[ Marty Paich Orch. ]
b. Jan. 23, 1925, Oakland, CA, USA.
Paich is best known for his studio work in Hollywood all during the 1950's and 1960's. In his home town of Oakland, he and Pete Rugulo had worked early on as arrangers for the Gary Nottingham orchestra.

During WW2, Paich served in the U.S. Air Corps, where he led a morale boosting orchestra. After his discharge, he returned to California where he used his G.I. Bill to study at UCLA under Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco. In 1951, Paich got his Masters Degree at the Los Angeles Conservatory of Music. He then became quite active in the music business, doing such work as arranging (and playing) the score for the Disney Studio's full length cartoon movie 'The Lady and The Tramp'; accompanist for vocalist Peggy Lee; playing piano for the 'Shorty Rogers' Giants'; touring with Dorothy Dandridge; and providing arrangements for many local bands.

During the 1950's, Paich was active in West Coast Jazz while still working intensively in the studios. He not only played on, but arranged and produced a great many West Coast jazz recordings, including albums by Ray Brown, Ella Fitzgerald, Terry Gibbs, Stan Kenton, Shelley Manne, Anita O'Day, Dave Pell, Art Pepper, Buddy Rich, Shorty Rogers, and Mel Torme.

In the 1960s, Paich became 'commercial', focusing more on arranging for 'pop' musicians, that included Andy Williams and Al Hirt. He composed and/or scored a number of television shows including 'Hong Kong'.

From the late 1960s into the mid-1970s, Paich was the studio orchestra leader for a number of television variety shows including The Glen Campbell Good-time Hour, The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour (where he replaced Nelson Riddle), and The Sonny and Cher Show.

Among his recordings are:
"I Get a Boot Out of You: The Modern Touch of Marty Paich", Warner Bros. WB-1349
"Marty Paich and His Jazz Piano Quartet", Take Me Along, RCA Victor LPM 2164
"Marty Paich Piano Quartet", RCA Victor LSP-2259
"The Marty Paich Trio", Mode LP 105
"The Rock-Jazz Incident", Reprise 6206

   [ Eddie Peabody Orch. ]
b. 1901, d. Nov. 7, 1970
Theme: "Sleepy Time Gal"
Instruments: banjo, violin, guitar, bandleader
Tagline: "The Banjo King"
Here's a 1949 photo of Eddie Peabody taken when he was appearing in the Hotel Last Frontiere in Las Vegas, NV. During World War 1, Eddie served as an enlisted man in the U.S. Navy. His career started by playing the banjo and singing to entertain his shipmates. After discharge, Eddie played the vaudeville circuit with violin, guitar and banjo, from the early 1920s to the early '30s. At times, he formed and led his own combos and full band. During 1934-'35, he had his own radio show. From the late 1930s to early '40s, he was also featured on the popular radio show, 'National Barn Dance'. During Word War II, Eddie re-entered the U. S. Navy as an officer and was assigned to the Great Lakes Naval Training Station, in charge of handling entertainment. After the war he continued his musical career appearing occasionally on TV during the 1950s and '60s. He collapsed and died in 1970 during a nightclub performance. Representative recordings include, "Hello Sandy"; "Whoopee"; and "Clap Hands Here Comes Charlie".
This entry on Eddie Peabody was kindly submitted by Mr. Ken Tidwell.

   [ Leo Peeper Orch. ]
b. 1909, Albion, NB, USA. d. May 1989, Ft Worth, TX, USA (age 80).
né: Leo Pieper
Bassist Jud Blount has sent this photo of the Leo Peeper Orchestra, as they appeared in the Indiana Roof Ballroom, Indianapolis, in 1953. The singer is Nikki Stevens. (And, that's Mr Blount back row left, holding on to the upright bass. Some other bandmembers are mentioned below.)

In private correspondence, Mr. Blount has recalled that Leo played piano with his brother's band for awhile (see below) and started out on his own in 1939. "I was on the band for almost a year and I never heard Leo sing. I heard some broadcast of the band two years after I left and he was singing a lot and doing a very decent job, too." Jud continued:

     "Leo changed the spelling of his last name to Peeper because
    Pieper was mispronounced so often. He played the accordion and
    was a tall man, probably six feet, five or six inches. His Hero
    was Lawrence Welk, and Leo was a pretty straight guy. The band
    traveled on a sit-up bus that was painted a bilious shade of yellow.

