new big band newsbigbandlibrary.com/bbn202001.pdf · 2020. 1. 19. · birdland, new york city, new...
TRANSCRIPT
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BIG BAND NEWS
JANUARY 2020
by Music Librarian CHRISTOPHER POPA
It’s the perfect time
to ask who was the
BIGGEST bandleader
of them all?
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The answer is: Tiny Hill.
So how, in the era of incredibly-famous bandleaders like
Goodman, Basie, Lombardo, Shaw, Ellington, Kaye, Miller,
Lunceford, Dorsey, and all of the others, does Tiny Hill qualify
as the “biggest” of them all?
Simple—he weighed 350 pounds!
Now, this is not me making some politically-incorrect claim.
Tiny’s own publicity photographs included the caption “Just a
Likeable Guy with 350 lbs. of ‘Good Humor.’”
In fact, in 1944 Billboard magazine declared him “America’s
Biggest Bandleader” as his weight rose to 365 pounds!
Clearly, the name “Tiny” was said with tongue-in-cheek. His
real name was Harry L. Hill, and he had a big sense of humor.
What of Tiny Hill’s music?
To my ears, it was a blend of dance band, dixieland, novelty,
country, and hillbilly.
Starting in 1939, he made records for Vocalion, Okeh, and
Mercury (his last session was for Mercury in 1962).
His most famous vocals included “Angry,” “Skirts,” “Sioux
City Sue,” “Hot Rod Race,” and “Five Foot Two, Eyes of Blue.”
Tiny remained popular until his death in 1971—he had
performed to a capacity audience less than six months before
his passing.
The inscription on his tombstone says “Forgotten quickly by
many, remembered forever by a few.”
But some things which took place in 2018 and 2019 set the
wheels in motion to bring Tiny Hill’s name fully back to the
listening and dancing public and into 2020.
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The Tiny Hill Orchestra was re-formed by a man named Dan
Stevens! Their first performance was on December 30, 2018.
I contacted Dan to find out more about this surprising news.
“In the recent past I worked the band under the name ’Texas
Ramblers’ for two years. A nod to the California Ramblers,” he
explained to me. “Then two things happened. Another band in
our region began usurping the name and with no trademark
protection there was nothing I could do about it. And around
that time the opportunity came to purchase the Tiny Hill library
of music.”
Who had all of those arrangements?
According to Dan, “The Tiny Hill library of charts came from
a pianist in Wisconsin. Another musician connected me with
him. I tried to trace the music’s ownership trail previous to the
pianist but was unable. The pianist got it from another sideman
sometime in the past and he could not remember details. I
never met the pianist in person, only through correspondence.
I presume he would have been in his 80s.”
“Inspection of the music left no doubt it was Tiny Hill’s,” he
continued. The orchestra parts hand written in ink, not
photocopies, with some of them signed by the well documented
Tiny Hill arrangers, the rest obviously done by the same
hands . . . There is no doubt they are the note for note originals
(not later arrangers transcribing them off recordings or stock
charts).”
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“I have known about Tiny Hill for decades,” Dan
commented. “I have many of his 78rpm records. I have always
liked 1920s dance music and Tiny Hill’s swinging
reinterpretations of it with a little dixieland and country mixed in
fit my musical sensibilities perfectly. The transition is natural.”
“My first big band was in St. Louis, MO under my own name
beginning in 1989,” he continued to tell me. “Later I played for
Johnnie Kaye as his bass player and arranger. When Johnnie
passed away in 2010 the family sold me the library and rights to
the name ‘Johnnie Kaye Orchestra.’ We played gigs in
Chicago, northern Illinois, Iowa, Indiana, and Wisconsin.
Johnnie was big in those areas.”
“Owning many of the original Tiny Hill manuscript
arrangements enabled me to obtain the federal trademark on
the name,” he noted. “The trademark office wanted to be
certain that I could represent Tiny Hill to the public like when he
was living. The original handwritten arrangements, an
extensive collection of Tiny Hill’s 78rpm records and my 30
years experience leading big bands convinced them I could do
it as well or better than anyone else.”
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The Tiny Hill Orchestra under his direction has been signed
to a regular series of appearances at various venues in the
southern part of Texas.
Their itinerary this month is as follows:
3 pm, Sunday, January 5, 2020—La Hacienda Estates, Alamo,
Texas
7 pm, Friday, January 10, 2020—Pharr South, Pharr, Texas
3 pm, Sunday, January 12, 2020—Tip o’ Texas, Pharr, Texas
3 pm, Sunday, January 19, 2020—Mission Bell & Trade Winds
RV Resort, Mission, Texas
3 pm, Sunday, January 26, 2020—Texas Trails, Pharr, Texas
“The reception to the music here in far south Texas has
been excellent,” Dan pointed out. “Many ‘winter Texans’ of
retirement age come here and the style resonates well with
them.”
This is all quite something!
First, a “new” ghost band, The Tiny Hill Orchestra, has been
added to the ranks.
Second, to keep them going they have found a welcoming
audience of people and a schedule of performances.
And third, for those of us who aren’t in their vicinity, they are
offering a new compact disc!
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DAN STEVENS
“You asked what instrument I play,” he noted. “I play
several, my ambition is to be a good big band arranger and to
this end I have learned the rudiments of guitar, bass, drums, all
the saxes, clarinet, and tenor banjo. I can play piano well
enough to use it writing arrangements but not well enough to
perform, although several times I have.”
