had signed the death warrant of Charles I of England were pursued by Charles II. Two of them, Colonel Edward Whalley and Colonel William Goffe, fled to New Haven for refuge. Davenport arranged. A third judge, John Dixwell, joined the others. In 1664 New Haven became part of the Connecticut Colony when the two colonies were merged under political pressure from England, according to folklore as punishment for harboring the three judges; some members of the New Haven Colony seeking to establish a new theocracy elsewhere went on to establish Newark, New Jersey. It was made co-capital of Connecticut in 1701, a status it retained until 1873. In 1716, the Collegiate School relocated from Old Saybrook to New Haven, establishing New Haven as a center of learning.
In 1718, in response to a large donation from British East India Company merchant Elihu Yale, former Governor of Madras, the name of the Collegiate School was changed to Yale College. For over a century, New Haven citizens had fought in the colonial militia alongside regular British forces, as in the French and Indian War; as the American Revolution approached, General David Wooster and other influential residents hoped that the conflict with the government in Britain could be resolved short of rebellion. On 23 April 1775, still celebrated in New Haven as Powder House Day, the Second Company, Governor's Foot Guard, of New Haven entered the struggle against the governing British parliament. Under Captain Benedict Arnold, they broke into the powder house to arm themselves and began a three-day march to Cambridge, Massachusetts. Other New Haven militia members were on hand to escort George Washington from his overnight stay in New Haven on his way to Cambridge. Contemporary reports, from both sides, remark on the New Haven volunteers' professional military bearing, including uniforms.
On July 5, 1779, 2,600 loyalists and British regulars under General Wil
Dave Tough
Dave Tough (April 26, 1907 – December 9, 1948, was an American jazz drummer associated with Dixieland and swing jazz in the 1930s and 1940s. Born in Oak Park, Tough was a friend of Bud Freeman, part of a group of musicians known as the Austin High School Gang in Chicago. In 1925, he became a professional musician, playing with Jack Gardner, Art Kassel, Sig Meyers, Husk O'Hare's Wolverines. After two years in Europe, he played with Benny Goodman and Red Nichols, he left music for three years until 1935 joined the big bands of Ray Noble, Tommy Dorsey, Red Norvo, Bunny Berigan, Benny Goodman. He played Dixieland jazz with Bud Freeman, Jack Teagarden, Mezz Mezzrow, Joe Marsala. In the 1940s, he played in a naval band led by Artie Shaw joined Woody Herman's big band, he worked with Eddie Condon, Jerry Gray, Muggsy Spanier, Jazz at the Philharmonic. Tough struggled with alcoholism throughout his life, he died at the age of 41 after falling down and hitting his head on the street in Newark, New Jersey.
Dave Tough has been described as "the most important of the drummers of the Chicago circle". In 2000, he was inducted into the Big Jazz Hall of Fame. With Benny Goodman The Complete RCA Victor Small Group Recordings Drummerworld
United States
The United States of America known as the United States or America, is a country composed of 50 states, a federal district, five major self-governing territories, various possessions. At 3.8 million square miles, the United States is the world's third or fourth largest country by total area and is smaller than the entire continent of Europe's 3.9 million square miles. With a population of over 327 million people, the U. S. is the third most populous country. The capital is Washington, D. C. and the largest city by population is New York City. Forty-eight states and the capital's federal district are contiguous in North America between Canada and Mexico; the State of Alaska is in the northwest corner of North America, bordered by Canada to the east and across the Bering Strait from Russia to the west. The State of Hawaii is an archipelago in the mid-Pacific Ocean; the U. S. territories are scattered about the Pacific Ocean and the Caribbean Sea, stretching across nine official time zones. The diverse geography and wildlife of the United States make it one of the world's 17 megadiverse countries.
Paleo-Indians migrated from Siberia to the North American mainland at least 12,000 years ago. European colonization began in the 16th century; the United States emerged from the thirteen British colonies established along the East Coast. Numerous disputes between Great Britain and the colonies following the French and Indian War led to the American Revolution, which began in 1775, the subsequent Declaration of Independence in 1776; the war ended in 1783 with the United States becoming the first country to gain independence from a European power. The current constitution was adopted in 1788, with the first ten amendments, collectively named the Bill of Rights, being ratified in 1791 to guarantee many fundamental civil liberties; the United States embarked on a vigorous expansion across North America throughout the 19th century, acquiring new territories, displacing Native American tribes, admitting new states until it spanned the continent by 1848. During the second half of the 19th century, the Civil War led to the abolition of slavery.
