03 September 2024
(Until 03 September)Earl Burtnett Forgotten Jazz Standards Composer- Phantom Dancer
Greg Poppleton Swing Radio Show
Earl Burtnett, was a U.S bandleader, jazz standards writer, and pianist. He appeared in two Hollywood movies you can watch on this blog. Earl’s your Phantom Dancer feature artist this week.
The Phantom Dancer is your weekly non-stop mix of swing and jazz from live 1920s-60s radio and TV every week.
LISTEN to this week’s Phantom Dancer mix (online after 2pm AEST, Tuesday 3 September) and weeks of Phantom Dancer mixes online at, at https://2ser.com/phantom-dancer/
EARL
Earl Burtnett’s first published song, the standard, ‘Canadian Capers’, went to print and record when he was 19 in 1915.
The next year he followed that hit with ‘Down Honolulu Way’.
In 1918 , he joined Art Hickman’s touring band.
Promoter Florenz Ziegfeld heard the band in San Francisco, and featured them on Broadway in the Ziegfeld Follies of 1920.
After they moved back to California, Burtnett continued as lead arranger and writer for the Hickman orchestra.
His successful songs include the standard, ‘Sleep’, as well as ‘Leave Me With A Smile’ (1921), ‘Mandalay’ (1924), and ‘If I Should Lose You’ (1927).
On Art Hickman’s retirement in 1929, he took over as band leader and had a residency at the Biltmore Hotel in Los Angeles. They recorded for Brunswick Records backing the Biltmore Trio.
The Ear Burtnett Orchestra appeared in three films, The Flying Fool (1929), The Great Gabbo (with Eric von Stroheim)(1929), and The Party Girl (1930), billed as “Earl Burtnett and his Hotel Biltmore Orchestra and Trio”.
They played across the U.S in the early and mid 1930s, with periods at both the Rice Hotel in Houston (from 1933), and later at the Drake Hotel and other venues in Chicago, where their concerts were often broadcast on WGN radio.
Burtnett recorded for Columbia from 1926 – 1928 when he signed with Brunswick and recorded prolifically through mid-1931. There was a further session in Chicago in May, 1934 for Columbia. In between he recorded radio transcription which you’ll hear on this week’s Phantom Dancer.
On Christmas Eve, 1935, Burtnett underwent an appendectomy at Illinois Central Hospital in Chicago. However, peritonitis set in after the operation, and he died on January 2, 1936, at the age of 39.
In ‘The Flying Fool’ (1929) you’ll see and hear Earl Burtnett from the ‘Kit Kat Kafe’ in a simulated radio broadcast…
3 September PLAY LIST
Play List – The Phantom Dancer 107.3 2SER-FM Sydney LISTEN ONLINE Community Radio Network Show CRN #673 | ||
107.3 2SER Tuesday 3 September 2024 | ||
Set 1 | Duke Ellington Orchestra | |
Things Ain’t What They Used to Be (theme) + Bluetopia | Duke Ellington Orchestra | ‘Second Annual Esquire Jazz Concert’ AFRS Re-broadcast 17 Jan 1945 |
The Air Conditioned Jungle | Duke Ellington Orchestra | ‘Second Annual Esquire Jazz Concert’ AFRS Re-broadcast 17 Jan 1945 |
| Frustration | Duke Ellington Orchestra | ‘Second Annual Esquire Jazz Concert’ AFRS Re-broadcast 17 Jan 1945 |
| These Foolish Things | Duke Ellington Orchestra | ‘Second Annual Esquire Jazz Concert’ AFRS Re-broadcast 17 Jan 1945 |
Set 2 | Buddy Morrow | |
