Dec. 12, 2025

Make Believe Ballroom - 12/12/25 Edition

Make Believe Ballroom - 12/12/25 Edition
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Make Believe Ballroom - 12/12/25 Edition
On this week's edition of the Make Believe Ballroom hosted by Jeff Bressler, we listen to some music and history from On the Bill Savory Collection. Savory was a radio sound engineer who captured for posterity jazz broadcast radio remotes that networks transmitted live from hotel ballrooms and clubs, a staple of programming in the 30s and 40s. During Savory's era, after most live broadcasts ended, they were rarely saved, primarily due to technical issues, budget constraints, or a lack of understanding of the jazz movement's history. Savory dedicated many years to preserving this musical history.
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It's make Believe Ballroom time.

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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 Belief ballom time and free to everyone. It's

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no time to friend your Dalis said Bombas.

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Close your eyes.

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And visual lize in your solitude.

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Your favorite bands are on this dance and mister Miller,

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what you're in the wood. It's make Believe Ballroom time.

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We are a sweet romance.

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As you make Believe Ballroom. Come on to the last

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dance last.

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

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the Make Believe 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. Please get ready as I

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play for you some amazing jazz, swing, blues, and boogie

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woogie favorites. Folks, you're listening to the Make Believe Ballroom,

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broadcasting almost continuously since nineteen thirty five. Welcome, Welcome, Welcome, folks,

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Thanks for joining me in the Crystal studio today. As

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you know, I usually open each program with the song

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or two, but on this edition of the Ballroom, I

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want to open with the an email from the famed

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Pop Baker. Yes, Pop Baker, a friend of the program,

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a retired musician who listens in California, and the one

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and only Pop writes, Jeff, been a while, and it's

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also been some time since you told the history and

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played some of the music from Bill Savory and his collection.

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I look forward to you reintroducing the collection if you

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see fit and that is signed one Pop Baker and

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Pop I'm gonna do you one better. The entire ballroom

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this week and perhaps part of next week's program will

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be devoted to this unique, would have to say, underrated

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and certainly overlooked a collection. The Savory Collection is housed

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in the National Jazz Museum in Harlem in New York City,

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and between records from this collection, what I'm going to

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do is weave the tail of this amazing group of

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recordings and how they came about. So obviously, the first

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and most important question is who Bill Savory was. Well,

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Bill Savory was a young New York audio engineer in

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the nineteen thirties and he just loved jazz. Now, while

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most engineers radio engineers did what they were paid to do,

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Bill Savory stayed after hours at his job on his

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own time, experimenting with sound and recording techniques. So he

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worked inside a professional transcription lab, which, for the uninitiated

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was a studio where large what were they made lacquer

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discs were cut for radio. And these discs were the

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nineteen thirties equivalent of studio tape or digital recording as

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is the case today. Bill Savory realized that the greatest

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jazz in America was being broadcast live every single night,

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and not one second of it was saved. I'm going

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to talk about this in a little while. So his

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resolution was to save this music himself. Let me give

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you an example. Here's Count Basie one o'clock jump, recorded

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at the Carnival of Swing on Randall's Island in New

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York City, May the twenty ninth, nineteen thirty eight.

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Anything up at the same change, expand and stanch a.

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I'm Jeff Wrestler and you're listening to the Make Believe

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Ballroom as we discuss the Bill Savory collection. So I

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had mentioned the transcription lab. Now let me just talk

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to you about what a transcription disc actually was. And

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if you're new to the term transcription disc, here is

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my well, how do we discribe it my elevator version.

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You know a story that you tell in the amount

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of time it takes an elevator to go a few floors. So,

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before tape recorders existed radio U it was big. They

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were sixteen inch lacquered discs and they were spinning at

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thirty three and a third rpm. At the time, these

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were not released to the public. It was just internal

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for transcription. So they looked like the equivalent of a

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giant record, and they held fifteen minutes of sound, and

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that was more than five times longer than a seventy

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eight RPM record, which was the standard recording for commercial

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use that music lovers picked up in music stores and

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the records we play here on the ballroom all M

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and eight from seventy eight recordings. Now, these discs, the

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sixteen inch lacquer discs, were used to record.

