Showing posts with label Benny Goodman. Show all posts

Tuesday, June 23, 2026

Big Band Leaders: Top 50+

Big Band Leaders:

Top 50+

Big band was a popular form of music in the first half of the 20th century. It was essentially a jazz orchestra, typically comprised of ten or more musiicans including saxophonists, trumpeters, trombonists, and a rhythm section which might tconsist of guitar, piano, double bass, and drums. By the mid-1930s, swing music, which had a more supple feel than early jazz, became increasingly popular. On the charts, such bands were generally credited to the bandleaders with featured vocalists noted.

This list focuses on those most popular band leaders. It was comprised by aggregating 16 lists focused on the best big band leaders of all time. The list here includes all individuals appearing on 4 or more lists.

See other lists of Acts/Music Makers by Categories.

15 lists:

1. Benny Goodman
2. Count Basie

13 lists:

3. Glenn Miller
4. Duke Ellington

10 lists:

5. Artie Shaw

9 lists:

6. Tommy Dorsey
7. Cab Calloway

8 lists:

8. Louis Armstrong
9. Jimmy Dorsey
10. Harry James
11. Woody Herman

7 lists:

12. Gene Krupa
13. Chick Webb

6 lists:

14. Lionel Hampton
15. 20. Earl Hines

5 lists:

16. Fats Waller
17. Eddy Duchin
18. Kay Kyser
19. Glen Gray
20. Bob Crosby
21. Ozzie Nelson
22. Buddy Rich
23. Fletcher Henderson
24. Jimmie Lunceford
25. Jack Teagarden
26. Charlie Spivak

4 lists:

27. Paul Whiteman
28. Sammy Kaye
29. Isham Jones
30. Freddy Martin

31. Louis Jordan
32. Hal Kemp
33. Ray Noble
34. Russ Morgan
35. Horace Heidt
36. Ted Weems
37. Dizzy Gillespie
38. Stan Kenton
39. Benny Carter
40. Les Brown

41. Frankie Carle
42. Xavier Cugat
43. Bunny Berigan
44. Will Bradley
45. Andy Kirk
46. Red Norvo
47. Claude Thornhill
48. Eddie DeLange
49. Erskine Hawkins
50. Ina Ray Hutton

51. Tony Pastor
52. Jan Savitt

Resources/Related Links:

Dave’s Music Database: Lists of Acts/Music Makers by Categories
Dave’s Music Database: Big Band: Top 100 Songs

First posted 6/23/2026.

Tuesday, August 1, 2023

On This Day in Music (1942): The American Federation of Musicians’ Strike

August 1, 1942

The American Federation of Musicians Strike

On August 1, 1942, the American Federation of Musicians went on strike against the major American recording companies over disagreements regarding royalty payments. This meant no union musician could record for any record company, ^WK but it did not prohibit performances on live radio shows or in concert. ^WK While the move was seen as advantageous for musicians who wanted payment each time their songs were played in jukeboxes or on radio, ^PBS FCC chair James Fly suggested the 60% of the country’s radio stations could go out of business. ^DB

As the ban approached, numerous artists rushed to get in last-minute recordings in July 1942. Among them were Count Basie, Bing Crosby, Jimmy Dorsey, Tommy Dorsey, Duke Ellington, Judy Garland, Benny Goodman, Guy Lombardo, and Glenn Miller. ^WK

When this stockpile was exhausted, record companies turned to older recordings – some as far back as the dawn of the recording era in the mid-1920s. One of the most successful releases was Harry James’ “All Or Nothing at All”, which featured Frank Sinatra before he became famous. ^WK

After October 27, 1943, special recordings known as V-Discs were exempt as they were intended for the armed forces and not the general public. ^WK In addition, some record companies, including Decca and Capitol, caved that 1943 while Victor and Columbia, the two largest companies, held out until November 11, 1944. ^WK

One unintended consequence of the strike was the hastening of the swing era’s decline and the rise of the “sing era” as the music industry shifted from a focus on big bands to singers. ^WK The ban only applied to musicians; singers were not union members. Therefore, they could still record a cappella songs consisting of vocal quartets or soloists backed by choruses. ^PBS As historian Peter Soderbergh put it, “Until the war most singers were props. After the war they became the stars and the role of the bands was gradually subordinated.” ^WK

For more important days in music history, check out the Dave’s Music Database history page.

