Nov. 21, 2025

Make Believe Ballroom - 11/21/25 Edition

Make Believe Ballroom - 11/21/25 Edition
Make Believe Ballroom - 11/21/25 Edition
Make Believe Ballroom
Make Believe Ballroom - 11/21/25 Edition
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On this week's edition of the Make Believe Ballroom hosted by Jeff Bressler: one of the most touching partnerships in jazz history, jazz music loved by a classical composer, Glenn Miller lends a hand to a fellow musician, plus many more great records and stories to cherish and enjoy on this week's broadcast.

The Make Believe Ballroom with Jeff Bressler brings you Classic Big Band Hits from the 30s and 40s.
WEBVTT

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It's make Believe ballroom time. Put all your cares away.

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All the bands are here to bring good cheer your way.

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It's make Believe ballroom time and free to everyone.

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It's no time to friend your Dalis.

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Said Bombas close your eyes and visual lie in your solitude.

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Your favorite bands are on.

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This stance and mister Miller, but you're in the mood.

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It's make Believe ballroom time. We are a sweet romance

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as you make the bottom. Come on jo the last

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dass last.

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Hello world, I'm Jeff Presler, turning on the lights so

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the make Belief Ballroom and welcoming you into my Crystal

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Studio for another program of classic big band jazz from

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the nineteen thirties and forties. Get ready as I play

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for you some amazing jazz, swing, blues, and boogie woogie favorites. Folks,

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you're listening to the Make Believe Ballroom, broadcasting almost continuously

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since nineteen thirty five. Hi, folks, thanks for joining me

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again this week in the Crystal Studio. Last week we

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had the pleasure of listening to two records featuring band

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leader and pianist Erskine Butterfield. Why don't we open Today's

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show with the different Erskine. This Erskine being of the

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Hawkins kind.

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In thinking.

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Five saxophones, four trumpets, two trombones, I think I heard

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a guitar, piano, string, bass, and drums. Well, they all

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worked together in harmony to produce that gem Erskine. Hawkins

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and his Orchestra with Rifftime, recorded on the Victor label

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four Bluebird Records in their studio Number three in New

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York City on November the twentieth, nineteen forty. Let me

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play another record then, A story of loyalty, caring, and

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friendship between two musical greats from Decca. When the Red

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Robin Comes Bob, Bob Bobin along Bob Crosby and his Orchestra,

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recorded in Chicago on April the seventh, nineteen thirty nine,

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bringing the thirties and forties back to life, one seventy

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eight rpm record, spin at a time from the Crystal

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Studio in New York. You're listening to Jeff Presler and

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this is the weekly edition of the Make Believe Ballroom.

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I want to take a few moments now to discuss

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two jazz legends who had a very special relationship, a

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unique relationship that was based on I guess I would

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I would say it was mutualturing. And I'm talking about

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Ela Fitzgerald and Chick Webb. In nineteen thirty four, Ella Fitzgerald,

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who was a very shy teenager, got up the nerve

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to enter a famed amateur night contest at Harlem's Apollo Theater.

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I discussed that night with Ella at the Apollo many

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times on this program, where she intended on dancing but

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had to make a quick U turn. Ella got scared

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when a dance team that appeared before her literally brought

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down the house. So I'm not going to go into

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all the details now, but I'll tell the full story

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again in the future. Regardless, she decided to go from

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dancing to singing and perform the Boswell Sisters hit record,

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the Object of Affection. It was a good choice for

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Ella because she also brought down the house, and it

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was an easy choice because it was one of the

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few records that her family in Harlem actually owned. Now,

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Charles Linton was a singer vocalist with the Chick Web Orchestra,

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and he told Chick about this fantastic singer he heard

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while he was in the audience at the Apollo.

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Now.

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At first, Chick was skeptical about hiring a quote unquote

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girl singer. If you recall a few weeks back, we

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played some Benny Goodman songs featuring Helen Ward, who until

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around nineteen thirty five was really the only girl singer

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to perform with the Big Band on a regular basis.