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Well.

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They recorded news speeches, commercials, and the the plethora of

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regular radio programs at the time that needed to be distributed.

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Now Bill Bill Savory used that same equipment, but instead

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of cutting ads and commercials and radio programs, he cut

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jazz history. Another example, the late great Fat Swaller with

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his classic Honeysuckle Rose, recorded at the Cafe Society in

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New York City back in nineteen thirty eight.

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Ain't everye honey peer, mister jealousy when to see you

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hunting mad?

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Don't blame on cut that. No honeys of Rover.

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There when you passing my flocks room side and and

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all the reason why.

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Uh but sweet goodness, no honeys.

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Of roads hot one.

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Don't buy sugar. You just have to tax my my

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cofor you my sugar.

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So sweet standing up when them take no sense from

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your limbs. Honey, family, dressful, confection, goodness, nose, honest rolls.

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S, father, father.

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Following them.

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You know, yeah, man, I did it.

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I'm Jeff Bresler. This is the make believe ballroom. And

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let's move on now while we're on the subject of

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transcription discs, to what a transcription lab was, because I'm

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trying to set the stage for exactly how Bill Savory

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obtained the music that he did. Now, a transcription lab

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was simply a recording studio built for cutting these large

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lacquer discs. Think of it like the like a recording

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booth of early radio. So engineers would bring in ads

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or programs then record them onto discs, duplicate them, and

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send them to stations across the country. Savory worked inside

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one of these labs and after hours that gave him

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access to the best recording equipment in New York City

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to record this wonderful jazz Let's Listen to the Amazing

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Chick Web and his Orchestra with Liza, recorded over the

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CBS Radio network back in nineteen thirty eight. Bill Savory,

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he didn't work for a radio station. He worked for

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a transcription studio that had multiple station clients. The two

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biggest were w R in New York. They used this

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lab and WNY W also used this lab, probably the

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most frequently. WNEW eleven three to zero on the dial,

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of course, was the station that this version of The

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Make Believe Ballroom originally came from. Went on the air

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in February of nineteen thirty five and was hosted by

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Martin block So music played a big role in wnew's operation.

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CBS also used the lab, as well as the NBC

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Blue Network. Now Savory was positioned, because of this, at

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the crossroads of the entire New York radio world, where

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he had access to nearly every major broadcast. I'm going

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to continue in just a moment. But now let me

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take a look at the playlist here. I like this one.

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Why don't we go to Paul Whitman and his orchestra

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on the CBS Radio Network in nineteen thirty eight, with

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beautiful vocal by Mildred Valley, trucking.

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Lifting new rhythm round us.

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Harlem is talking.

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Now you know the.

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Truck buck got you, but you never knew who just hih.

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That's what I want to tell you. I've got it

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figured out now if you walk the low down, yes

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on a team about it. We had to have something

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new I d have to do up hearing all of

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doll Someone started trucking. As soon as the news got round.

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The folks downtown.

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Came up the Harlemay.

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Saw everybody trucking.

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It didn't take long before the high Hand do in

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its park avenue in it all the town. You see

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them stuppling, shuffling, chalking along.

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It spread like a board.

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Blades became crazy and thanks to home now everybody rocking.

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Set of SAP.

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We had to have something new they have to do

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up here in Holland. So someone started trucking. As soon

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as the new Dudlund.

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Folks downtown, came up to Halloween, start everybody trucking.

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It didn't take long before the high half for doing

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this Park Avenue and all over town you see them stuffering, shuffling,

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trucking along, get spread like a forest.

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Ray became crazy.

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I thank the hollow Snow everybody's trucking.