Resources and Related Links:

Dave’s Music Database: “History Index”
^DB Down Beat All Recording Stops Today by Mike Levin (8/1/1942). As posted on SwingMusic.net.
^PBS PBS.org Recording Ban (exerpted from Jazz: A History of America’s Music
^SM SwingMusic.net Big Band Era Jazz History: The 1942 Recording Band
^WK Wikipedia.org 1942-44 musicians’ strike

First posted 8/1/2011; updated 8/24/2023.

Tuesday, May 10, 2022

Broadcasting Hall of Fame

Broadcasting Hall of Fame:

1977-2022

The Broadcasting Hall of Fame is sponsored by the National Association of Broadcasters. At the website, the description about the hall merely says, “The NAB Broadcasting Hall of Fame recognizes radio and television personalities or programs that have earned a place in broadcasting history.” It has been given annually since 1977. This page notes those musically-oriented inductees, all of which were in the radio category.

See other Hall of Fames.

Music-Related Recipients:

Resources/Related Links:

Dave’s Music Database: “Hall of Fames”
National Association of Broadcasters: “Broadcasting Hall of Fame: Award Recipients” (lists recipients by year in radio and television categories)

First posted 5/10/2022.

Friday, October 22, 2021

Dave's Music Database Hall of Fame: Song Inductees (October 2021)

Originally posted 10/22/2021.

In honor of the 10th anniversary of the DMDB blog on January 22, 2019, Dave’s Music Database launched its own Hall of Fame. This is the twelfth set of song inductees. These are the 10 highest-ranked songs that ranked within the top 50 of the DMDB’s list of the “Top Big Band Songs of All Time”. It does not include previously inducted songs such as Glenn Miller’s “In the Mood” and Artie Shaw’s “Stardust” and “Begin the Beguine.”

Fats Waller “Ain’t Misbehavin’” (1929)

Inducted October 2021 as “Top Big Band Songs”

Waller was “a New York City-born pianist and organ accompanist during the ‘20s…[who] broke through as one of the country’s most popular entertainers. ^PM “Ain’t Misbehavin’” was written for the 1929 all-black revue Hot Chocolates and debuted by Louis Armstrong, who credited the revue with launching his career. ^TY It was so popular it moved to Broadway ^RCG where it ran “for a very respectable 219 performances.” ^SS Read more.

Ted Lewis “On the Sunny Side of the Street” (1930)

Inducted October 2021 as “Top Big Band Songs”

This “cabaret and jazz standard” ^JA is a “metaphor for optimism.” ^TY In his book American Popular Song, author Alec Wilder calls it “one of the jazz musicians’ favorites…Singers, as well, love it as much for its extremely fine lyric.” ^SB In The NPR Curious Listener’s Guide to Popular Standards, Max Morath expresses a similar sentiment, saying the song “works both sides of the street, vocal and instrumental, with equal charm.” ^MM Read more.

Duke Ellington “Mood Indigo” (1931)

Inducted October 2021 as “Top Big Band Songs”

The clarinet solo was based on a melody called “Dreamy Blues.” Duke Ellington turned the structure upside down, “composing a song of his own on top of it.” ^DH Typically jazz songs were arranged with the clarinet, trumpet, and trombone from highest to lowest pitch, but Ellington flipped it around the other way. ^DH He recorded it for an October 1930 broadcast. He said “wads of mail came in raving about the new tune.” ^WK Read more.

Benny Goodman “Sing Sing Sing (With a Swing)” (1938)

Inducted October 2021 as “Top Big Band Songs”

By the start of the Swing era in 1936, Benny Goodman was its king. “Sing, Sing, Sing” was his most renowned performance with solos by Benny as well as drummer Gene Krupa (on his last hit before leaving the band) and trumpeter Harry James. “Sing, Sing, Sing,” which Goodman called a “killer diller,” ^NPR’99 was the closer at the bandleader’s legendary Carnegie Hall concert on January 16, 1938. It was the first time jazz comprised a full concert instead of being part of a larger show ^SS and marked the birthplace of the legitimacy of the genre. ^NPR’99 Read more.