Theme + Song of the Wanderer | Buddy Morrow Orchestra | ‘One Night Stand’ Blue Room Hotel Lincoln NYC AFRS Re-broadcast 27 May 1946 |
Welcome to My Dreams | Buddy Morrow Orchestra (voc) Carl Denny | ‘One Night Stand’ Blue Room Hotel Lincoln NYC AFRS Re-broadcast 27 May 1946 |
Snap Your Fingers | Buddy Morrow Orchestra (voc) Helen Leigh and Band | ‘One Night Stand’ Blue Room Hotel Lincoln NYC AFRS Re-broadcast 27 May 1946 |
Instrumental + Smoke Gets in Your Eyes | Buddy Morrow Orchestra | ‘One Night Stand’ Blue Room Hotel Lincoln NYC AFRS Re-broadcast 27 May 1946 |
Set 3 | Earl Burtnett | |
You Said It | Earl Burtnett and his Biltmore Bowl Orchestra | Radio Transcription Hollywood 1931 |
Them There Eyes | Earl Burtnett and his Biltmore Bowl Orchestra (voc) Biltmore Trio | Radio Transcription Hollywood 1931 |
High Water | Earl Burtnett and his Biltmore Bowl Orchestra (voc) Jess Kirkpatrick | Radio Transcription Hollywood 1931 |
Jealous + Love Tales + Carolina in the Morning | Earl Burtnett and his Biltmore Bowl Orchestra (voc) Jess Kirkpatrick | Radio Transcription Hollywood 1931 |
| Linda | Earl Burtnett and his Biltmore Bowl Orchestra (voc) Jess Kirkpatrick | Radio Transcription Hollywood 1931 |
Set 4 | Advanced 1929-33 Pop | |
Queer Notions | Fletcher Henderson Orchestra | Comm Rec 22 Sep 1933 |
Chant of the Weed | Don Redman Orchestra | Comm Rec 24 Sep 1931 |
If I Could Be with You (One Hour Tonight) | Mound City Blue Blowers | Comm Rec 14 Nov 1929 |
I’d Love It | McKinney’s Cotton Pickers | Comm Rec 1929 |
Set 5 | Timex All-Star Jazz Show | |
The Preacher | Studio Orchestra (voc) Woody Herman | ‘Timex All-Star Jazz Show’ NBC TV 30 Dec 1957 |
I Want to Be Happy | June Christy | ‘Timex All-Star Jazz Show’ NBC TV 30 Dec 1957 |
| Up the Lazy River | Louis Armstrong All-Stars (voc) Louis Armstrong | ‘Timex All-Star Jazz Show’ NBC TV 30 Dec 1957 |
When the Saints Go Marching In | Ensemble | ‘Timex All-Star Jazz Show’ NBC TV 30 Dec 1957 |
Set 6 | Stan Kenton | |
Artistry in Rhythm (theme) + Artistry Jumps | Stan Kenton Orchestra | ‘One Night Stand’ Palladium Ballroom Hollywood AFRS Re-broadcast 27 Nov 1945 |
We’ll Be Together Again | Stan Kenton Orchestra (voc) Gene Howard | ‘One Night Stand’ Palladium Ballroom Hollywood AFRS Re-broadcast 27 Nov 1945 |
I Don’t Want To Be Loved | Stan Kenton Orchestra (voc) June Christy | ‘One Night Stand’ Palladium Ballroom Hollywood AFRS Re-broadcast 27 Nov 1945 |
Body and Soul | Stan Kenton Orchestra | ‘One Night Stand’ Palladium Ballroom Hollywood AFRS Re-broadcast 27 Nov 1945 |
Set 7 | Ben Selvin | |
Open + This is the Missus | Ben Selvin Orchestra | Radio Transcription 1932 |
Too Many Tears | Ben Selvin Orchestra | Radio Transcription 1932 |
Cheer Up | Ben Selvin Orchestra | Radio Transcription 1932 |
Somebody Loves You + Close | Ben Selvin Orchestra | Radio Transcription 1932 |
Set 8 | Modern Jazz | |
| When Your Lover Has Gone | Erroll Garner | Storeyville Copley Square Hotel WHDH Boston Dec 1953 |
| Tippin’ In (theme) | Erroll Garner | Storeyville Copley Square Hotel WHDH Boston Dec 1953 |
| Mel’s Idea + Body and Soul | Benny Goodman Sextet | ‘One Night Stand’ The Click Philadelphia AFRS Re-broadcast 3 Jun 1948 |