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I'm Jeff Bresler, and you're listening to the Make Believe

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Ballroom to reach me Jeff at Make Believe Ballroom Radio

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dot com. That's Jeff at Make Believe Ballroom Radio dot Com.

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And the next question that comes to mind as I

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think this out is how did Bill Savory capture broadcasts

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at studio quality with the understanding that this wasn't a

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remastered records that had all kinds of scratches and imperfection,

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and many many years later, were remastered using the state

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of the art technology at the time. Some of the records,

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some of the excuse me, the cuts that I'm playing

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on this show aren't exactly what you would call in

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today's world studio quality, but they were much better than

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the way broadcasts were recorded off the radio. Because most

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air checks in the nineteen thirties were simply made by

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sticking a microphone next to a radio speaker, and that

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of course produced noise and low fidelity results. Bill Savory

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didn't do that. He recorded directly from the broadcast lines,

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and these were the same signals the stations used to

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send music to listeners. In other words, he was capturing

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the master feed. And now let's listen to one of

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those master feeds you got here. You know, the great

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pianist Teddy Wilson had his own big band just for

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a couple of years.

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So let me play one of his.

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When we play Coconut Grove, recorded on NBC in nineteen

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thirty eight.

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Litthing.

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So, just to take that a point further as to

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why his recordings sounded so good versus a microphone next

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to a radio speaker, it was because Bill used broadcast

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great equipment. He had at his fingertips professional lathes, high

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quality tubes, he had a quiet studio room environment to

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work in, and as I mentioned, he had direct access

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to the network lines coming into his studio. And that's

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why the Savory collection sounds better than almost any other

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nineteen thirties remote off air recordings that we sometimes play

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on this program. And as a a prime example of that,

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let's go to one of my favorite Bill Savory recordings.

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Here's Louis Armstrong on the radio from the Savory collection

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in nineteen thirty eight.

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I can't.

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Really but the definitely.

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Anything then, Anna.

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Super this Jeff Wrestler.

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You're listening to the weekly edition of the Make Believe

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Ballroom So Bad. Savory sat in his studio recording these

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wonderful live remote broadcasts at network quality. But you might ask,

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if he was such a big jazz fan, why didn't

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he ever go into clubs to work on these recordings.

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Many people think that Bill Savory stood at the back

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of say the Savoy Ballroom or the Famous Door with

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a microphone, And of course, as I'm telling you, he didn't.

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The clubs sent their sound over phone lines to NBC

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or CBS, and Savory caught the signal on the receiving

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end in a studio and he found this much more

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accurate than actually trying to uy for some microphone space

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and a loud club. I want to continue now, why

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don't we stay with Louis Armstrong.

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I love Louie.

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In a jam session on the radio that was captured

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by Bill Savory. We have Louis on the trumpet his

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really good friend Jack T. Garden playing the trombone, Bud

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Freeman Tenor Sachs, Fats Waller on the piano, Bob Spergel

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playing the guitar, Pete Peterson on bass, and the George

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Wettling on the drums. I mean, can you imagine on

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December the thirteenth, nineteen thirty eight, turning on your radio

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in your home and hearing this, I've got rhythm.

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Y didn't say anything. I didn't.

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Finish.

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Oh that was like it.

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This is the weekly edition of the Make Believe Ballroom,

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and we're listening to selections from the Bill Savory collection.

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And I've been mentioning here and there the word radio

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remote votes and again for the uninitiated. Radio remotes were

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live broadcasts from ballrooms, clubs, or outdoor events musical events.

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Engineers at the venue mixed the band live and the

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station then transmitted it. So Bill Savory captured the final

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version exactly as the network sent it out.

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And now as I look at the Savory.

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Rundown, here but a little Ella from the collection, I'm

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saving myself for you. Ella Fitzgerald on the radio with

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the Leith Scott Orchestra, recorded in nineteen thirty eight.

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I have been saven my soul for you. Just do

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no one, but.

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I've speak my heart and your name.

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It's for you to claim some day.

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Then behave in myself for you, just you, no one

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but you, because you'd never forgive O kiss.