Ella Fitzgerald with Chick Webb’s Orchestra “A-Tisket, A-Tasket” (1938)

Inducted October 2021 as “Top Big Band Songs”

“A-Tisket, A-Tasket” began life as an American children’s rhyming game in 1879. In 1938, Ella Fitzgerald and Al Feldman adapted it into a song with very little change to the lyrics. In a 1973 lecture series at Harvard, Leonard Bernstein said that research showed the song’s melodic motif “is the same all over the world, wherever children tease each other. On every continent, in ever culture, it is one of the few musical universals.” ^TY Read more.

Tommy Dorsey with Frank Sinatra & the Pied Pipers “I’ll Never Smile Again” (1940)

Inducted October 2021 as “Top Big Band Songs”

Ruth Lowe was a pianist with Ina Ray Hutton’s all-girl orchestra when she composed this song about the death of her husband, just a few months after their marriage. ^TY She staked out Tommy Dorsey in September 1939 and got Carmen Mastren, the band’s guitarist, to give her demo a listen. ^SS Dorsey wasn’t initially passed but took a stab at it when Frank Sinatra came on board. ^SS It became his first #1 song. Read more.

Duke Ellington “Take the ‘A’ Train” (1941)

Inducted October 2021 as “Top Big Band Songs”

Billy Strayhorn was a hopeful pianist and composer in 1938. ^NPR His rearrangement of the Duke’s song “Sophisticated Lady” sufficiently impressed Ellington to invite Strayhorn to New York. ^TC Ellington gave directions to his house in New York, starting with “take the ‘A’ train.” ^WK Along the way, Strayhorn turned the directions into a song. ^TC It became Ellington’s signature song and one of the all-time best-loved jazz standards. Read more.

Glenn Miller “Chattanooga Choo Choo” (1941)

Inducted October 2021 as “Top Big Band Songs”

The team of Mack Gordon and Harry Warren wrote the song while travelling on the Southern Railway. It didn’t refer to a particular train, but Chattanooga, Tennessee, had been on the route for most trains passing through the American South since 1880. ^WK The song was used in the film Sun Valley Serenade, sung by members of Glenn Miller’s band. Miller’s recording became his biggest hit after “In the Mood” and the first recording formally certified as a million seller. ^PM Read more.

Woody Herman “Blues in the Night (My Mama Done Tol’ Me)” (1941)

Inducted October 2021 as “Top Big Band Songs”

Composer Harold Arlen and lyricist Johnny Mercer were approached to write a song for a movie about a jazz quintet riding the rails in search of its big break. Arlen wrote a melody after analyzing blues songs and Mercer penned four pages of lyrics. When they finished, Mercer called Margaret Whiting, who’d sung the pair’s songs “That Old Black Magic” and “Come Rain or Come Shine.” She told Mercer she had guests for dinner, but he and Arlen could come over later. When Mercer found out the guests included Judy Garland, Mickey Rooney, and Mel Tormé, he announced, “My God, we’re coming right over.” After they played the song, Rooney said, “That’s the greatest thing I’ve ever heard.” ^SB Read more.

Les Brown with Doris Day “Sentimental Journey” (1945)

Inducted October 2021 as “Top Big Band Songs”

When she first saw the sheet music, Doris Day commented, “What a lovely title,” to which Les Brown responded “Wait till you hear it.” ^SS “The song’s aching nostalgia struck a chord in a nation welcoming its boys back from the front lines,” ^TM becoming “one of a handful of songs that summed up romantic longing during World War II.” ^SS Will Friedwald called it “the definitive end-of-war song,” ^SS “a song that helped define an era.” ^SS Read more.

Thursday, April 22, 2021

Jazz: Top 100 Songs of All Time

Jazz:

Top 100 Songs

This is an aggregate of 30 lists (see sources at the bottom of the page) focused on the best jazz songs of all time. Many of these were not originally jazz compositions and have higher-ranked versions in Dave’s Music Database. As such, the listings here are not necessarily the most popular versions of the song, but the one attributed specifically to a jazz artist.

Click here to see other genre-specific song lists.

