[Dixielandjazz] Make Believe Ballroom & other radio shows

[Stephen G Barbone]

Martin Block also held live jam session s on the program. For an  
interesting discussion of Martin Block and his jam sessions on Make  
Believe Ball Room go to:

http://dippermouth.blogspot.com/2008/12/70-years-of-martin-block-jam-session.html

You won't be disappointed because as you scroll down,  you can hear  
some music that will knock your both of your socks off.

"The occasion was an episode of Martin Block’s WNEW radio broadcast,  
which usually featured an assortment of stars from the world of swing.  
Block threw a number of incredible jams in his studio, but none quite  
like this. In reverse order of importance: Bob Spergel on guitar, Pete  
Peterson on bass, George Wettling on drums (excellent choice), Bud  
Freeman on tenor saxophone (one of the tops), Jack Teagarden on  
trombone (oh man, it keeps getting better), Fats Waller on piano (are  
you sweating yet?) and of course, Louis Armstrong on trumpet (smelling  
salts, please!)." (Quoted from the site)

Cheers,
Steve Barbone


On Feb 5, 2009, at 2:11 PM, Steven Holzer wrote:

> CD's of Make Believe Ballroom broadcasts seem like something of a  
> fudge. As I understand it, Martin Block's show was one of the first  
> disc jockey shows, hence all the music played was already available  
> on someone's commercial records. Only the commentary, however much  
> of that there was, would be original.
>
> There probably isn't much of this material around. It would have  
> done the owners of the music no particular good to transcribe his  
> show and it was very unlikely without prior arrangement with Block  
> that any single owner would own enough of a broadcast to make it  
> feasible . Any broadcasts that have survived were  probably dubbed  
> on home recorders, or, like the Eddie Condon Town Hall broadcasts,  
> transcribed for rebroadcast on the Armed Forces Radio Network, where  
> ownership rights were essentially waived or ignored. Whatever there  
> is ought to surface in Europe first, as this material may be viewed  
> as out of copyright there, but is still protected here.
>
> Steve Holzer
>