Milt Britton and his Band “Poet and Peasant”
A few years ago I shared this 1946 SOUNDIE in a clip presentation. The group, Milt Britton and his Band, is a comedy aggregation that
A few years ago I shared this 1946 SOUNDIE in a clip presentation. The group, Milt Britton and his Band, is a comedy aggregation that
If drummer Stix Hooper is not a name known to all fans of “improvised music” — this is a term that Stix prefers to “jazz”
The Count Basie orchestra appears in only two SOUNDIES, which is unusual since four film shorts was standard practice for this period. Louis Armstrong, Cab Calloway, Lucky Millinder and others all appeared in four-SOUNDIE sessions. Perhaps the band was too expensive to appear in two additional films; the band’s popularity was certainly not an issue, nor was the cost of clearing the two songs, $75, versus a 5 cent per print royalty, pretty much the same for all songs used in SOUNDIES.
I never got to know Bud Shank or Bill Perkins particularly well, although I saw them often at Donte’s, Shelly’s, The Lighthouse and other Los
In the 1940s, the depth of talent among black variety arts — black vaudeville, if you will — was indeed astonishing. Two performers who were
The mid-1940s found Louis Jordan to be one of the most popular black entertainers in America. Berle Adams, his manager, related to me that he
In late 1929 Herman Fowler formed Fowler Studios in Los Angeles with the intent to produce a series of one reel variety shorts. Production began
In 1934 Lucky Millinder began fronting the Mills Blue Rhythm Band, a roll that he filled until the spring of 1938. The band was managed
In the latter half of the 1930s, and into the 1940s, white bandleaders began integrating with more confidence and regularity. Benny Goodman, always ahead of