1. Ella Fitzgerald & Louis Armstrong “Summertime” (1957)
2. Dave Brubeck “Take Five” (1961)
3. Duke Ellington “Take the ‘A’ Train” (1941)
4. Coleman Hawkins “Body and Soul” (1940)
5. Thelonious Monk “‘Round Midnight” (1947)
6. Miles Davis “So What” (1959)
7. Louis Armstrong “What a Wonderful World” (1967)
8. Stan Getz with Joao Gilberto “The Girl from Ipanema” (1964)
9. Dizzy Gillespie “A Night in Tunisia” (1946)
10. Cannonball Adderley “Autumn Leaves” (1958)

11. Benny Goodman “Sing, Sing, Sing (With a Swing)” (1938)
12. Billie Holiday “Strange Fruit” (1939)
13. Frank Sinatra “Fly Me to the Moon (In Other Words)” (1964)
14. Ray Charles “Georgia on My Mind” (1960)
15. Erroll Garner Trio “Misty” (1954)
16. Glenn Miller “In the Mood” (1939)
17. Miles Davis “All Blues” (1959)
18. John Coltrane “Acknowledgement (A Love Supreme, Part I)” (1965)
19. John Coltrane “My Favorite Things” (1960)
20. Miles Davis “Blue in Green” (1959)

21. Weather Report “Birdland” (1977)
22. Fats Waller “Ain’t Misbehavin’” (1929)
23. Duke Ellington “Sophisticated Lady” (1933)
24. Duke Ellington & John Coltrane “In a Sentimental Mood” (1962)
25. Bessie Smith & Louis Armstrong “St. Louis Blues” (1925)
26. Duke Ellington “Mood Indigo“ (1931)
27. Louis Armstrong “West End Blues” (1928)
28. Count Basie Orchestra “One O’Clock Jump” (1937)
29. Art Blakey & the Jazz Messengers “Moanin’” (1958)
30. Etta James “At Last” (1961)

31. Benny Goodman “Stompin’ at the Savoy” (1936)
32. Duke Ellington “Satin Doll” (1953)
33. John Coltrane “Giant Steps” (1959)
34. Dizzy Gillespie “All the Things You Are” (1945)
35. Louis Armstrong “On the Sunny Side of the Street” (1933)
36. Artie Shaw “Stardust” (1941)
37. Dizzy Gillespie “Salt Peanuts” (1945)
38. Duke Ellington “It Don’t Mean a Thing if It Ain’t Got That Swing” (1932)
39. Glenn Miller “Moonlight Serenade” (1939)
40. Louis Armstrong “I Got Rhythm” (1932)

41. Dizzy Gillespie “Manteca” (1947)
42. Peggy Lee “Fever” (1957)
43. Cab Calloway “Minnie the Moocher” (1931)
44. Ella Fitzgerald “The Man I Love” (1959)
45. Ella Fitzgerald “Mack the Knife“ (1960)
46. Artie Shaw “Begin the Beguine” (1938)
47. Ella Fitzgerald “Night and Day” (1956)
48. Herbie Hancock “Watermelon Man” (1962)
49. Duke Ellington “Caravan” (1937)
50. Count Basie “April in Paris” (1955)

51. Paul Whitman with George Gershwin “Rhapsody in Blue” (1924)
52. John Coltrane & Johnny Hartman “Lush Life” (1963)
53. Louis Armstrong “Sweet Georgia Brown” (1955)
54. Billie Holiday “God Bless the Child” (1941)
55. Louis Armstrong “All of Me” (1932)
56. Ella Fitzgerald with the Daydreamers “How High the Moon” (1947)
57. Art Tatum “Tea for Two” (1939)
58. Natalie Cole with Nat “King” Cole “Unforgettable” (1991)
59. Glenn Miller “The Nearness of You” (1940)
60. Norah Jones “Don’t Know Why” (2002)

61. Charlie Parker with Miles Davis & Dizzy Gillespie “Ko-Ko” (1945)
62. Louis Armstrong “When the Saints Go Marching In” (1939)
63. Ella Fitzgerald & Louis Armstrong “Cheek to Cheek” (1956)
64. Ferdinand “Jelly Roll” Morton “King Porter Stomp” (1923)
65. Billie Holiday “The Way You Look Tonight” (1936)
66. Fats Waller “Honeysuckle Rose” (1935)
67. Ella Fitzgerald “Someone to Watch Over Me” (1958)
68. Ray Charles “Come Rain or Come Shine” (1960)
69. Henry Mancini with Audrey Hepburn “Moon River” (1961)
70. Ella Fitzgerald with Chick Webb “A-Tisket, A-Tasket” (1938)