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I my give away.

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I'll keep myself to myself and in the long run,

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not Wind, I'll.

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Keep myself to myself because I know, oh, that you

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been save and.

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Your love for MEU, just.

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Me and comeward made until weird together.

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I'm saving my soul for I'll keep myself to myself.

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And in the long Runaldwin, I'll keep myself to myself because.

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You've been saving.

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For me, just me and come me.

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Until we're together, saving myself for you.

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So Bill Savory worked specific after hours, staying in his studio,

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the studio where he worked full time, and during the

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time that he was able to spend after work, he

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basically preserved the real sound of the Savoy Ballroom, the

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Golden Gate Ballroom, Cafe Society, Fiesta, Dance Ateria, the Famous Door,

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and the Onyx Club. These were the most convenient broadcasts

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for him to capture, and these clubs were the heartbeat,

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mostly in New York City of pre war jazz.

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Well here's.

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Well, here's another nice pull from the radio by Bill

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Savory when Buddhist Smiles Bob Crosby and his orchestra on

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the CBS Radio network in nineteen thirty nine. I'm gonna

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go way back to the start of the broadcast where

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I mentioned the Carnival of Swaying. We opened with Account

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Basie number that emanated from that event, and I would

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have to say one of Savory's greatest achievements was capturing

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the nineteen thirty eight Carnival of Swing. The Carnival of

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Swing was the first outdoor jazz festival in history. I

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think over twenty thousand people attended. We discussed this before

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in the ballroom, and I think next week I might

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devote some time to talking to you about the Carnival

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of Swing. So Bassie, Ella Hampton and dozens of other

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bands played on Randalls Island in New York City for

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this first time ever Carnival of Swing. Now, to my knowledge,

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only Bill Savory preserved any music from the Carnival of Swing.

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Let's go back to Count Basie during his set at

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the Carnival, with every tub made the twenty ninth, nineteen

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thirty eight.

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US about the most must the child y.

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I'm Jeff Bresler. This is the Make Believe Ballroom. If

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you'd like to hear past programs in this series, there

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are well over two hundred of them. You could go

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to MakeBelieve Ballroom dot com. That's MakeBelieve Ballroom dot com.

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Or you could also go to your favorite podcast provider,

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whether that be oh Apple, Spotify, iHeartRadio. We are certainly

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on all of them. Archive of past programs in the

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Make Believe Ballroom series on your favorite podcast provider or

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make Believe Ballroom dot com.

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Now.

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Bill Savory devoted a good portion of his time to

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capturing these remote broadcasts, and you might say to yourself, well,

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that's kind of feudal stations also save these recordings, And

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the answer is no. I don't think many people at

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the time realized they were living through one of the

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most significant periods in American history, the big band, jazz

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and swing era. So didn't pay much credence to the

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shows they were broadcasting, but equally as important, stations didn't

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keep these broadcasts because the laquer discs we were discussing

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were very expensive and before nineteen forty, there was no tape.

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You know today obviously things are laid down in digital

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or on tape, but that didn't exist back then. So unfortunately,

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when the music was over, it was basically gone forever.

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Bill Savory knew this and quietly intervened. And oh boy,

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oh my god, oh my goodness. Speaking of intervened, I

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just looked at the clock, the big bull of a

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clock here in the Crystal studio, and realize we are

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just about out of time. I thought we'd have more time.

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It just flew by.

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Well.

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I hope you enjoyed this little trip into radio history

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as we trace the great radio engineer, Bill Savory and

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his one man mission, his dedicated mission to record as

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many live radio remote broadcasts as possible in the mid

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to late thirty into the nineteen forties to ensure that

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the music would live on, and live on. Indeed it has,

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because if it wasn't for a Bill Savory, none of

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the music that I played today would have been available

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to play at all. I'm going to now go out

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with Joe Marcella from the Savory collection on the radio

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with Jazz Me Blues. I'll see you all next week.