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johncomicNot sure why I get such a kick out of this story, but I do:
During the Swing Era of the late 30s and 40s, the big bands dominated the top of the charts. They were pop music. Glenn Miller, Tommy Dorsey, Artie Shaw, Harry James, Benny Goodman, Jimmy Dorsey, Count Basie, Duke Ellington... that sound defined an era.
But, by the 50s, that sound mostly died out, the hits stopped coming, and bands that size became too expensive to maintain. The charts became the purview of pop acts like Pat Boone and Doris Day, Frank Sinatra and Nat King Cole, Rosemary Clooney and The McGuire Sisters. Plus, in mid-decade, Elvis showed up and started breaking records, turning rock and roll into the hottest fad in music. The swing musicians still appeared occasionally in clubs and on TV, but on the charts they were mostly a spent force. Now and then, one of them would manage to interest a label in putting out a record for them, but nothing much came of it.
And then, in 1957, Jimmy Dorsey released So Rare.
God knows why, but in amongst all the usual 50s suspects, that record spent over half a year on the chart, made it to Number Two [Number One in Canada], and ended up being Billboard's Number Five record out of the Top One Hundred of the year. During those few minutes it would play on the radio, it was suddenly 1942 again. Out of nowhere. The Swing Era had a sudden last blaze of glory, and I think that is so swell.
[It was only today that I learned Jimmy Dorsey died in '57, but he lived long enough to see So Rare become a big hit and to receive a gold record for it. Talk about going out on a high note.]
During the Swing Era of the late 30s and 40s, the big bands dominated the top of the charts. They were pop music. Glenn Miller, Tommy Dorsey, Artie Shaw, Harry James, Benny Goodman, Jimmy Dorsey, Count Basie, Duke Ellington... that sound defined an era.
But, by the 50s, that sound mostly died out, the hits stopped coming, and bands that size became too expensive to maintain. The charts became the purview of pop acts like Pat Boone and Doris Day, Frank Sinatra and Nat King Cole, Rosemary Clooney and The McGuire Sisters. Plus, in mid-decade, Elvis showed up and started breaking records, turning rock and roll into the hottest fad in music. The swing musicians still appeared occasionally in clubs and on TV, but on the charts they were mostly a spent force. Now and then, one of them would manage to interest a label in putting out a record for them, but nothing much came of it.
And then, in 1957, Jimmy Dorsey released So Rare.
God knows why, but in amongst all the usual 50s suspects, that record spent over half a year on the chart, made it to Number Two [Number One in Canada], and ended up being Billboard's Number Five record out of the Top One Hundred of the year. During those few minutes it would play on the radio, it was suddenly 1942 again. Out of nowhere. The Swing Era had a sudden last blaze of glory, and I think that is so swell.
[It was only today that I learned Jimmy Dorsey died in '57, but he lived long enough to see So Rare become a big hit and to receive a gold record for it. Talk about going out on a high note.]