71. Bill Withers with Grover Washington, Jr. “Just the Two of Us” (1981)
72. Dizzy Gillespie “I Can’t Get Started” (1945)
73. Louis Armstrong “I’m in the Mood for Love” (1935)
74. Billie Holiday “Lover Man (Oh, Where Can You Be?)” (1945)
75. Benny Goodman “Moonglow” (1934)
76. Louis Armstrong “Hello Dolly!” (1964)
77. Benny Goodman with Mildred Bailey “Darn That Dream” (1940)
78. Woody Herman “Blues in the Night (My Mama Done Tol’ Me)” (1941)
79. Pee Wee Hunt “Twelfth Street Rag” (1948)
80. Nat “King” Cole “Mona Lisa” (1950)

81. Woody Herman “Laura” (1945)
82. Nat “King” Cole “Straighten Up and Fly Right” (1944)
83. Artie Shaw “Dancing in the Dark” (1941)
84. Bobby McFerrin “Don’t Worry Be Happy” (1988)
85. Lionel Hampton “Flying Home” (1942)
86. Frank Sinatra “One for My Baby and One for the Road” (1949)
87. Dinah Washington “What a Diff’rence a Day Makes” (1959)
88. Ella Fitzgerald “But Not for Me” (1959)
89. Tommy Dorsey “Opus One” (1943)
90. Charlie Barnet & His Orchestra “Cherokee (Indian Love Song)” (1939)

91. Duke Ellington “Perdido” (1942)
92. Chet Baker “My Funny Valentine” (1953)
93. Woody Herman “I’ll Remember April” (1942)
94. George Benson “On Broadway” (live, 1978)
95. George Benson “This Masquerade” (1976)
96. Stan Kenton “Artistry in Rhythm” (1944)
97. Herb Alpert “Rise” (1979)
98. Stan Getz & Charlie Bird “Desafinado” (1962)
99. Louis Armstrong “Potato Head Blues” (1927)
100. Django Reinhardt & Stephane Grappelli with the Quintet of the Hot Club of France “Nuages” (1940)

Resources and Related Links:

Dave’s Music Database: “Other Genre/Category Song Lists
The Best Jazz Songs of All Time (2016 album)
Brides.com (9/11/2020). “The 50 Best Jazz Love Songs to Play at Your Reception”
BuxtonWater.co.uk “The Best Jazz Songs for Your Playlist”
Digital Dream Door (4/8/2017). “100 Greatest Jazz Ballads” edited by Alvin
Digital Dream Door (2/26/2010). “100 Greatest Jazz Instrumentals” by Rick Varner
Harlem Jazz (11/23/2020). “10 of the Most Famous Jazz Songs of All Time”
HopeStreetMusicStudios.com “100 ‘Must Know’ Jazz Tunes” by Peter Spitzer
HoustonPress.com (11/20/2014). “The 10 Most Quintessential Old Jazz Songs” by Angelia Leicht
iTunes (4/20/2021). “Top 100 Jazz Songs”
Jazz24.org (2011). “The Jazz 100: One Hundred Quintessential Jazz Songs”
JazzFuel.com “Top 10 Most Famous Jazz Songs of All Time”
JazzStandards.com “Songs and Instrumentals”
LaToucheMusicale.com “The 15 Best Jazz Songs to Play on Piano”
Listverse.com (5/25/2009). “10 Truly Great Jazz Performances” by gabi319
MusicGateway.com (3/19/2021). “The Top 10 Best Jazz Songs of All Time” by Maximilian Frattura
MyWeddingSongs.com “75 Best Jazz Songs for Weddings”
NME (7/29/2019). “20 of the Best Jazz Songs” by Iliyas Ong
NPR (11/28/2011). “The Mix: 100 Quintessential Jazz Songs” by Kevin Kniestedt
RateYourMusic.com “100 Greatest Jazz Standards of All Time” by vodenikov
Reddit.com (2020). “The Absolute Most Famous Jazz Songs?”
RollingStoneIndia.com (6/10/2015). “The 100 Greatest Jazz Songs” by Sunil Sampat
Loren Schoenberg (2002). The NPR Curious Listener’s Guide to Jazz. The Berkley Publishing Group: New York, NY. Pages 163-200.
Spinditty.com (4/23/2020). “100 Greatest Jazz Songs of All Time” by Illminatus
Spotify.com (10/27/2012). “NPR’s Top 100 Jazz Songs of All Time”
Spotify.com (6/25/2013). “Jazz Classics – Greatest Jazz Songs Ever”
The-Top-Tens.com “Top 10 Best Jazz Songs” by Alexandr
Udiscovermusic.com (3/24/2019). “15 Best Jazz Songs”
USA Today (2/22/2021). “25 Essential Jazz Songs That Trace the Quintessential American Artform Through History” by Todd A. Price

