You would think that polka music would be out of place in an Italian household. But not ours. It was one of the dances my parents loved to do and one I would even attempt at the right wedding. It was the music my grandmother and one of her sisters loved to play on the organ. And this kind of polka has Cleveland written all over it. So get ready for some beer drinking and skirt twirling with Volume 70: 7 Decades of the Polka King.

Video Intro

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Frank Yankovic – 70 Years Of Hits
Label: Smash Records – 830 024-1 M-1
Format: Vinyl, LP, Album, Promo, Stereo
Country: US
Released: 1985
Genre: Folk, World, & Country
Style: Polka

We will hear 7 of the 10 songs on this album.

Zivili Brace, Zivili Sestra
Written by Johnny Krizancic
Cleveland, A Polka Town
Written by William Lausche
Blue Skirt Waltz
Written by Václav Bláha (or Rudolf Antonín Dvorský)
Lyrics written by Mitchell Parish
Just Because
written by Joe Shelton, Sydney Robin and Bob Shelton
Beer Barrel Polka
Written by Jaromír Vejvoda
Beer Drinking Song
Written by Lacy J Dalton and David Wood
Corrida #1/Serenata
Written by Carlos Rosas

I do not own the rights to this music. ASCAP, BMI licenses provided by third-party platforms for music that is not under Public Domain.

Photo credits:
cleveland.com

As Jazz appreciation month draws to a close, we need to get a trumpet player in there. It’s even a musician I have not introduced you to yet. His playing is so effortless especially for the speed he plays. So get ready to hear the graceful and uptempo style from the horn of Roy Eldridge in Volume 69: Little Jazz on Horn Part 1.

Video Intro

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Credits and Copyrights:

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Louis Armstrong Roy Eldridge Jazz Masterpieces
Label: The Franklin Mint Record Society – JAZZ 003: FROM 1/2/3/4
Yes, Armstrong and elridge were the featured artists in the first box set of this collection.
Series:The Greatest Jazz Recordings Of All Time – JAZZ 001, Institute Of Jazz Studies Official Archive Collection
Format: 4 x Vinyl, LP,Compilation, Red vinyl Red Box Box Set
Country: US
Released: 1982
Genre: Jazz
Style: Swing

Here Comes Cookie
written by Mack Gordon
Jangled Nerves
Written by Bud Green, Sam H. Stept, Herman Ruby
Swing Is Here
Written by Gene Krupa, Chu Berry and Roy Eldridge
Rockin’ Chair
composed by Hoagy Carmichael
The Gasser
Composed by Roy Eldridge
Minor Jive
Composed by Roy Eldridge
Fiesta in Brass
Composed by Roy Eldridge

I do not own the rights to this music. ASCAP, BMI licenses provided by third-party platforms for music that is not under Public Domain.

Photographs:
Wbssmedia
Britannica
jazzjournal
David Redfern

Moving on with Jazz appreciation month we come to a particular type of jazz from a particular type of city…New Orleans. There were many great and memorable musicians that came out of that town, and we’ve already featured several of them on this show. But when the Franklin Mint puts together an entire box set around the Kings of that kind of music, you need to sit and take notice. So get ready to hear the early genres begin to mix together on Jelly Roll’s keyboard in Volume 68: King Morton.

Video Intro

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Credits and Copyrights:

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Jelly Roll Morton / King Oliver / Sidney Bechet – Kings Of New Orleans Jazz
Label: The Franklin Mint Record Society – FM JAZZ 017
Series: The Greatest Jazz Recordings Of All Time, Institute Of Jazz Studies Official Archive Collection
Format: 4 x Vinyl, LP, Compilation, Red Vinyl and Box, Box Set
Country: Sweden
Released: 1983
Genre: Jazz

We will hear both sides of record one. We’ll listen to 7 f the 12 songs on the record.

King Porter Stomp
Written by Jelly Roll Morton
Mamie’s Blues
Written by Mamie Desdumes
The Chant
Composed by Mel Stitzel, Arranged by Jelly Roll Morton
Original Jelly Roll Blues
Written by Jelly Roll Morton
Red Hot Pepper
Written by Jelly Roll Morton
Freakish
Written by Jelly Roll Morton
High Society
Written in 1901 by Porter Steele

I do not own the rights to this music. ASCAP, BMI licenses provided by third-party platforms for music that is not under Public Domain.

Man, I wish I had kept the notes for the upper division History of Jazz class I took at Kent State University. Because Duke Ellington was on Professor Chaz Baker’s Mount Rushmore of Jazz. In fact, Duke’s music is so important he warranted a FULL box set from this Franklin Mint collection. So get ready to hear the most significant composer of the genre, in Volume 67: Duke, A Jazz Classic Part 1.

Video Intro

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Credits and Copyrights:

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Duke Ellington – Great Jazz Classics
Label: The Franklin Mint Record Society – FM JAZZ 021
Series: The Greatest Jazz Recordings Of All Time, Institute Of Jazz Studies Official Archive Collection
Format: 4 x Vinyl, LP, Compilation, red vinyl and box Box Set
Country: Sweden
Released: 1983
Genre: Jazz

Doin’ The Voom Voom
Old Man Blues
Creole Love Call
Slippery Horn
Hyde Park
Harmony In Harlem
Braggin’ In Brass

I do not own the rights to this music. ASCAP, BMI licenses provided by third-party platforms for music that is not under Public Domain.

Welcome to Jazz appreciation month and what better way to celebrate than with the greatest jazz recordings of all time collection from the Franklin Mint. We will start the month with the versatile saxophone. And we will feature one of the true innovators on the instrument and jazz in general, Coleman Hawkins. So get ready for an ever-evolving sound in Volume 66: Sax Master Hawkins.

Video Intro

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Credits and Copyrights:

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Various – Jazz Masters Of The Sax
Label: The Franklin Mint Record Society – FM JAZZ 013
Series: Institute Of Jazz Studies Official Archive Collection, The Greatest Jazz Recordings Of All Time
Format: 4 x Vinyl, LP, Compilation, Red Vinyl Box Set
Country: Sweden
Released: 1983
Genre: Jazz

We will listen to selections from both sides of disc one. We will hear 7 of the 12 songs on this record. And believe me, I had a tough time choosing those 7. In fact, so tough, I chose to include an extra song on this episode.

Hello, Lola
Swinging In The Groove
Body And Soul
The Man I Love
Picasso
Mood Indigo
Go Li’l Liza

I do not own the rights to this music. ASCAP, BMI licenses provided by third-party platforms for music that is not under Public Domain.

It’s a 78 RPM Sunday. On this show, we’ve had music sung in the language of my birth, English, and the language of my heritage, Italian, and the rhythmic beat of the language of Latin America, Spanish. We turn now to another language I’m going to butcher, German. So get ready for a 1934 performance of the music that just might have given Tolkien an idea in Volume 65: Wagner’s Walkure.

Video Intro

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Credits and Copyrights:

There is no discogs.com page for this collection.

Excerpts from Die Walküre / Philadelphia Orchestra ; Leopold Stokowski A Victor Musical Masterpiece.
Label: Victor matrix CS-83102
Format: 4x shellac 78 RPM Records
Released in 1934
Genre: Classical

We will hear 6 of the 8 sides from this collection.

Excerpts from Die Walkure Part 1
The Ride of the Valkyrie
The Ride of the Valkyrie conclusion
Wotan’s Farewell
Wotan’s farewell concluded
The Magic Fire

I do not own the rights to this music. ASCAP, BMI licenses provided by third-party platforms for music that is not under Public Domain.