Jukebox Selections

This month's selections are all dance bands from the twenties and thirties. Dance bands made a lot of really great records during this period, but unfortunately most of them have been forgotten by the general public. Even the music historians and scholars pay less attention to dance bands than to jazz and blues. But these records were quite popular in their day, and for good reason: they're really fun to listen to.

There used to be two types of dance music: hot and sweet. Hot dance bands played a type of jazz, or at least played music that was related to jazz. Sweet dance bands played music that was usually unsyncopated, and lacked improvisation. Sweet dance music included waltzes, while hot dance music never did. Sweet dance bands tended to be "square" - the best-known early sweet dance band leader was Guy Lombardo. Some bands played both hot and sweet dance music. This month's jukebox selections that range from semi-sweet to hot.

Many dance bands played regularly in clubs and hotels in those days. Most fancy hotels had house bands, and these bands would sometimes make records. Other dance bands did most of their performing in recording studios - the major record companies all had house bands, and some had several. Sometimes the same band leader would different groups of studio musicians under the same name, and other times a bandleader would direct the same group of studio musicians under different pseudonyms.

Paul Specht and His Orchestra

Johnny Johnson and His Orchestra

Waring's Pennsylvanians

Jan Garber and His Orchestra

Phil Ohman and Victor Arden with Their Orchestra

The High Hatters

Harry Reser

Ben Selvin

Nat Shilkret and the Victor Orchestra

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