Boswell Sisters on 1930s Radio – 16 June Phantom Dancer
The Boswell Sisters, 1920s-30s vocal group, is this week’s Phantom Dancer feature of the week with a set of radio transcriptions they made in 1930.
The Phantom Dancer is produced and presented by 1920s-30s singer and actor Greg Poppleton. The show has been on-air over 107.3 2SER Sydney since 1985.
You can hear it online from 12:04pm AEST Tuesday 12 June at https://2ser.com/phantom-dancer/
The finyl hour is vinyl.
BOSWELL SISTERS – PHANTOM DANCER PROGRAM NOTES
Martha, Connie and Vet were the 1920s-1930s harmony sensations, The Boswell Sisters.
They were yet another 1920s – 30s jazz stand-out who had classical backgrounds, having studied classical piano, cello, and violin respectively.
“We studied classical music . . . and were being prepared for the stage and a concert tour throughout the United States, but the saxophone got us,” Martha told the Shreveport Times in 1925.
The sisters’ older brother Clyde, also a classically trained musician, was the one who first got his sisters into jazz. He introduced them to cornetist Emmett Louis Hardy, who shaped the sisters’ knowledge of jazz harmony, syncopation and improvisation. Vet took up the banjo, Connie took up saxophone and Martha continued playing the piano. Hardy died of tuberculosis at age 22. Clyde died from flu at 18.
The trio played concerts and vaudeville in the early 1920s, gradually replacing their classical repertoire with jazz. They first recorded in 1925 and after arriving in Los Angeles in 1929 sang on radio shows and recorded film music.
You’ll hear a song from one of their 1930 Hollywood Continental Broadcasting Corporation transcriptions on The Phantom Dancer today.
They became nationally famous, then internationally famous, after they moved to New York City in 1930 with their own show over CBS.
They recorded for Brunswick from 1931-1935, recordings that are considered milestone in vocal jazz. Connee wrote the vocal arrangements, Glenn Miller wrote the band arrangements and engaged the best New York jazz musicians to accompany the sisters, including the Dorsey Brothers, Benny Goodman, Bunny Berigan, Fulton McGrath, Joe Venuti, Arthur Schutt, Eddie Lang, Joe Tarto, Manny Klein, Dick McDonough and Carl Kress. Connee also made more conventional solo records for Brunswick during the same period.
They had 20 hits in this time, appeared on film and experimental TV, toured Europe twice, and even made a recording released only in Australia. They influenced the Andrew Sisters in the US, the Trio Lescano in Italy, Allanovy Sestry in Czechoslovakia and the Harmony Sisters in Finland. Connie Boswell’s solo recordings were a major influence on Ella Fitzgerald.
Vet’s daughter and granddaughter published the book, The Boswell Legacy, in 2014.
And your Phantom Dancer video of the week is the Isham Jones music video, Underneath The Broadway Moon. Isham Jones was a bandleader and composer of many jazz songs including ‘It Had To Be You.’ Enjoy…
16 JUNE PLAY LIST
Play List – The Phantom Dancer 107.3 2SER-FM Sydney, Live Stream, Digital Radio Community Radio Network Show CRN #441 | ||
107.3 2SER Tuesday 16 June 2020 | ||
Set 1 | Swing ’43 | |
Bicycle Bounce | Erskine Hawkins Orchestra | Comm Rec New York City 1943 |
American Patrol | Shep Fields and his New Music | ‘One Night Stand’ AFRS Re-broadcast 1943 |
