February is the start of Black History Month. I have put together a program of assorted African-American Big Bands to illustrate how varied they were. In the past I would dedicate a whole program to one particular band leader but I thought I would do something a little different on this show. We will be hearing a couple of numbers each from Count Basie, Duke Ellington, Cab Calloway, Erskine Hawkins and many more. There is some nice music on today's show and I hope you enjoy this potpourri of the many African-American bands who made some excellent recordings during the big band years.