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CD REVIEW
For starters, in my opinion, the tagline “America’s Biggest
Bandleader,” shown on both the CD cover and label, is no
longer appropriate because it referred directly to Tiny himself
and not the band. (In fact, Tiny had lost so much weight by the
late 1960s that, ironically, he had to reassure his audiences that
he was, indeed, the real Tiny Hill.)
Anyway, the CD contains 20 tracks for a total of 52:41,
beginning and closing with Tiny Hill’s original theme song,
Dream Girl, which he co-wrote and recorded for Vocalion in
1939. Also included are Tales From the Vienna Woods, which
Tiny did on the Okeh label in 1941, and Up a Lazy River
(mistitled on the CD Up the Lazy River), a song that Tiny played
in the last few years of his life.
The rest are a mixture of pop hits such as Begin the
Beguine, That’s My Desire, Whole Lotta Shakin’ Goin’ On, By
the Time I Get to Phoenix, The Theme From “New York, New
York,” and Could I Have This Dance?, from various decades.
Because the latter music has no connection to Tiny, none of it
helps to establish the unique identity of “The Tiny Hill
Orchestra,” other than being songs to dance to.
I questioned Dan why Tiny’s biggest hits Angry or Skirts
weren’t included. “Angry and Skirts will be on our next CD,
“Live in Texas 2020,’” he promised. “There are problems
recording live at dances and I never got the takes I wanted on
those two tunes. As you said, those are signature numbers and
I only want the best possible.”
The singer with this new band is an older woman, Deanna
Nelson, who is featured on no less than eight selections.
Honestly, what’s critically missing is Tiny himself, including
his country-twinged male vocals, his playful personality, and his
sense of humor. Those qualities and, equally missing, that
“scratcher” percussion instrument Tiny liked to play (a
descendant of the guiro) are what gave his band its success
and its meaningful and lasting identity.
While I wish Dan, Deanna, and the rest of the band good
luck, without Tiny it just isn’t the same.
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MORE BIG BANDS
COUNT BASIE
ORCHESTRA DIRECTED
BY SCOTTY BARNHART
WITH VOCALIST
CARMEN BRADFORD
January 13-18, 2020—
Birdland, New York City,
New York
HARRY JAMES ORCHESTRA DIRECTED BY FRED RADKE
WITH VOCALIST GINA FUNES
January 19, 2020—Sellersville, Pennsylvania
January 20, 2020—Hackettstown, New Jersey
January 31, 2020—Toms River, New Jersey
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CHRIS DEAN’S
SYD LAWRENCE
ORCHESTRA
January 9-January 22, 2020—Saga cruise from United
Kingdom
January 24, 2020—The Stables, Wavendon, United Kingdom
January 29, 2020—The Core Theatre, Solihull, United Kingdom
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GLENN MILLER ORCHESTRA-USA DIRECTED BY NICK
HILSCHER WITH VOCALISTS HANNAH TRUCKENBROD
AND THE MOONLIGHT SERENADERS
January 12, 2020—Dr. Phillips Center, Walt Disney Theatre,
Orlando, Florida
January 14, 2020—Knight Concert Hall, Miami, Florida
January 16, 2020—Ormond Beach Performing Arts Center,
Ormond Beach, Florida
January 19, 2020—Parker Playhouse, Fort Lauderdale, Florida
January 20, 2020—Marathon High School, Marathon, Florida
January 21, 2020—Coral Shores High School Performing Arts
Center, Tavernier, Florida
January 23, 2020—Kings Point Theater, Sun City Center,
Florida
January 25, 2020—Lewis Auditorium, St. Augustine, Florida
January 26, 2020—Marco Presbyterian Church, Marco Island,
Florida
January 27, 2020—Branscomb Memorial Auditorium, Southern
Florida College, Lakeland, Florida
January 28, 2020– Maxwell C. King Center, Melbourne,
Florida
GLENN MILLER ORCHESTRA-SWEDEN DIRECTED BY JAN
SLOTTENAS WITH VOCALISTS JENS BERGGREN,
SAMUELA BURENSTRAND, MIKAEL WIKSTROM, AND THE
MOONLIGHT SERENADERS
January 26-27, 2020—cruise aboard M/S Viking Cinderella,
Stockholm, Sweden to Mariehamm, Aland Islands
GLENN MILLER ORCHESTRA-UK DIRECTED BY RAY
McVAY WITH VOCALISTS MARK PORTER, CATHERINE
SYKES, AND THE MOONLIGHT SERENADERS
January 4, 2020—City Hall, Hull, England
January 5, 2020—The Sage, Gateshead, England
January 11, 2020—Philharmonic Hall, Liverpool, England
January 12, 2020—Bridgewater Hall, Manchester, England
January 18, 2020– Queens Theatre, Hornchurch, England
January 19, 2020—Richmond Theatre, Richmond, England
January 26, 2020—Theatre Severn, Shrewsbury, England
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AND ANOTHER IMPORTANT DATE:
HAPPY BIRTHDAY, RAY ANTHONY
He is the very last of the surviving name bandleaders of the
1930s, ‘40s, and ‘50s.
It’s Ray Anthony’s birthday—he turns 98 on the 20th of this
month!
Happy birthday, Mr. Anthony!
Allow me to give the last words of this month’s “Big Band
News” to Dan Stevens, leader of The Tiny Hill Orchestra.
“The major future challenge is dealing with the weak
representation of big band music in the mainstream media and
modern culture,” he observed. “When Doc Severinsen’s band
was let go from ‘The Tonight Show,’ our last major mainstream
platform for the music was lost. Younger generations are not
being connected with well. This needs to change or in another
5 years or so the existing big bands will really have trouble
staying viable.”