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But after hearing her perform Fitzgerald perform a Chick changed

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his mind, and in nineteen thirty five she officially joined

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the Chick Web and His Orchestra as their featured vocalist.

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Let me play one by Chick and Ella, then I'll

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continue the story.

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When I was a kid, about half best three, my

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mom said, daughter, come here to me. Says things may

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come and things may go. But this is one thing.

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You all do, know, Oh, take what you do with

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the way that you do with Take what you do

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with the way that you do with the state.

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What you do with the way that you.

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Do with That's what gets resolds.

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Take what you do with the time that you do with.

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Take what you do with the time that you do

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with what you do with the.

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Time that you do with, That's what gets results. You

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can try hard, don't hold mean nothing. Take it easy, easy,

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then your dad will swing.

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Oh wit.

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Take what you do with the place that you do with,

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Take what you do with the time that you do

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with Take what you do with the way that you.

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Do with that work gets results.

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You've learned your A b CS, you've learned your df gess.

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But this is.

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Something you don't learn in school.

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So get your hip boots on and then you'll carry on.

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But remember if.

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You try too hard, it don't.

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Mean a thing. Take it easy.

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It's the way, not just saying it.

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That's not just.

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On DECA records. Tain't what you do. Chick Webb and

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His Orchestra vocal by Ella Fitzgerald, recorded in New York

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City on February seventeenth, nineteen thirty nine. So Ella was responsible,

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through her vocals, for much of Chick Webb's success, and

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Chick made he was the one who actually made Ella famous. Now,

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some historians say that Chick Web was an almost fatherly

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figure to Ella, and I can understand that under Chicks.

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Under his leadership, Ella blossomed into a star. Chick spent

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a lot of time teaching her rephrasing, timing, and how

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to connect with audiences like I said, Ella was a

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shy person, and Webb brought her out of her shell.

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The two toured the country together extensively. Webb worked constantly,

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and of course, when he wasn't on the road, he

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was back in New York, where his orchestra was synonymous

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with and served as the house band at the legendary

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Savoy Ballroom in Harlem. Now, on the other hand, many

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historians take the opposite tacked and say that Ella was

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actually a mother figure to Chick Webb. Now, Chick had

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a difficult life, for sure. He had a condition it

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was called Potts disease, which can be best described as

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a a spinal tuberculosis, and that condition left him Check

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physically frail throughout his life. He led the orchestra and

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played the drums. Many nights he was in excruciating pain.

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He unfortunately passed away in nineteen thirty nine. He was

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just thirty four years old. So Ella was able to

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give Chick throughout their years together a great deal of

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emotional comfort and loyalty. She stayed devoted to Check and

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the band throughout his illness, many times taking personal care

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of Check and handling the business of the band. So

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how about another of chick and Ella's hits.

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Mister Paganini, please pay my rapsod and if you cannot

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play it, won't you sing it? And if you can't

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sing it, you simply have to swing it. I said,

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swinging it, ah, sing it, and don't being it.

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Oh, mister Paganini.

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Repreclessly await your masterful baton gone and sling it. And

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if you can't sling it, you simply have to swing it.

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I said, swing it.

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And scanty wah wah, and why is scaredler we virger

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repert war ran At the final bar, we breathed you.

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With w the flow for daughter gred ovation your interpretation,

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but you learned it again?

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Yeah, oh mister fagin. Now don't you be your meaning?

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What have you of your sleep? And spring it?

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And if you can't spring it, you safe are to swing.

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We wrote your.

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Report warrand at the bottle box we've readed.

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You with wine the floor.

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But what a batter ession your interpretation got let it

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ladle lad to lay.

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Mister begginny. Now don't you be your meaning? What have

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you of your sleeve?

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Gone?

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And spring it?

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And if you can't spring it, you sent me half

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to swing.

