[ Ray Bauduc Orch ]
Ray Bauduc is perhaps best known as the drummer on the hit "Big Noise From Winnetka" recorded with the Bob Crosby band. He also gained fame as a band leader on the West Coast. In 1945, he formed a group based in Los Angeles that was quickly noted for playing popular arrangements by Joe Reisman and Billy May, two of California's best loved musicians. His band remained popular through the post war era but started to decline in the fall of 1947.

Ray Bauduc was born on June 18, 1906 in New Orleans. A noted sideman as a youngster, he played with Ben Pollack, Bob Crosby and the Dorsey Brothers before forming his own band. When Bauduc's band split up he found employment and success again as a sidemen playing with Jimmy Dorsey and Jack Teagarden (from 1952-1956). Later he would form a jazz band with Nappy Lamare that would appear in the movie "The Fabulous Dorseys."

Bauduc moved to Bellaire Texas (outside of Houston) in 1966 and would appear occasionally at reunions. In 1987, Charlie Wells put together a Bob Cats Reunion for the Mid-America series in St. Louis. Bassist Bob Haggert recalled, "Almost all the Bob Cats where at this reunion, it was just like the old days." Haggert who co-wrote "Big Noise From Winnetka" and "South Rampart Street Parade" was a long time friend and collaborator of Bauduc. Ray Bauduc was 81 years old when he died on January 8, 1988.
The above notes kindly contributed by Mr. Dan DelFiorentino.

[ Charlie Baum Orch ]
Baum was a highly skilled pianist who fronted a band in 1937. His band's success was limited, but as George Simon described, Baum's talent was not. "Baum's playing produces the kind of thrill that never wears off, because he's pulling such interesting stuff so quickly that you're still trying to find out what happened by the time the next bit of musical astonishment greets you."

Sadly, an extensive search of musical releases found no Charlie Baum recordings. Perhaps future reissues will allow wider audiences to hear his astonishing sound!
Notes by Mr. Dan Del Fiorentino

[ Phil Baxter Orch. ]
b. Navarro County, TX, USA. Sept. 5, 1896 d.
Phil led a band from the mid-1920's into the mid-'30's when he had to scale back his activities due to a severe arthritic condition. His earliest recording date was in St. Louis, MO, in October of 1925 (6 piece band). He recorded again in Dallas, TX on October 1929. The best known of that session is the song "I Ain't Got No Gal Now". An unknown clarinetist, and Ray Nooner on Trumpet have star solos on the record.

In June 1927, Phil with his Phil Baxter and His Texas Tommies orchestra appeared at the newly opened 'El Torreon' Ballroom in Kansas City. 13 autos appear in this photo (credited to Dr. James P. Hopkins), with only 12 men. (One must assume that Joe Pria had a Plymouth for his Banjo, and a Buick for his Guitar.) From 1927 until 1933, "Phil Baxter and His El Torreon Orchestra" were the resident house band. Baxter's composition "El Torreon" opened and closed festivities each evening. Every night at 11PM, radio station KMBC aired a live remote broadcast of the band from the El Torreon.

[ Les Baxter Orch ]
b. March 14, 1922, Mexia Texas; d. January 15, 1996, Newport Beach, CA
"Sometimes I can not get over the fact that my records still make money," joked Les Baxter from his Newport Beach, California home in 1993, "When the band got together for those recordings we hoped it would bring some immediate response and pleasure. We had no idea those songs would be requested in high school gym dances some 50 years later!"

The ever humorous Baxter lead a series of orchestras in the 1950's and '60's, recording a host of million selling instrumentals including, "I Love Paris," "Blue Tango," and "April in Portugal." Baxter conducted other bands that performed with such singers as Nat King Cole, Bob Eberly and Mel Torme.

{Trivia: Les Baxter was not only a member of Torme's back up group, the Mel-Tones, he also was part of the vocal quartet lead by Frank DeVol that recorded the Capital hit, "Love Letters in the Sand."}

In later years he helped popularize a Latin-American style which featured jungle drums. Baxter composed more than 250 scores for radio, TV and movies, his songs include, "Sunshine at Kowloon," "Shooting Star," and "La Sacre du Sauvage."

