Ralph Flanagan - Big Band Sounds of Ralph Flanagan

Big Band Sounds of Ralph Flanagan

By Ralph Flanagan

Very ++ Good Condition. (Includes Cd,original artwork inserts and jewel case, all in VERY good Condition)

Born Ralph Elias Flenniken on April 7, 1914 in Lorain, Ohio, but assuming the stage name Ralph Flanagan, he was just 23 years old when he joined Sammy Kaye's orchestra as a pianist at the height of the Big Band Era and, to 1941, did many of Kaye's arrangements. He would later go on to do the same for the Hal McIntyre, Tony Pastor, Blue Barron, Boyd Raeburn, Charlie Barnet and Alvino Rey orchestras, all around a stint in the Merchant Marine from 1942 to 1946. Upon leaving that service he joined Perry Como's Chesterfield Supper Club on NBC radio.

That same year he and Herb Hendler, then a Rainbow Records producer, decided to collaborate on an album to commemorate the late, great Glenn Miller, who had died in a plane crash somewhere over the English Channel on December 15, 1944. Using a favourite of Miller at his concerts whereby he would play a series of songs based on the concept of "something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue," and with a number of ex-Miller band members among the aggregation to play under Flanagan's direction, they cut four discs: Make Believe/Always (Rainbow 30401) - both dating back to the 1920s as something old; Flanagan compositions Low Gear/Come On In (Rainbow 30402) as something new; I'm Getting Sentimental Over You - a Tommy Dorsey hit/Goodbye - a Benny Goodman Hit (Rainbow 30403) as something borrowed; and St. Louis Blues/Basin Street Blue (Rainbow 30404) as something blue. Released with a cover title of A Tribute To Glenn Miller the 78-rpm discs would later appear as a London 33 1/3 album and perhaps even re-issued on 45 rpm discs. You can get them on the Jasmine CD A Tribute To Glenn Miller.

Track Listings

Disc: 1

1. Rag Mop
2. On The Road To Mandalay
3. I Should Care
4. Hot Toddy
5. Just One More Chance
6. Slow Poke
7. (When We're Alone) Penthouse Serenade
8. Nevertheless
9. I'll Be With You In Apple Blossom Time
10. Dear Hearts And Gentle People
11. La Vie En Rose
12. Dont Cry Joe (Let Her Go)
13. Some Enchanted Evening
14. Harbor Lights
15. Joshua
16. An American In Paris: The Blues
17. Singin' In The Rain
18. Slow Drive
19. You're Breaking My Heart
20. Singing Winds