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From Decca Records. If you can't sing it, you'll have

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to swing it fight. Chick Webb and His Orchestra vocal

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by Elip Fitzgerald, recorded in New York City, October the

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twenty ninth, nineteen thirty six. So to wrap things up

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about the question of was Chick Webb a fatherly figured

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to Eli Fitzgerald or was she a motherly figured a chick, Well,

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ultimately their relationship was built on It was built on love, loyalty,

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and shared survival in the world of big band music

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in the nineteen thirties. Chick lifted Ella up and he

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gave her her first real job and chance for success,

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and she in turn gave his life and music some

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added joy and longevity. I guess they were well, they

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were each other's support system, and whichever way one frames it,

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it was one of the most touching partnerships and jazz history.

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Going back to the record we just heard. The Paganini

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referred to in the song was Nicolo Paganini, the Italian

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violin virtuoso and composer who worked from the late seventeen

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hundreds into the eighteen forties. I recently did a segment

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on the program on classic music that was modernized into

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well classic jazz during the big band era. Now I

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have a question for you. The question is was there

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any classic jazz that eventually assisted in the writing of

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a classical music piece? And I will answer that question,

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which I know has kept many of you awake from

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many sleeveless nights. But I'm going to remedy that after this.

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It's one of those. Is a tracky Carles Beyond his

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orchestra is so well known for listen to the Minstore

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and Carl Boogie.

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Anything the.

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Same in the family anyway things the name.

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Exclaim from a nineteen forty six radio broadcast Carl's Boogie

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Frankie Carl and his Orchestra. I'm Jeff Bresler, a tradition

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of swing in classic jazz that has been broadcast since

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nineteen thirty five. You're listening to the Make Believe Ballroom

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where legends still play, Legends like Ella and Chick, Bob Crosby,

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and Erskine Hawkins who have already appeared on today's program,

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with many more to follow. I think most of you

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are familiar with this classical composition that was the opening

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to a modern classic composer Maurice Ravel's Balero, which he

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wrote in nineteen twenty eight, and unlike some of the

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records I played a few weeks ago where big band

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orchestras and arrangers took classical works and turned them into swing,

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it's very possible that certain sections of Balero were actually

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taken from improvisational jazz. Revel was a French composer, but

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in nineteen twenty eight he visited the United States and

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quickly became absorbed with listening to jazz in person and

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on records. It said that Maurice Ravel admired jazz musicians

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and composers like clarinetist Jimmy Noon, the caronet great legendary

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Bick spider Beck and a composer and pianist equally legendary,

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George Gershwins, And as a result, Maurice Ravel infused some

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jazz elements into works such as Balero. But here is

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where the story gets a little hazy, because some musical

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historians say Maurice Ravel acknowledged basing his Balero on an

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improvisation on the clarinet he heard from Jimmy Noon. So yes,

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Revel's exposure to jazz is documented, as I mentioned but

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is the jazz inflection of the second theme of Blaro

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based directly on Jimmy Noon. I don't think we will

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ever know the answer to that, But let's listen to

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how Revel's great passion for jazz evolved by listening to

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the likes of Jimmy Noon. On Decca Records, a remake

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of his nineteen twenty eight song I Know you know,

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we just heard the clarinet of Jimmy Noon and his Orchestra,

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recorded in New York City, December the first, nineteen thirty seven.

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The original name back in nineteen twenty eight when he

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first recorded the song was Jimmy Noon's Apex Club Orchestra.

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And who knows that nineteen twenty eight version of perhaps

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a live performance from Noon did indeed inspire Revel to

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compose a jazz infused section in the second theme of

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his classic work Valero. One thing I do know, though,

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is that Benny Goodman himself might have had great respect

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for both Jimmy Noon and Maurice Revel, because in nineteen

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thirty nine he recorded this record Shall have Mama, Benny

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Goodman and his Orchestra's recording of their jazz interpretation of Bowlerow. Friends,

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the big band era never truly ended. It just waited

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for you to tune in again. So if you're joining

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us for the first time, I'm Jeff Bresler, and you're

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listening to classic jazz to make believe. Ballroom coming to

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you today from the Classic Crystal Studio in New York.

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And how about another record for your enjoyment? Then a

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listener's email.

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Who's sorry now? Who's sorry now? Who's heart is rigging?

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Will breaking each ball? Who's that blue?

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Cry?

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To? Jobs like I cried over?