One of Les Baxter's first jobs on radio was as musical arranger for Bob Hope. When asked about his first job Baxter replied, "Luckily for me, no one can take those memories away. Making music is all I ever wanted to do and some bum wanted to pay me on top of it!"
Above notes by Mr. Dan DelFiorentino

[ Bix Beidebecke Orch. (Bix and His Gang) ]
né: Leon Bix (not Bismark) Beidebecke; Cornet
b. March 10, 1903 Davenport, Iowa, USA. d. August 6, 1931, New York, NY, USA.
Overview
Here's an early photo of Bix, who drank hard; lived hard and died, in 1931, far too young at age 28. Bix's family, back to his grandfathers, were musical, and contrary to many reports, Bix could sight read somewhat, but never did read well. As a child, he studied music and according to his friend, Haogy Carmichael, he could play the Second Hungarian Rhapsody when he was just three years old. He never did study the cornet (played left-handed for 1st 8 yrs), and according to one writer "Handing him the instrument, was like giving a paintbrush to Picasso". (Arnold Shaw)

In addition to his excellent jazz phrasings, he is recalled today for a wonderfully clear 'bell-like' tone that he could evoke from the cornet. In 1921, while majoring in 'alcohol' at Lake Forest Academy, he formed the Cy-Bix Orchestra in 1921 with Walter 'Cy' Welge (drummer). He was expelled from school in 1922. Over his short career, he played with some very popular bands of the day, including Hoagy Charmichael's, Frankie Trumbauer's, The Wolverines, Jean Goldkette's and the Paul Whiteman Orchestra. He was briefly the leader of record for a group called 'Bix Beiderbecke and his Gang'. The Whiteman and Goldkette bands used intricate arrangements that made real demands on a sightreader. Bix's 'ear' saved him. His friend Hoagy has written that Bix's ear was so perfect that "he could identify the pitch of a belch."

In 1923, he Joined the Wolverines.
In 1924 Bix joined and left Jean Goldkette's band.
Studied (external student) at State University of Iowa for 18 days then joined Frankie Trumbauer and played with Jean Goldkette's band again until it dispersed in 1928.
During the period of February 1927 to May 1927, Bix and Frankie Trumbauer made a series of recordings for Okeh Records. Most all critics agree that Bix was at he peak. One of the sides he cut was "Singin' The Blues". "With this record, a legitimate Jazz Ballad style was announced - a method whereby attractive songs could be played sweetly without losing authentic jazz feeling and without sacrificing virility" (--Richard Hadlock 'Jazz Masters of the 1920's'. Macmillan, 1965) "Clarinet Marmalade" was another song cut then. The color; the use of ninths, elevenths, and thirteenths in the melodic line, and the employment of scales as substitutes for arpeggios, was "a notion that was about three decades ahead of 1927." (ibid)

Went into hospital in 1928.
In January of 1929, while playing with Paul Whiteman Orchestra he was forced to leave the band suffering with delerium tremens. He was admitted to a Cleveland hospital where he had to have a nurse around the clock.

February 3, 1929, left the hospital and rejoined the band in New York. There, he was badly beaten up "by unknown assailants for no reason that can now be given". He returned home to Davenport, Iowa, to recuperate.

On March 4, 1929 he rejoined the band. But on September 13, 1929 while the band was performing in a New York studio recording session Bix suffered a major relapse. He returned to Davenport, Iowa, while Paul Whiteman kept him on full pay. Dick Suthalter, in his book "Bix", reports that Bix was playing with the Jimmy Hicks Orchestra in Davenport on Jan. 30, 1930. In February 1930, Bix went to Chicago and sat in with the Wingy Manone band and also with the Ted Weems band.

On April 1930 Bix left for New York City, but did not feel he was ready to rejoin Whilteman's orchestra. Instead, he began playing some minor one-night shows before re-joining Whiteman. On October 29, 1930 he blacked out in the middle of his solo.

