Jazz Articles

Big Bands on Radio 1933-52: The Music of Harold Arlen

by Jack Bowers
June 1, 2000

As one would envision from an anthology spanning a twenty–year period that preceded the advent of modern recording techniques and apparatus, sound quality varies widely on these radio air–checks from 1933 (Benny Goodman / Jack Teagarden, “I Got a Right to Sing the Blues”) to 1955 (the Dorsey brothers, “Let’s Fall in Love”). Of the sixteen selections (including two medleys), three are from the ’30s, eleven from the ’40s and two from the ’50s (Les Brown’s “Ill Wind” from ’52 ...