     "Leo's older brother, Gene, had been a pretty successful band leader
    during the WW2 years of the 1940s, and Leo was trying to follow his
    example. He was booked by GAC (General Artists Corp.) and managed
    to get out of the Territory Band stigma, to some extent, and was
    able to get into some pretty good jobs. In January 1953, the band
    closed a couple of weeks at Roseland Ballroom, in New York City,
    (where I joined the band) we played a one-niter at the Indiana Roof
    Ballroom, in Indianapolis, and moved into a few weeks at the
    Claridge Hotel, in Memphis which we played twice that year. We
    worked such places as the Schroeder Hotel (several times) in Milwaukee;
    Iroquois Gardens in Louisville (where we played the Miss Kentucky
    contest) and the Cavalier Hotel in Virginia Beach, to name a few.
    We also worked Palisades Amusement Park, New Jersey, twice in
    the year I was with the band. These were all location gigs of two or
    more weeks. The band still did a lot of work on the MINK circuit

     (Minn/Iowa/Neb/Kan) although he was not being booked by National
    Orchestra Service, who ruled the territory. Nikki Stevens was his
    singer during my tenure on the band. She was married to the drummer
    who was drafted into the Army and she had no place to go until her
    husband completed his two years of service. In 1963, Peeper was playing
    Over 30 dances at a ballroom in Dallas, Texas. The last I heard about
    Leo he was doing the weather on a Denver TV station."

Also in private correspondence, another member of the band, Mr. Robert Findlay, has recalled:

     "I worked with the Pieper (eventually Peeper) band beginning in 1950,
    straight out of high school. I played 1st tenor for about a year, and
    then Ed Millard, the lead alto man quit. Leo asked me to play lead alto,
    and, about the same time, I began to sing ballads with the band, all
    arrangements at that time being done by Cliff Parman in Chicago.
    We worked throughout most of the early 1950s at the Aragon and Trianon
    in Chicago plus Melody Mill; the Shroeder in Milwaukee, Claridge in
    Memphis, Cavalier at Virginia Beach, Rice in Houston, Roseland in New
    York, many Officers' Clubs in Omaha, Wichita Falls, etc. We often did
    a week or two of one-nighters between location jobs."

     "The band broke up for awhile in 1952, and I went for a time with Ralph
    Marterie, playing second alto. Then I worked for a short time with Teddy
    Phillips on tenor (imagine a sax section of one tenor and two baritones!).
    I rejoined Leo Peeper in late 1952, again playing 1st tenor and singing
    ballads. The picture that the bassist Blount has of the band in 1953 looks
     like it was taken right after I left to go to New York to try to make it
    as a singer (I didn't!). I recognize Leo out front; Nikki Stevens as
    female vocalist; the lead alto man is Joe Cupita (sp?), who was with the
    band when I returned in 1952; and I think Norman Butler on 2nd alto, who
    returned to the band shortly after I left. It looks like Lloyd Scott on
    trombone, but the other people........ are unfamiliar to me."

     "When I was with the band, each of the saxophone players and brass players
    had small accordions next to their music stands. As I recall, there was one
    number in which everyone stood up with his accordion and played along with
    Leo. It was strictly cornball--and most of us hated it. Obviously by the
    time of the Blount photo, Leo had discarded the miniature accordions.
    Smart move! "

Leo's older brother, Gene, had a band that was homebased in Omaha, Nebraska. Gene used his actual name in the "Gene Pieper Orchestra", a band that was moderately successful touring the midwest area all through the 1930s, and 1940s too.
The BigBands Database Plus thanks bandmembers Mr. Judson Blount and Mr. Robert Findlay for sharing their memories of the Leo Peeper Orch.

   [ Peter Palmer Orchestra ]
b. Kenosha, Wisconsin, USA
né: Igor Shouisky
aka: Johnny Palmer
In private correspondence, Mr. Louis Rugani, a personal friend of Peter Palmer, has recalled:

"They were Mercury Records artists in the mid-1960s and did three albums: "A Swingin' Love Affair", "Moonlight on the Campus" and "A Swingin' Dance Date", with a small singing group (which included Ann Trendler of the Jack Halloran choral group whom Peter would later marry). The orchestra was featured at the Sherman House hotel in Chicago and accompanied 'Tiny Tim' (at his request) at the Sahara Tahoe hotel in Nevada. Peter Palmer was a tenor saxophonist and composer, born Igor Shouisky in Kenosha, Wisconsin, and he was a graduate of Northwestern University where he led campus bands. His orchestra was in demand at a number of 1960s school and college dances and proms, including the Illinois Institute of Technology. The sound was much like the better-known Ray Conniff Orchestra and Singers, which Conniff soon complained personally to Palmer about. Palmer also composed music for his orchestra. Late in his career he changed his professional name to Johnny Palmer to avoid confusion with the Broadway singer/actor Peter Palmer of "Li'l Abner" fame. Finally retiring from music, he founded a speakers bureau to book famous speakers (Rod Serling was a client) for lectures and meetings."

   [ Polla's Clover Gardens Orchestra ]
Currently No Information Available Please see the Polla entry on our Composer's Database.

  "It'll Get You", (520 kb): Polla's Clover Gardens Dance Orchestra. Rec'd: Nov. 1924

  "Too Tired", (528 kb): Polla's Clover Gardens Dance Orchestra. Rec'd: Nov. 1924