He returned again to Davenport for recuperation, and then on to New York where he was engaged by the Casa Loma Orchestra. Unfortunately, Bix's mental state was such that he could not yet cope with the band's exacting routines. He stayed with the Casa Loma orchestra for just four days.

In 1929, Wall Street crashed. The mood of the country (world) turned somber. Depressed, and drinking heavily, Bix drifted around New York City rooming with various friends and in various apartments. While staying in the Queens (NYC) apartment of bass player George Kraslow, he took to playing cornet solos in the middle of the night.

On August 6, 1931, it all ended for Bix. He collapsed, and was found to be suffering from what doctors called 'lobar pneumonia'. This, together, with edema of the brain, caused Bix's demise. He was just 28 years old. His career as a jazz cornetist had spanned just ten years,

POSTSCRIPT:
It is fitting to present here, some of the views of Bix's contemporaries.
Regarding Bix's recordings of "I'm Coming Virginia" and "Singin' the Blues", "...was memorized by all the trumpet players of the day and recorded note for note by a number of bands, both black and white."
"Louis Armstrong called the record of "Singing the Blues" a collector's item."
"Fletcher Henderson took his "Singin' the Blues" note for note from the Bix and Tram record, with the saxophone section playing the Trumbauer chorus and Rex Stewart playing the Bix chorus."
(All above quotes from J. L. Collier, 'The Making of Jazz')
Due to his background, Bix had an enduring interest in the classics and such innovators as Stravinsky, Holst, Schonberg, and Eastwood Lane. Paul Whiteman remembered a concert where Bix was enthralled by Wagner. Jimmy McPartland recalled a 1925 Stravinsky concert that Bix took him to hear.
"Bix was the first in Jazz (whom) I heard use the whole-tone or augmented scale. (--Hentoff "Hear Me Talkin' To Ya") (This partiality to the whole-tone harmonies of Ravel and Debussy is heard in Bix's piano pieces; "In a Mist" - his only piano solo; "Flashes"; "Candlelights" and "In The Dark".)

Bix's parents never approved of their son's journey into Jazz. Everytime, Bix recorded as star soloist with America's leading bands, he always sent home a copy of the recording. He wanted his parents to be proud of him. James Lincoln Collier (quoted above) has written:
"When he came home, sick, near the end of his life, he found in a hall closet all of his records that he had proudly sent home -- still wrapped in their mailing envelopes. To the Beidebecke's, their son was a dirty secret and the path he had chosen, abhorrent."

[ "Bubbles" Becker Orch. ]
né: Bruce Becker
In private correspondence, bassist Jud Blount, who was on the road for 12 years during the Big Bands era, has recalled that:
      "I played with 'Bubbles' in 1952 for about six months. I worked for him later after he
      started a booking office in Norfolk, VA. He was booking two big bands, ten pieces and a singer,
      both from the mid-west. These bands were Eddie Allen and Larry Elliott, who I worked with

      for several months in 1957-1958 He would tour the southeast with his dance band for about
      six weeks. He would then go to New York and hire three or four very good acts and would tour
      the same spots he had just played, but now with the floor show. Even comedian Don Rickles did
      a tour with the band."

      "We worked out of the Earle Hotel in Richmond, VA and traveled mostly in the southeast.
      While I was with him, we went as far south as Jacksonville, FL, as far west as Birmingham
      and Montgomery, AL; and north to Gettysburg, PA."

      "Later, 'Bubbles' relocated from Richmond to Norfolk, VA. There was so much military work
      and Bubbles seem to catch most of it. He was booking a band named Larry Elliott. Larry had a
      tractor roll over on him when he was young, back in Iowa. His legs were destroyed. He
      was a little guy and walked with aid of two forearm crutches. His feet were fastened
      together with a metal strap. He played a small organ that we had to carry in and out of every
      job we played. The fact it had no foot pedals was a help as that thing got pretty heavy going
      up and down stairs. I was with this band for about a year, until I got tired of carrying the
      organ and one-niters. Actually, I worked in three or four different small groups for Bubbles."