First posted 3/3/2011; last updated 4/22/2021.

Monday, April 19, 2021

Big Band: Top 100 Songs

Big Band:

Top 100 Songs

Big Band, or Swing music, was especially popular in the 1930s and ‘40s. They were generally jazz-oriented orchestras led by such dominant names as Jimmy Dorsey, Tommy Dorsey, Duke Ellington, Benny Goodman, and Glenn Miller. In fact, more than 20 of these songs also appear on the DMDB’s Top 100 Jazz Songs list.

This list was created by aggregating 21 lists focused on big band songs.

Click here to see other genre-specific song lists.

1. Duke Ellington “Take the ‘A’ Train” (1941)
2. Benny Goodman “Sing, Sing, Sing (With a Swing)” (1938)
3. Glenn Miller “In the Mood” (1939)
4. Glenn Miller “A String of Pearls” (1942)
5. Glenn Miller with Tex Beneke & the Four Modernaires “Chattanooga Choo Choo” (1941)
6. Artie Shaw “Begin the Beguine” (1938)
7. Artie Shaw “Stardust” (1941)
8. Glenn Miller “Tuxedo Junction” (1940)
9. The Andrews Sisters with Vic Schoen’s Orchestra “Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy” (1941)
10. Tommy Dorsey with Frank Sinatra “I’ll Never Smile Again” (1940)

11. Glenn Miller “Moonlight Serenade” (1939)
12. Fats Waller “Ain’t Misbehavin’” (1929)
13. Benny Goodman “Stompin’ at the Savoy” (1936)
14. Jimmy Dorsey with Bob Eberly “Tangerine” (1942)
15. Tommy Dorsey “Opus One” (1945)
16. Les Brown’s Orchestra with Doris Day “Sentimental Journey” (1945)
17. Count Basie “One O’Clock Jump” (1937)
18. Woody Herman “At the Woodchoppers’ Ball” (1939)
19. Jimmy McHugh and Dorothy Fields “On the Sunny Side of the Street” (1930)
20. Bobby Darin “Mack the Knife” (1959)

21. Bing Crosby with John Scott Trotter’s Orchestra “I’ll Be Seeing You” (1944)
22. Duke Ellington with Ivie Anderson “It Don’t Mean a Thing if It Ain’t Got That Swing” (1932)
23. Rosemary Clooney “Tenderly” (1952)
24. Cab Calloway “Minnie the Moocher (The Ho Do Ho Song)” (1931)
25. Duke Ellington “Perdido” (1942)
26. Fred Astaire with Leo Reisman’s Orchestra “Night and Day” (1932)
27. Coleman Hawkins “Body and Soul” (1940)
28. Glenn Miller “Pennsylvania 6-5000” (1940)
29. Billie Holiday with Camarata’s Orchestra “Lover Man (Oh, Where Can You Be?)” (1945)
30. Woody Herman “Blues in the Night (My Mama Done Tol’ Me)” (1941)