Take It Down + What Is This Thing Called Love? (Close) | Leo Reisman Orchestra | ‘Spotlight Bands’ National Press Club Blue Network Washington DC 23 Jan 1943 |
Set 2 | Progressive Jazz from live 1952 – 1956 Radio | |
Open + The Dart Game | Shelly Manne Quintet | Basin Street WCBS CBS NY 21 Apr 1956 |
All of Me | Duke Ellington Orchestra (voc) Bette Roche | Town Casino NBC Cleveland OH 17 Sep 1952 |
Lover Come Back To Me + Jumping With Symphony Sid (Close) | Stan Getz Quartet with Shelly Manne (d) | Basin Street WCBS CBS NY 21 Apr 1956 |
Set 3 | Australian Swing from 1940s Radio | |
Waltzing Matilda | 116th Rhythm Ensemble (voc) Gordon Andrews | Aircheck Sydney 1944 |
Sahara | Wally Portingale and the ‘All in Fun Revue’ Orchestra (voc) Jack White | ‘Army on Parade’ 2CH AWA Network Sydney Aug 1943 |
Lili Marlene | Lawrie Brooks (voc) with Orchestra and Chorus | ‘Montague Brierly Showman’ Sydney 1944 |
Set 4 | The Boswell Sisters on Continental Broadcasting 1930 | |
The Parade of the Blues | The Boswell Sisters | Radio Transcription Continental Broadcasting System Hollywood 1930 |
The One I Love Just Can’t Be Bothered With Me | The Boswell Sisters | Radio Transcription Continental Broadcasting System Hollywood 1930 |
| There’s a Lull in My Life | The Boswell Sisters | Radio Transcription Continental Broadcasting System Hollywood 1930 |
Set 5 | Swing on ’44 Radio | |
No Love, No Nothin’ | George Trevare and his Australians (voc) Al Royal | Comm Rec Sydney 1944 |
Gulf Coast Blues | Charlie Barnet Orchestra | ‘Downbeat’ AFRS Hollywood Feb 1944 |
Leap Frog (theme) + Love Is Just Around The Corner | Les Brown Orchestra | ‘One Night Stand’ Peacock Room Baker Hotel Dallas TX AFRS re-broadcast 9 Aug 1945 |
One O’Clock Jump | Jimmy Dorsey Orchestra | ‘Command Performance’ AFRS Hollywood Dec 1942 |
Set 6 | Dance Bands on 1937 – 39 Radio | |
Oh, Babe, Maybe Some Day | Duke Ellington Orchestra | Cotton Club WOR Mutual New York 24 Mar 1938 |
Sold American | Glenn Miller Orchestra | Meadowbrook Ballroom Cedar Grove NJ WJZ NBC Blue NY 8 Mar 1939 |
Let’s Dance (theme) + That Naughty Waltz | Benny Goodman Orchestra | Madhattan Room Hotel Pennsylvania WABC CBS NY 6 Nov 1937 |
Moonshine Over Kentucky + Heigh Ho | Bunny Berrigan Orchestra | Paradise Restaurant WEAF NBC Red NY 3 May 1938 |
Set 7 | Cab Calloway 1930 – 1950 | |
Got A Darn Good Reason Now (For Being Good) | Cab Calloway Orchestra (voc) CC | Comm Rec New York City 24 Jul 1930 |
Mississippi Mud + Minnie The Moocher (theme) | Cab Calloway Orchestra (voc) CC | KTSP Radio St Paul-Minneapolis 28 May 1938 |
We The Cats Shall Hep You | Cab Calloway Orchestra (voc) CC | ‘One Night Stand’ Club Zanzibar NY AFRS Re-broadcast 16 Jul 1945 |
Ducktrot + Close | Cab Calloway’s Caballiers (voc) CC | ‘Guest Star’ Radio Transciption NY 17 Sep 1950 |
Set 8 | Modern Riffs in 1945 – 51 Radio Dance Bands | |
Seventh Avenue | Clyde Hart’s All-Stars (voc) Trummy Young | Comm Rec New York City Jan 1945 |
Hop, Skip and Jump | Artie Shaw’s Gramercy Five | ‘Spotlight Bands’ San Luis Obispo Ca Mutual Network 26 Sep 1945 |
Elevation + Heart to Heart (theme) | Eliot Lawrence Orchestra | Palladium Ballroom KNX CBS LA 2 Dec 1947 |
The Happening + Got To Go | Duke Ellington Orchestra | Meadowbrook Ballroom Cedar Grove NJ WNBC NBC NY 8 Jun 1951 |