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You all.

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Rise to the end.

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Jobs Like a friend. I tried to warn you somehow

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you had your waid. Now you must say, I'm glad

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that you're sawry. Now did you need to look? No? No,

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NodD do let up?

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Let no no oh, you had your waymand.

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Now you must say I'm glad that you saw right.

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Now, Billy Banks and his Chicago Rhythm Kings with Who's

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Sorry Now, recorded on Vocalion Records in New York City,

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made the twenty third nineteen thirty two. And now, folks,

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why don't I dip into the old email bag to

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read one from our old friend in New York Michael Fusco,

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the famed ballroom hunter, and Michael writes, Hi, Jeff, my

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father told me that when he was a teenager and

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a messenger, Martin Block on w NEW sent him to

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pick up a Glenn Miller record and then gave him

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a ten dollars tip. He didn't remember what record it was.

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Could you play Glenn's Caribbean Clipper? Thanks Jeff. That's signed

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Michael Fusco. Thanks Michael. I'm sure when your dad got

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that ten dollars tip, it was probably like one hundred

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dollars today. Martin Block, of course, the original host of

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the New York version of the Make Believe Ballroom on

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WNEW radio. He first got on the microphone to do

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this very program in February of nineteen thirty five. And

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now for you, Michael, mister Glenn Miller.

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Before they didn't know anything doing.

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Caribbean Clipper on Victor Records, recorded by Glenn Miller and

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his orchestra July the fourteenth, nineteen forty two. You know,

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the first time I heard that song, I drew a

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mental picture in my mind of a fast ship that

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was applying the waters, a clipper ship near some exotic palm.

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Layden Caribbean Island. But I later found out that when

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Jerry Gray wrote that song for Glenn Miller, he was

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actually referring to the Caribbean Clipper, which was a pan

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am Airlines airliner that flew from the US to the Caribbeans.

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A little about the background story to Caribbean Clipper, and

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I thank you Michael Fusco for that email and story

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about your dad. To reach me with your stories, requests,

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dedications or suggestions. I'm Jeffitt make Believe Ballroom radio dot com.

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That's jeffittt make Believe Ballroomradio dot com. And I now

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want to play a record from a band leader that

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Glenn Miller himself had a lot of confidence in.

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A hoty.

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Did you ever see an elephant fly?

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We were heard of an elephant fly?

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When I think about him all after that showing up lamb.

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I saw a bean out stand, heard of a B band,

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I saw an last week and SI well, I think

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I will have seen everything when I see an elephant fly.

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I saw a front port swing herd, a diamond ring,

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I saw a Polkadot railroad tie. But I think I

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will have seen everything when I see an elephant fly.

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I saw a close horse, a love.

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Then a man in a vegetable truck. I didn't see that.

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I only heard adjust to be sociable.

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I take their word.

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I saw the answer and slide song.

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And old cow.

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Hi.

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I left till I thought I died. But I think

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I will have seen everything when I see an elephant fly.

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I even heard a chocolate dropped. I went in two

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stores or bicycle shop. You can't deny other things I

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you see, but I know for certain that it just

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can't be.

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I know it just can't be. I know it just

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can't be.

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Good the other day by chance and old one damn.

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So I'm a gullible sword of a guy. But I

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think I will have seen everything when I see an

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elephant fly.

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Charlie Speedvac and his orchestra When I See an Elephant

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Fly vocals by the Star Dusters, recorded in New York

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for the Okay label on October fourteenth, nineteen forty one.

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Charlie Spevak was known to be one of the most likable, courteous,

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and caring band leaders of the era. He played for

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a while with Glenn Miller, who in many ways credited him.

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Charlie Spevak with helping to crystallize the trademark Glenn Miller

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Sound of the nineteen forties. When Charlie had the desire

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to form his own band, he went to Glenn to

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let him know about that, not knowing what Glenn's reaction

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would be. Not only did he Glenn Miller encourage Charlie

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to start his own band, but he actually helped Charlie

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start the Charlie Spivac Orchestra back in nineteen forty. Now,

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Charlie hired Irene Day, who had worked with Gene Krupa,

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to be his lead vocalist, and that relationship lasted for

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a long long time. They were married for over forty years.