31. Tommy Dorsey “I’m Getting Sentimental Over You” (1936)
32. Glen Gray “Sunrise Serenade” (1939)
33. Charlie Barnet “Skyliner” (1944)
34. Lionel Hampton “Flying Home” (1940)
35. Benny Goodman “Moonglow” (1934)
36. Jimmy Dorsey with Bob Eberly & Helen O’Connell “Green Eyes (Aquellos Ojos Verdes)” (1941)
37. Glenn Miller with Tex Beneke & Marion Hutton “I’ve Got a Gal in Kalamazoo” (1942)
38. Charlie Barnet “Cherokee (Indian Love Song)” (1939)
39. Duke Ellington “Caravan” (1937)
40. Harry James “You Made Me Love You (I Didn't Want to Do It)” (1941)

41. Bing Crosby “White Christmas” (1942)
42. Judy Garland “Over the Rainbow” (1939)
43. Billie Holiday “Summertime” (1936)
44. The Andrews Sisters “Bei Mir Bist Du Schoen (Means That You're Grand)” (1938)
45. Ella Fitzgerald with Chick Webb “A-Tisket, A-Tasket” (1938)
46. Bunny Berigan “I Can’t Get Started” (1938)
47. Marion Harris “The Man I Love” (1928)
48. Paul Whiteman “Oh, Lady Be Good” (1925)
49. Duke Ellington “Mood Indigo“ (1931)
50. Count Basie “April in Paris” (1956)

51. Billie Holiday “God Bless the Child” (1941)
52. Cab Calloway “Hep! Hep! The Jumpin’ Jive” (1939)
53. Harry James with Frank Sinatra “All or Nothing at All” (1939)
54. Walter Huston “September Song” (1939)
55. Duke Ellington “Satin Doll” (1953)
56. Benny Goodman with Peggy Lee “Why Don’t You Do Right?” (1943)
57. Glenn Miller with Marion Hutton, Tex Beneke, & the Modernaires “Don’t Sit Under the Apple Tree with Anyone Else But Me” (1942)
58. Tommy Dorsey with the Pied Pipers “Let’s Get Away from It All” (1941)
59. Duke Ellington “Solitude” (1934)
60. Paul Whiteman “Song of India” (1921)

61. Benny Goodman “Don’t Be That Way” (1938)
62. Count Basie “Jumpin’ at the Woodside” (1938)
63. Tommy Dorsey with Jo Stafford & Sy Oliver “Yes Indeed!” (1941)
64. Teddy Wilson “Sweet Lorraine” (1935)
65. Johnny Mercer with Jo Stafford & the Pied Pipers “Candy” (1945)
66. Glenn Miller “Skylark” (1942)
67. Ethel Waters “Stormy Weather (Keeps Rainin' All the Time)” (1933)
68. Tommy Dorsey with Jack Leonard “All the Things You Are” (1939)
69. The Andrews Sisters “Rum and Coca-Cola” (1945)
70. Larry Clinton with Bea Wain “Deep Purple” (1939)

71. Artie Shaw “Frenesi” (1940)
72. Jelly Roll Morton “King Porter Stomp” (1923)
73. Dick Haymes with Victor Young’s Orchestra “It Might As Well Be Spring” (1945)
74. Nat “King” Cole with Frank DeVol’s Orchestra “Nature Boy” (1948)
75. Hal Kemp with Bob Allen “Where or When” (1937)
76. Ella Fitzgerald & the Delta Rhythm Boys “It’s Only a Paper Moon” (1945)
77. Roger Wolfe Kahn “Sometimes I’m Happy” (1927)
78. Dooley Wilson “As Time Goes By” (1942)
79. Nat “King” Cole “Straighten Up and Fly Right” (1944)
80. Artie Shaw “Dancing in the Dark” (1941)

81. Nat “King” Cole “Get Your Kicks on Route 66” (1946)
82. Johnny Mercer & the Pied Pipers “On the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe” (1945)
83. Judy Garland with Georgie Stoll’s Orchestra “The Trolley Song” (1944)
84. Tommy Dorsey with Jack Leonard “Marie” (1937)
85. Glenn Miller with Ray Eberle “Fools Rush in Where Angels Fear to Tread” (1940)
86. Benny Goodman with Martha Tilton “And the Angels Sing” (1939)
87. Fred Astaire with Leo Reisman’s Orchestra “Cheek to Cheek” (1935)
88. Jimmy McHugh and Dorothy Fields “I’m in the Mood for Love” (1935)
89. Earl Burtnett with Harry Richman “Puttin’ on the Ritz” (1930)
90. Paul Whitman with George Gershwin “Rhapsody in Blue” (1924)