By the end of the century, the United States had extended into the Pacific Ocean, its economy, driven in large part by the Industrial Revolution, began to soar. The Spanish–American War and World War I confirmed the country's status as a global military power; the United States emerged from World War II as a global superpower, the first country to develop nuclear weapons, the only country to use them in warfare, a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council. Sweeping civil rights legislation, notably the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the Voting Rights Act of 1965 and the Fair Housing Act of 1968, outlawed discrimination based on race or color. During the Cold War, the United States and the Soviet Union competed in the Space Race, culminating with the 1969 U. S. Moon landing; the end of the Cold War and the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 left the United States as the world's sole superpower. The United States is the world's oldest surviving federation, it is a representative democracy.
The United States is a founding member of the United Nations, World Bank, International Monetary Fund, Organization of American States, other international organizations. The United States is a developed country, with the world's largest economy by nominal GDP and second-largest economy by PPP, accounting for a quarter of global GDP; the U. S. economy is post-industrial, characterized by the dominance of services and knowledge-based activities, although the manufacturing sector remains the second-largest in the world. The United States is the world's largest importer and the second largest exporter of goods, by value. Although its population is only 4.3% of the world total, the U. S. holds 31% of the total wealth in the world, the largest share of global wealth concentrated in a single country. Despite wide income and wealth disparities, the United States continues to rank high in measures of socioeconomic performance, including average wage, human development, per capita GDP, worker productivity.
The United States is the foremost military power in the world, making up a third of global military spending, is a leading political and scientific force internationally. In 1507, the German cartographer Martin Waldseemüller produced a world map on which he named the lands of the Western Hemisphere America in honor of the Italian explorer and cartographer Amerigo Vespucci; the first documentary evidence of the phrase "United States of America" is from a letter dated January 2, 1776, written by Stephen Moylan, Esq. to George Washington's aide-de-camp and Muster-Master General of the Continental Army, Lt. Col. Joseph Reed. Moylan expressed his wish to go "with full and ample powers from the United States of America to Spain" to seek assistance in the revolutionary war effort; the first known publication of the phrase "United States of America" was in an anonymous essay in The Virginia Gazette newspaper in Williamsburg, Virginia, on April 6, 1776. The second draft of the Articles of Confederation, prepared by John Dickinson and completed by June 17, 1776, at the latest, declared "The name of this Confederation shall be the'United States of America'".
The final version of the Articles sent to the states for ratification in late 1777 contains the sentence "The Stile of this Confederacy shall be'The United States of America'". In June 1776, Thomas Jefferson wrote the phrase "UNITED STATES OF AMERICA" in all capitalized letters in the headline of his "original Rough draught" of the Declaration of Independence; this draft of the document did not surface unti
Paul Specht
Paul Specht was an American dance bandleader popular in the 1920s. Born in Sinking Spring, Specht was a violinist, having been taught by his father Charles G. Specht, a violinist and bandleader in his own right, he attended Combs Conservatory in Philadelphia, led his first band in 1916, which toured the Western United States during World War I. He signed with Columbia Records in 1922, playing both with a larger dance ensemble and with a smaller, more jazz-oriented unit called The Georgians. One example of a Columbia recording is on Columbia # 27-D. Titled "Dear Old Lady", with the Hotel Alamac Orchestra and "Take, Oh Take Those Lips Away"; this is on a Columbia record known to record collectors as a "flag label". He toured England several times, beginning in 1922, set up a "School for Jazz Musicians" there in 1924. Specht encountered some difficulty with his English performances due to political and union woes, which were documented in the popular music press of the day, he did not return to England after 1926, having become dissatisfied with the treatment he received.
Specht recorded for Columbia from 1922 through his final commercially released records in 1932. Specht's ensemble was the first orchestra to broadcast for the RCA company, was the first ensemble to film after the end of the silent era. In 1929, Specht's orchestra was asked to play at the inauguration of Herbert Hoover, chosen over Paul Whiteman; as a radio bandleader in 1932, his band and the Three X Sisters harmony trio collaborated on ABC radio airwaves for several different musical formats. He continued to be popular into the 1930s, led bands into the 1940s, during which time he developed arthritis which hampered his musical abilities, he did arranging work for radio and television. Specht died in April 1954 at the age of 59 in New York City. A number of noted jazz and popular musicians played in Specht's ensembles, including Hank D'Amico, Russ Morgan, Sylvester Ahola, Arthur Schutt, Charlie Spivak, Joe Tarto, Art Christmas, Chauncey Morehouse, Clarence Zylman, Lou Calabrese