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Just kiss me once, and kissed me twice, and kissed

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me once again.

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And it's been a long long time. Haven't felt like this,

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my dear, since can't remember when. It's been a.

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Long long time.

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You'll never know how many dreams I dreamed about you,

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or just how empty their seemed without dream So kiss.

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Me once, and kiss me twice, and kiss me once again.

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It's been a long long time.

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You'll never know how many dreams I dreamed about you,

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or just how empty they all seemed without dream So

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kiss me once, you kiss me twice, you kiss me again.

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It's been a long long time.

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It's been a long long time by Charlie Spivac and

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his orchestra vocal by Irene Day forty years of a

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long long time. That one recorded on Victor Records back

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in nineteen forty five. So while that lovely song was playing,

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Norton Don't call me Ed Norton from the Honeymooners, my

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first name is Norton was here in the Crystal Studio

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as usual, a glombing our hospitality of Duncan d ownuts

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and coffee. Well, he went on a tirade that I

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recorded regarding the segment I did on Maurice Revel and

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bro Let's listen.

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Jeff, you know nothing, nothing, nothing about classical music. Revel

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and Noon and Gershwin and those guys and making a

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modern classical composition into some jazz piece or something. And

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this old frenchman sitting in some club taking notes. It

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was improvisational, It wasn't. Maybe he knew and listen to

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this Noon guy. Maybe he didn't. But some long haired

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dude say they never met.

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What was it? What were you talking about?

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Stay on track, dude, you got derailed and your box

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car went up in flames or something.

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Come on, man, my god, Norton, that's the last time

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I offer you a cruller here in the Crystal Studio.

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So the point is, I guess I did go on

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and on and on revel in the US to make

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it back encapsulated was taken in by jazz, and maybe

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he did use elements of jazz in balero, and maybe

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he didn't. But nevertheless, Dylan, please tell Norton he is

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temporarily banned from life when he comes back from the

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hallway or wherever he's wandering around in the Crystal Studio complex.

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Somebody not banned for life, though, is Geene Crouper. I

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mentioned that Irene Day was married to Charlie spevac Let's

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play a Krupa recording featuring Irene.

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Long ago swung a young gorilla through the tree, squat

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the killer dilla ever since thanks to that gorilla, sum

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I get hard.

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Later on fiddled mister Nero down and roll. He was

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quite a hero ever since thanks to mister Nero's s

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like it. When the roosterbrus went.

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Pick pecked the community, his neck bunted rhythm perish rhythm.

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No no no, no no, but should say no. Everywhere

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you can find survivors.

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Nowaday, here's people calling givers thanks to those senders and rivers.

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Some like it hah, everywhere you can find spibers now

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word day, here's people calling givers, thanks to those senders

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and rivers.

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Some like it ha.

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From Brunswick Records. Some like it Hot by Genekrooper and

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his orchestra. Vocal by Irene Day, recorded in Los Angeles, California,

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February the twenty eighth, nineteen thirty nine. And Folks, as

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I look at the big Bullovar clock here in the

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Crystal Studio, get out of here.

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I see.

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We are out of time. Thanks so much for joining

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me today. To reach me, I'm Jeff at Make Believe

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Ballroom Radio dot com. That's Jeff at MakeBelieve Ballroom Radio

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dot com. And to hear pays shows in the series,

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please go to make Believe Ballroom dot com. That's MakeBelieve

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Ballroom dot com. So until next week, from New York's

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Crystal Studio, reliving the Golden Age of swing in classical jazz.

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This has been Jeff Bresler, Let's.

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DWN and imaginal fore room isn't make me leave ball room.

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Let's down.

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Let's durn it will double my chances. I can see

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at your glances, room man. For while we're swaying and

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the man is playing music, Tammy sharm, you grow tender, sweetly,

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surrender in my willing arm.

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Let's down.

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So it's only a small room, you know, make me

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leave ball room, Let's Downportition

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The bish