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The Best of the Big Band Era is broadcast worldwide on WYYR.com YesterYear Radio
Click Some WYYR Guests: Doris Day Rosemary Clooney Pat Boone Les Brown Kitty Kallen Tex Beneke Frances Langford Martha Tilton Connie Haines |
.jpg "Chris Valenti")
.jpg "David Miller")
The Great Van Alexander 8/22/10 Arranger of Ella Fitzgerald's A Tisket A Tasket of 1938 and much much more! One of our great American musical icons.
Enjoy this historical 2 hour tribute to one of America's finest! Van Alexander landed a job selling arrangements to Chick Webb in the middle of the 1930's. One of those arrangements became the world famous, "A-Tisket, A-Tasket." It became a hit for Webb and Ella Fitzgerald, and subsequently became one of Ella's signature tunes! Just click the play button and enjoy 2 hours of the best! And here is his book... From Harlem to Hollywood You can't get any better than this! Short Biography for Van Alexander born 5/2/15
Van Alexander landed a job
selling arrangements to Chick
Webb in the middle of the
1930's. One of those became the world famous, "A-Tisket,
A-Tasket." It became a hit for Webb
and Ella
Fitzgerald, and subsequently became
one of Ella's signature tunes!
In the late 1930s he formed
his own band and played theaters into the 1940s. Later in the 1940s, he was hired by
Bob
Crosby to work
in Hollywood, and worked extensively as
a composer, arranger, and conductor for film
scores. He wrote a textbook on
film arrangement in 1950 called First Arrangement, and Johnny
Mandel studied under
him.
Van Alexander's scores
include film
noir titles such as
Baby Face Nelson, The Big Operator, and The Private Lives of Adam and
Eve; he also provided music for
television shows such as Hazel, The Farmer's Daughter, Bewitched, I Dream of Jeannie, Dennis the Menace, and The Wacky World of Johnathan
Winters. He arranged and conducted for
variety
shows starring Mickey
Rooney,
Gordon MacRae
and Dean
Martin. Additionally, he was
involved in recording sessions with Kay
Starr,
Dakota
Staton,
Paul
Whiteman,
Benny
Goodman,
Dinah
Shore,
Doris
Day, and
Peggy
Lee.
If you want to hear ALL of the details of this magnificent
career that has given so much to our great American musical culture, you need to listen to the
interview.
Just click the play button
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