      "'Bubbles' earned his nickname with a little trick he had developed. While the band played
      "I'm Forever Blowing Bubbles", 'Bubbles' walked around the dance floor with a cigarette, on
      which he would take big drags. Then, with the saliva in his mouth, he would blow a bubble filled
      with smoke. When the bubble would pop, it left a little cloud of light blue smoke hanging in air."

      'Bubbles' was married to his singer, Tony Young, who was a true professionsl. 'Bubbles'
      has passed away now, and we don't know what happened to Tony."

Here's a photograph of "Bubbles" Becker and his vocalist (and wife) Tony Young, taken at a U. S. Airforce camp show during World War II. Becker is on the Right, and on the left side is Sergeant James Brandt (who has graciously shared this photo. The gentleman hiding behind Tony's skirt is unidentified).

In private correspondence, a visitor to this website, Mr.Don Bell, has recalled:

      "The photo of Bubbles Becker was not taken at an Army base during WWII. It was taken at an
      Air Force Base, probably in the early 1950's, possibly during the Korean War. Those stripes
      are not Army stripes but Air Force stripes and were not issued until about 1950. Mr. Becker
      and his band appeared at the NCO Club at Keesler AFB during the summer of 1952 where I talked
      to him about appearances he had made in the early 1940's at hotels in Columbus, Ohio and dance
      halls at Buckeye Lake, Ohio."

Here's another photo of a younger "Bubbles" Becker, as he appeared on Remick Music Corporation's sheetmusic of the Johnny Mercer/Bernie Hanighen tune "Bob White (Whatcha Gonna Swing Tonight)". A reader, Mr. Doug Booth, has noted that the 'Downbeat Magazine' issue of Sept. 15, 1943, stated "'Bubbles' Becker held over indefinitely at the Van Cleve ( Hotel ) in Dayton, Ohio". NOTE:, Please see the entry for Bud Barclay, -below.
This entry on "Bubbles" Becker was kindly contributed by Mr. D. Booth, - with reminiscences by Mr. Judson Blount.

[ "Bud" Barclay Orch. ]
Here's a photo of Sonny Stockton, vocalist with the "Bubbles" Becker Orch. No one seems to have heard of 'Bubbles Becker and his Orch.', but my wife and I danced to the band when they played a one-niter in Huntsville, Alabama in 1954. I have subsequently located him in some old issues of Downbeat magazine, playing, in May 1942, at the Continental Gardens in Akron, Ohio, and in July 1939, playing at the New Kenmore Hotel in Albany, New York, -- but playing as 'Bud Barclay and His Orchestra' (using same music stands undoubtedly).
This entry on Bud Barclay was kindly contributed by Mr.D. Booth.

[ Leon Belasco Orch. ]
Born: 1902, Russia Died: June 1, 1988, USA.
Theme song: "When Romance Calls"
Leon is only remembered today because he became a "star" in Hollywood doing 'Butler' roles. Yet, before his career in filmdom, Leon had a big band that mostly played the hotels in and around New York City. He introduced the Andrews Sisters with his band.

Leon Belasco was born Leonid Simeonovich Berladsky in Odessa, Russia in 1902. When his family moved to California, he began finding odd jobs around Hollywood. He started acting in the 1926 silent film, "The Best People." Acting jobs were few and far between, so Belasco played violin to make enough money to eat between movies. Once he formed his own band he had plenty of engagements all over the West and later he toured the East Coast. By 1936 the band was working with the Andrew Sisters and playing live radio remotes.

Acting was Belasco's first love. While on a season break from a hotel engagement, he went back to Hollywood for a bit movie part. He never lead a band again. He became a well loved and respected character actor specializing in a range of foreign accents. He appeared in "Topper Takes A Trip" in 1939 and the classic Crosby/Astaire film, "Holiday Inn' in 1942. 1942 was a great year for Belasco as he also appeared in the film classic "Casablanca" with Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid Bergman. He retired from acting in 1966 after making the film, "The Russians Are Coming, The Russians Are Coming."