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I kind of assumed that I didn't like Big Band/Swing but I guess that I have to admit that I didn't give it a chance out of prejudice.

Wanna learn what your musical tastes are? Explore YouTube to your heart's content. We are living in the Golden Age of Musical Exploration. This was unimaginable not too long ago.

CMcPherson wrote:I kind of assumed that I didn't like Big Band/Swing but I guess that I have to admit that I didn't give it a chance out of prejudice.

Hey, it's all a learning process. What you have heard of it in the past was probably all the sappy stuff that sold well due to there being a war on for the latter half of the Swing Era and that's what sold the best. Two of the bands that sold the most records and had the biggest draws at venues were Kay Kyser and Sammy Kaye. Then there was Lawrence Welk. This is like your only introduction to the music of the 1950s being stuff like Mitch Miller and Percy Faith- (although Percy is one of the originators of "Atomic Age" music and his records actually sell well for me )

Incidentally, there's a Charlie Barnet Kaye/ Kyser spoof record out there called "The Wrong Idea". Barnet even styled his band as "Swing and Sweat with Charlie Barnet" ( a play on "Swing and Sway with Sammy Kaye"). Supposedly Kaye went bat- poop ballistic when he heard it. You should see if it is on YouTube... it's great. Barnet is another band I bet you'll like.

Oh, hell, I just did it for you.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D-tN_9zDVMc

Enjoy!

gramophone-georg wrote:

CMcPherson wrote:I kind of assumed that I didn't like Big Band/Swing but I guess that I have to admit that I didn't give it a chance out of prejudice.

Lawrence Welk.

You said it... not me.
He was specifically the one that I was thinking of as I was making my admission.
I refrained from being specific though because I didn't want to upset anybody that happened to enjoy his music (not that there is anything wrong with that )

CMcPherson wrote:

gramophone-georg wrote:

CMcPherson wrote:I kind of assumed that I didn't like Big Band/Swing but I guess that I have to admit that I didn't give it a chance out of prejudice.

Lawrence Welk.

You said it... not me.
He was specifically the one that I was thinking of as I was making my admission.
I refrained from being specific though because I didn't want to upset anybody that happened to enjoy his music (not that there is anything wrong with that )

I think Lawrence Welk and the Champagne Music Makers are still in syndication... somewhere. When I was a kid in the 60s, we'd go from our apartment in Brooklyn to my grandparents' house in Clifton NJ every Sunday. Lawrence was on TV every... Sunday... evening...

I wan't so much exposed to it as clubbed over the head with it... And-a one... And- a two... It still makes me want to slit my own throat.

There was a post here a minute ago about Welk being a crack bandleader that went 'poof'. I will agree that to do what he did for as long and successfully as he did it shows he had discipline and he had talent... no doubt.

But to me it's like every week my wife and I go grocery shopping, and every week there's frozen blocks of boxed succotash in the frozen vegetables. I got that shoved down my throat as a kid, too. I never touch the stuff but if everyone else detests it as much as I do what the hell is it doing at the grocery store every week?

gramophone-georg wrote: I wan't so much exposed to it as clubbed over the head with it... And-a one... And- a two... It still makes me want to slit my own throat.

Every @#$%^&* Saturday night when I was a kid!

"Tank you Joe Feeney for dat'a mediocre rendition of a stale old'a Irish tune.... And'a now lovely Norma Zimmer will'a screech out'a 'Momma' has a squeeze-box'a; Daddy doesn't sleep at'a night.'"

I have to admit, though, I DID look forward to the Lennon Sisters, though some of their material in, especially the early years, was rather, inappropriately, "adult" in nature. -- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pcDGo93K0ik

I also liked Joann Castle -- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8_CxNRgkMgg

OF

gramophone-georg wrote:

CMcPherson wrote:I kind of assumed that I didn't like Big Band/Swing but I guess that I have to admit that I didn't give it a chance out of prejudice.

Hey, it's all a learning process. What you have heard of it in the past was probably all the sappy stuff that sold well due to there being a war on for the latter half of the Swing Era and that's what sold the best.

I guess that's my mistake too. I don't think of 1930-36 or so as the swing era at all, even though the music was evolving toward swing -- to me it's basically just 1937-42, and a short revival on the other side of the recording ban, and defined by somewhat softer instrumentation (fewer jazz solos, more big band work), an increasing emphasis on vocal refrains, toward ballads, and moderate, danceable tempo compared to hot jazz. Before and after that, or missing those characteristics, it's jazz.

(And then there's things like Benny Goodman's Carnegie Hall show in 1938, the heart of the swing era, by swing's biggest exponents, but sounding at least to me like mostly pure jazz, with a few swing songs thrown in as crowd pleasers)

What is the "accepted" definition of swing anyway?

So I've learned that Lawrence Welk = frozen blocks of succotash.
I'm a Yankee that's made his home in the Land of Dixie. I've realized that succotash is actually appreciated by many people.
I still prefer cream of wheat but I appreciate my grits eating brothers.
So, to my new Talking Machine Forum friends that like Mr. Welk... shine on you crazy diamond!

gramophone-georg wrote:There was a post here a minute ago about Welk being a crack bandleader that went 'poof'.

That was my post. I deleted it because I didn't think it was too relevant to the thread topic to get bogged down in Welk talk. Welk used to do themes on his shows, you might have an Ellington tribute or a tribute to Broadway, etc. Some were better than others. Sometimes it incredibly corny, but there are some terrific moments.