History O/T Music from WWII, the greatest American Generation

What a cool thread ! Late 30's and 40's big band/swing era music is great stuff ! Some top notch musicians came from that time ! Just some of my favorites -

Duke Ellington

Django Rhienhardt

Glen Miller

Artie Shaw

Count Basie

Benny Goodman

 

Anyone on here........Just tell me those cats weren't listening to this at Muroc dry lakes back then !!!!!!!!!!!!



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"Learning to swing dance was one of the greatest things I ever did. It was fun, and I got to meet tons of people, including the fine lady that would become my wife. If you like the music at all I highly suggest learning to swing dance. It's good exercise, it gives you a more personal connection to the era, and most of all, it's fun!"




Same here, met my wife at the Derby in 95 watching Royal Crown Revue !

 

That recording of Gene Krupa playing Sing, Sing, Sing with the Benny Goodman orchestra is one of the best of all time. I can also tell you that as a now retried swing band drummer it takes a lot of energy to play, especially when we would do a 5-7 minute rendition!

My dad was a Jazz/Big Band Sax man all his life and he got me into it too. He had played with Buddy Rich, Harry James, David Rose (was on the recording of "The Stripper"), The Dorsey Brothers bands, Count Basie Orchestra, Les Brown's Band of Renown, and many others. I actually grew up with in sight of the Glenn Miller house in Duarte Ca. When I was in my 30's I played in two well known Big Bands - High Society and Big Band Commotion - with my dad and all these other cats that had played with the big names back in the day. it was quite a trip being 30 with everyone else over 60 and listening to them talk about the good old days, smoking "Boo" (pot) in Harlem with the coloreds and other crazy stories.

 

Definate THANKS for turning us on to that site.

 

i agree with Axle, Django (Reinhardt that is...nice try Chad haha) is a god among men!!

Django- I can't forget Hank Penny! You're right! We do one of his tunes, "Let me play with your poodle" haha. i love it
-ace

 

Yeah ditto on all the period jazz. My dad was in the Army Air Corps in WWII and flew P-38s in the Pacific in 1944. He said while overseas ya could get some shortwave broadcasts from the states and the Army broadcasts as well. Ya could dial in the airplane radio and pick it up. On the ground they could hook up a radio pulled from an damaged plane and power it with batteries or from one of the generators. These were island landing strips carved out of the jungle and they had to bring their own electricity! And everything else! The Japs were into broadcasting American jazz also - they would get copies of the popular American music somehow (!) and broadcast them back at the troops as part of the propaganda effort.
And like someone else posted, ya can check out pandora.com and check out the different music styles of the day.
"Beat me daddy, eight to the bar"..................

 

Ahhh...... what a great list!
Say no more than their names and music starts ringing between my ears.

These wonderful musicians inspired so many great recording artist that came up in the 50s.
Many of who are better known for different styles of music, like Country, Blues, Soul and early Rock music.

As younger generations moved on and tried to out-do each other with something new, a little got lost on the way with every small new step.
Many young musicians today are just now rediscovering the 'old music' of the Beatles .... haha

My musical heart will always belong to European classical and baroque music, possibly because of my growing up in that culture.
Never the less, to me American Jazz is probably the only true original American art form.
The best musicians of the 20th century are beyond any doubt American !!
Their music and early American cars are the obvious main reason why I stayed and still live here today.

Things sure changed after WWII, but the pure and free-spirited art of expression originating from them and continuing for a few more generations afterwards can still be felt today and shall never fade.

I would add also Cab Calloway and Louis Armstrong to the list above and if I stop writing, I will remember many more...


Keep this music alive and expose the younger folks as often as you can......!!

 

Awesome thread! Thanks for the link! I love this music. Funny thing, my dad was born in '29 & lied about his age to get into the Marines in '45. He had a stroke in '94 & lost his speech, but, one day, he started singing "Harbor Lights"! It blew us away! He had a great deal of difficulty saying "Rose", my mother's name, but he could sing as clear as day. Needless to say, I joined him in the song & we grinned & laughed when we were done. I lost him to another stroke a few months later, but the memory of that moment always makes me smile. Miss ya , Pop!
P.S. Please don't delete this thread!!!!!

 

That's a great site, I remember listening to that as a kid growing up during the war and dancing to Benny Goodman at Disneyland on date night.

 

Sometimes i REALLY get in a 40's mood. This is me on my bike , coming home from the Air show at the Chino Airport museum.

 

late 40s indian chief???

 

That's a kick ass photo Axle.

Me too...

 

Awesome photo Django !!!!!!!!


My bike is a 48 Chief - all stock, the way i like things with 2 wheels.

 

If you want to see and read from a bunch of people who live for the era of the "Greatest Generation", check out fedoralounge.com.

 

Thanks for the link. In the 50's my sister and I probably wore out most of mom's 78 RPM records from that era. Great stuff and a good day to hear it again.

 

I agree with Rat Bastad... 'Rat Patrol Radio' is great. They play great music and old news snippets and what not. Even some 'Whos on First?' from time to time. Last year they played the news reports from the bombing of Pearl Harbor as it unfolded and they also start playing great Christmas music in December.

http://www.live365.com/stations/torgen_magnusson

Last year for Christmas my mom picked me a up a Glenn Miller book with many great pictures and about 6-8 records in the back. Issued in the early 50s I believe.

I love all that music.

 

I wasn't around when this music hit the air waves, but I freakin' LOVE it! Thank you so much. Bookmarked!

 

WW2 was the time of true American spirt .Those times will be never forgotten Good and Bad . The world was changed forever . Men and women came together in time of need . My Aunt Caroline was a Rosie the riviter and my uncle Al was a sergent in Normandy . My dad was in Korea . We used to play gutiars , mandolins , acordians and sing to old songs at parties like the old times . They are all gone now and I miss those times they used to have me play gutiar to all those songs . Well here's to them !
This is one of my favorites from back in the day .
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2pfCFU3Mqww&feature=related

 

You guy's ever hear Bob Wills & Tommy Duncan do "I got a letter from my kid today",.. Dad would sing that to us when we were kids,.... that can make your eyes sweat a little.