On August 21, 1935 at Los Angeles' Palomar Ballroom, at the end of a less-than-successful tour, the Benny Goodman Orchestra decided to give it one last best shot and let loose with an extraordinarily hot set to a room full of West Coast youngsters, and the Swing Era was born. Swing had been developing among African American bands for years in the east, and Goodman and company had been playing it themselves regularly (but late at night) on the east coast radio show Let's Dance, as were other early-'30s dance bands. But on that legendary night, which was broadcast live across the nation at a much earlier time than the band's Let's Dance segments had been airing, Swing captured the American mainstream...and held on tight for a solid decade after.
For OFAM 2013's gala opener, Ken Peplowski and his core unit join up with Jesse Cloninger and the Emerald City Jazz Kings (fronted by a vocal team that includes Shirley Andress, Vicki Brabham and Evynne Hollens channeling the Andrews Sisters, joined by Bob Cross and Michael Stone) to celebrate Hollywood's embrace of Swing with a host of movies (otherwise seldom memorable) which recorded for posterity many great moments by the likes of Glenn Miller, Benny Goodman, Tommy Dorsey, and Artie Shaw, as well as some unbelievable dance sequences and simply fabulous vocals...most notably by the nonpareil Andrews Sisters. Look for such classic numbers as "In The Mood", "I Gotta Gal In Kalamazoo", "Chatanooga Choo Choo", "Hold Tight", "Traffic Jam", "One O'Clock Jump", "Sing Sing Sing" and, of course, "Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy"!
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| Event Personnel |
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Shirley Andress, vocalsVicki Brabham, vocalsEvynne Hollens, vocalsMichael Stone, vocalsEhud Asherie, pianoDoug Miller, bassChuck Redd, drumsByron Stripling, trumpetFrank Vignola, guitarJesse Cloninger, reedsDave Bender, trumpetGlenn Griffith, trombone |
| |  | Song Of India (1937) interpolated into Las Vegas Nights Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov (m) |
| |  | Flying Home (1939) Sid Robin (w) Lionel Hampton, Benny Goodman (m) |
| |  | Take The 'A' Train (1939) interpolated into Reveille with Beverly Joya Sherrill (w) Billy Strayhorn (m) |
| | Traffic Jam (1939) interpolated into Dancing Co-Ed Artie Shaw, Teddy McRae (m) |
| |  | Pennsylvania Polka (1942) interpolated into Give Out, Sisters Zeke Manners (w) Lester Lee (m) |