This week I am returning to a program I produced a few years ago. It was a program to honor a listener's request. It had been awhile since I featured the singing of Anita O'Day so I put together this program of some of her early big band recordings. She achieved her first fame with the Gene Krupa orchestra and then went on to sing with Stan Kenton. Most of the recordings on the show today are those great sides she recorded with the Krupa band. I hope you enjoy this look at one of the greatest big band vocalists, the late Anita O'Day. Please visit this podcast at http://www.fgmiller.com/bbb/

This week we pay a tribute to Kay Starr who passed away on November 3rd at the age of 94. Ms. Starr, whose career began when she was a teenager and continued into her 80s, was a rarity: a singer who blossomed in the big-band era of the 1930s and 1940s, hit it big as a pop and country artist, and scored one of her biggest hits in the emerging rock scene of the mid-1950s. I'll be playing many of the recordings of Kay that I could find from the 1940's. Although most of her biggest hits were from the 1950's I did find some nice songs from the 40's. Please visit this podcast at http://www.fgmiller.com/bbb/

On Part Four of the Dorsey Brothers we conclude the series with a live broadcast of the reunited brothers. The late 1940's was a hard time for the big bands with Tommy disbanding his band in 1946. But he couldn't stay away and was back with a new group. Jimmy gave up his band and the new group was billed as The Tommy Dorsey Orchestra featuring Jimmy Dorsey. They remained together until Tommy's death in 1956. The broadcast on today's show is from Frank Dailey's Meadowbrook ballroom recorded in 1955. Please visit this podcast at http://www.fgmiller.com/bbb/

On Part Three of the Dorsey Brothers we will turn our focus to the band of Tommy. When Tommy split from his brother Jimmy he took over the Joe Haymes orchestra. Molding it into the kind of band he wanted Tommy was soon recording many of his hit songs. I tried to pick out many of TD's hits and we will also learn about his career apart from Jimmy. In part four we will conclude the series with the reunited brothers in the 1950's. This is a great series filled with many hits that you are sure to like. Please visit this podcast at http://www.fgmiller.com/bbb/

On this the second part of my four part series on the Dorsey Brothers we will be focusing on Jimmy's orchestra. Jimmy was the older of the two brothers and after Tommy walked out on their combined orchestra, Jimmy continued the band under his name. He had many hits during the swing era and we will be playing many of them today. His biggest hits featured vocalists Bob Eberly and Helen O'Connell. Next week I will be looking at the career of Tommy Dorsey and in part four we will conclude with the reunited brothers. This is a great series filled with many hits that you are sure to like. Please visit this podcast at http://www.fgmiller.com/bbb/

Today I am starting a four part series on the Dorsey Brothers, Tommy and Jimmy. Together and separately they recorded some of the biggest hits of the big band era. We will be starting with some of the early original recordings of the Dorsey Brothers orchestra. Then in part two, I will be focusing on Jimmy's orchestra. In part three we will look at Tommy's orchestra and in the final part we will look at the Tommy Dorsey Orchestra featuring Jimmy Dorsey when they were together again. This is a great series filled with many hits that you are sure to like. Please visit this podcast at http://www.fgmiller.com/bbb/

We continue this week with a show I produced in the summer of 2015. This is Part 2 of Artie Shaw Revisted. There are a couple of more interview segments with Artie from the series "The Mystery of Artie Shaw". Most of the music in this show is from 1940 on. The Big Band puzzler is gone this week to make time for the interview segments. Please visit this podcast at http://www.fgmiller.com/bbb/

Welcome to an encore presentation of a show I did in the Summer of 2015 on Artie Shaw. Here are the notes from that show: Artie Shaw has always been one of my favorite clarinetists. Since it has been a while since I did a program on Artie, I thought now is a good time. I have picked out many of Artie's hit records. In addition I'll be playing a few interview excerpts from the series "The Mystery of Artie Shaw" which ran on radio in the early 2000's. This series was produced by Ted Hallock who interviewed Artie in 1998. Artie is as feisty as ever even telling Ted at one point that one of the questions he asked was dumb. I hope you hear some of your favorite Artie Shaw recordings and enjoy the interview excerpts. The Big Band puzzler is gone this week to make time for the interview segments. Please visit this podcast at http://www.fgmiller.com/bbb/

Welcome to the second part of my program on the V-Disc series. Last time I gave a history of the V-Disc program, what it was and why it was important. This week we'll be hearing more of the artists that made V-Discs. We'll be hearing from Harry James, Cab Calloway, Woody Herman, Stan Kenton and others. I hope you'll download this podcast and listen to some of the many Big bands that recorded for the V-Disc program. I hope you enjoy this series as we listen to some of the Big Bands from the V-Disc series. Please visit this podcast at http://www.fgmiller.com/bbb/

This week I am starting a two part series on the V-Disc program. V-Discs, which V standing for Victory, was a series of recordings during the WWII era for the morale of US Service Men and Women. The idea, and actual production of V-Discs actually started a bit before the US entered WWII. Starting in June of 1941 it was the idea and creation of Army Captain Charles Bronson. These V-Discs were meant for our troops, it was a good idea, and proved to be very popular. Using the most popular talent of the time, they were an instant hit. The V-Discs had performances from such musicians as: Tommy Dorsey, Dinah Shore, Benny Goodman, Vaughn Monroe, Duke Ellington, Spike Jones, Bing Crosby, Glenn Miller, Count Basie, Frank Sinatra, and many, many more. I hope you enjoy this series as we listen to some of the Big Bands from the V-Disc series. Please visit this podcast at http://www.fgmiller.com/bbb/