The present volume of "When Swing Was King" represents (at least, for a long while) the last one I will have to make from scratch. We now have 23 different volumes which means, except for our Christmas edition, we will not repeat a "When Swing Was King" volume for two whole years! That's a really big deal for us. Why?
Because though I undoubtedly will still tweak programs now and then -- change a few photos, change a few stories, maybe even swap a song -- the long hours required to decide on the 12-13 songs for each new volume, fix each song's volume level, find and edit the 200 plus photos each volume requires, combine everything into a Power Point presentation, and do the necessary research to make the commentary interesting, entertaining and humorous, are pretty much behind us now.
(What will I do with my time now?) But that's not all. We finally solved the mysteries that had kept us from creating an efficient spreadsheet program to keep this whole deal organized. Therefore, we now have all 23 "When Swing Was King" presentations organized according to volume number, song title, orchestra and vocalist and, when applicable, even the photo theme. That's going to make that "tweaking" process a whole lot easier and it will help us in our promotion packages as well.
So just what ended up in that final volume? Like usual, there were a few favorites that have shown up in previous volumes as well as some delightful new entries. Here's the song list.
1) Glenn Miller Orchestra
"Moonlight Serenade"
2) Chick Webb Orchestra
"Stompin' at the Savoy"
3) Benny Goodman Orchestra (vocals by Helen Ward)
"You Turned the Tables On Me"
4) Xavier Cugat Orchestra
"Perfidia"
5) Eddie Howard Orchestra"You Must Have Been a Beautiful Baby"
(Photo theme: Hollywood celebrity baby pictures)
6) Artie Shaw Orchestra
"Rose Room"
7) Vaughn Monroe Orchestra
"Red Roses for a Blue Lady"
8) Lawrence Welk Orchestra
(featuring Henry Cuesta)
"La Mer"
(Photo theme: Dramatic seascapes)
9) The Ink Spots & Ella Fitzgerald"I'm Beginning to See the Light"
10) Art Lund
"Mam'selle"
11) Harry James Orchestra
"Strictly Instrumental"
12) Perry Como
"Round and Round"
(Photo theme: The year 1957)