91. Kate Smith “The Last Time I Saw Paris” (1940)
92. Duke Ellington “Sophisticated Lady” (1933)
93. Perry Como with Russel Case’s Orchestra “If I Loved You” (1945)
94. The Ink Spots “Don’t Get Around Much Anymore” (1943)
95. Horace Heidt with Larry Cotton, Donna Wood, & Don Juans “I Don’t Want to Set the World on Fire’ (1941)
96. Harry James with Helen Forrest “I’ve Heard That Song Before” (1943)
97. Benny Goodman with Helen Forrest “Taking a Chance on Love” (1940)
98. Louis Jordan “Choo Choo Ch’ Boogie” (1946)
99. Tommy Dorsey with Frank Sinatra “Oh, Look at Me Now” (1941)
100. Nat “King” Cole “The Christmas Song (Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire)” (1946)

Resources and Related Links:

Dave’s Music Database: “Other Genre/Category Song Lists

First posted 4/18/2021; last updated 4/19/2021.

Friday, December 11, 2020

Today in Music (1920): Paul Whiteman hit #1 with “The Japanese Sandman”

The Japanese Sandman

Paul Whiteman

Writer(s): Richard A. Whiting (music), Ray Egan (words) (see lyrics here)

First Charted: November 13, 1920

Peak: 1² PM, 2 GA (Click for codes to charts.)

Sales (in millions): 2.0 US, 1.0 sheet music, 3.0 total

Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, 0.29 video, -- streaming

Awards:

Click on award for more details.

About the Song:

“During the ’20s, transportation was still primitive enough that to most people the Orient was excitingly exotic and distant. Tin Pan Alley adapted authentic Far Eastern music to appeal to Americans, who accepted it as genuine.” ^TY2 “The song is about a sandman from Japan who exchanges yesterdays for tomorrows. By doing so…“he’ll bring you tomorrow, just to start a life anew.” ^WK

“The first verse of the song asks us to stretch our imaginations ‘for the moment and come with me…over the western sea.’ There we will find a Japanese lady singing a lullyaby to her baby. The chorus continues by telling us the ‘Japanese Sandman’ is ‘sneaking on with the dew’ and ‘taking ‘every sorrow of the day that is through.’ This sandman is ‘just an old second hand man trading new days for old.’” ^TY2

Paul Whiteman’s instrumental recording of the song was the first to chart and the most successful, reaching #1 in 1920. “The Japanese Sandman” was the flip side of “Whispering,” Whiteman’s first chart entry. The songs “established Paul Whiteman and his orchestra as major show business personalities.” ^TY2 Whiteman was “the most popular bandleader of the pre-swing era” ^PM charting more than 200 songs from 1920 to 1954. Both songs went to #1 – a feat Whiteman would accomplish thirty more times. ^PM

There were other charted versions by Nora Bayes (#7, 1921), Ben Selvin (#15, 1921), and Benny Goodman (#10, 1935). ^PM Although Whiteman’s version charted before Bayes, she first popularized the song on vaudeville. ^TY2 The song gained attention again in 1967 when it was featured in the movie musical Thoroughly Modern Millie, starring Julie Andrews. It has also been featured in Destination Tokyo (1940), Belles on Their Toes (1952), They Shoot Horses, Don’t They? (1969), Bringing Out the Dead (1999), and The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus. ^WK

Resources:

^DJ David Jasen (2002). A Century of American Popular Music: 2000 Best-Loved and Remembered Songs (1899-1999). Routledge: Taylor & Francis, Inc. Page 108.
^TY2 Don Tyler (2007). Hit Songs, 1900-1955. McFarland & Company, Inc.: Jefferson, North Carolina. Pages 114-5.
^PM Joel Whitburn (1986). Pop Memories 1890-1954. Record Research, Inc: Menomonee Falls, WI. Pages 447, 533.
^WK Wikipedia

Monday, June 22, 2020

Dave's Music Database Hall of Fame: Music Maker Inductees (June 2020)