US #3096-99
1996 Big Band Leaders
- Features four legendary Big Bank Leaders
- 7th pane in the Legends of Music series
- Stamps were issued on same day as Songwriters stamps in same series
Stamp Category: Commemorative
Set: American Music series
Value: 32¢, First-Class mail rate
First Day of Issue: September 11, 1996
First Day City: New York, New York
Quantity Issued: 23,025,000
Printed by: Ashton-Potter (USA) Ltd.
Printing Method: Lithographed
Format: Panes of 20 (4 across, 5 down) from plates of 120 (12 across, 10 down)
Perforations: 11.1 x 11
Why the stamp was issued: The five stamps in the Big Band Leaders set honor talented individuals who contributed to the sound of Big Band music. They include Count Basie, Tommy and Jimmy Dorsey, Glenn Miller, and Benny Goodman.
About the stamp design: The portraits of the four big band leaders were made by Bill Nelson, who works in colored pencils on recycled charcoal paper. He had previously designed album covers for big band recordings compiled by Time-Life Records.
First Day City: The set of five Big Band Leaders stamps was dedicated at Shubert Alley in New York City. The Songwriters stamps from the same series were issued at the same time. It kicked off the US Postal Service’s American Music Stamp Festival 1996. Family members of the men featured on the stamps were present at the ceremony.
Unusual fact about the Big Band Leaders stamps: Benny Goodman was not originally slated to be one of the big band leaders honored on these stamps. The USPS originally planned to issue the stamps in 1995, and since Goodman died in 1986, he wouldn’t have been eligible to be on the stamps. At the time the Postal Service had a strict rule that someone had to have been dead for 10 years before they could be pictured on a stamp. Because of his importance in big band history, the Citizens’ Stamp Advisory Committee decided to wait until 1996 to issue the stamps so Goodman could be a part of the set.
About the Legends of American Music Series: The Legends of American Music Series debuted on January 8, 1993, and ran until September 21, 1999. More than 90 artists are represented from all styles of music: rock ‘n’ roll, rhythm and blues, country and western, jazz and pop, opera and classical, gospel and folk. In addition to individual singers and Broadway musicals, subjects include band leaders, classical composers, Hollywood songwriters and composers, conductors, lyricists, and more. The Legends of American Music Series was a huge advancement for diversity because it honored many Black and female artists.
History the stamp represents: The success of the Benny Goodman Orchestra in 1935 led to the formation of other big bands led by such talented individuals as Count Basie, Tommy and jimmy Dorsey, and Glenn Miller.
Count Basie: William James “Count” Basie was born on August 21, 1904, in Red Bank, New Jersey. His mother taught him to play piano when he was young and he began performing in his hometown as a young teenager. He learned to accompany the silent films that played at the local theatre. Basie preferred drums at first, but by the time he was 15 he realized his true talent was on the piano.
By the time Basie was in his early 20s, he was touring with vaudeville acts and traveled to the jazz centers in Kansas City, St. Louis, and Chicago. In 1928, he got his first taste of the big band sound and joined a Kansas City band under the direction of Bennie Moten the next year.
The band, with Basie’s musical contributions, began playing a style of music that soon became known as swing. After playing with Moten’s band for a number of years, Basie formed his own. One night they were broadcasting on a local radio station and had some time to fill at the end of the program. The group began improvising, and that session produced a song Basie called “One O’clock Jump.” It became the band’s signature songs for many years.
In 1936, Basie got the nickname “Count” from a radio announcer in Kansas City. At the time, he went by Bill Basie, and the announcer said that was too ordinary of name. Citing names like Earl Hines and Duke Ellington, the announcer said he’d call Basie “Count,” and the name stuck.
By 1936, his band was called Count Basie and His Barons of Rhythm. They became known for their strong rhythm section and for using two tenor saxophones instead of just one. Other bands were soon copying the sound. That October, the band recorded some of their music. The producer later called it “the only perfect, completely perfect recording session I’ve ever had anything to do with.”
Basie’s band continued until after World War II, when it seemed big band music had gone out of style. After disbanding his large group, he began touring with smaller bands. In the late 1950s, the Count made his first tour of Europe. Jazz was popular there, and his music was well received. He even played for Queen Elizabeth II.
Count Basie was able to continue playing his piano and leading bands for decades. He played for such great soloists as Ella Fitzgerald, Frank Sinatra, and Tony Bennett. During his career the Count earned nine Grammy awards and made a permanent mark on American music.
Tommy & Jimmy Dorsey: Together and separately, brothers Thomas and James Dorsey led some of America’s most popular dance orchestras. The sons of a music teacher, both benefited from early musical instruction. Early in his career Jimmy became a prominent clarinet and soprano saxophone player; Tommy, a superior trombonist and trumpeter.
The brothers formed a band together in 1933 featuring such notable musicians as Glenn Miller, Ray McKinley, and Bob Crosby. In 1935 Tommy formed his own; both continued their commercial success. The brothers teamed up to create the motion picture The Fabulous Dorseys in 1947. After peaking in popularity in the early 1940s, Jimmy gave up his band to join Tommy’s in 1953. Tommy remained the band’s leader, and Jimmy became the featured soloist, although for the purpose of show the roles were sometimes reversed.
When Tommy died suddenly in 1956, Jimmy took over the band, leading it until illness forced him to turn it over to Lee Castle. Some critics claimed the Dorseys strayed too far from their jazz roots, creating instead superior popular music. However, both were influential as musicians and as band leaders in jazz and pop styles of music.
Glenn Miller: Alton Glenn Miller was born on March 1, 1904, in Clarinda, Iowa. In 1915, his family moved to Grant City, Missouri, where he worked milking cows. Miller used the money from that job to buy his first trombone and join the town orchestra. He also played the cornet and mandolin. Miller’s family moved to Fort Morgan, Colorado, in 1918, where he attended high school. He was named Best Left End in Colorado for his performance on the football team. Miller also formed a band with some of his classmates and decided he wanted to become a professional musician.
Miller enrolled in the University of Colorado, but spent more time auditioning and playing shows than studying, so he eventually dropped out. He studied with Joseph Schillinger and joined Ben Pollack’s band as a trombonist in 1926. By 1930 he was in demand as a free-lance musician in New York City. Soon, he was organizing bands for big-name band leaders, including the Dorsey brothers and Ray Noble.
In 1937, Miller attempted to form his own orchestra, but failed. He was discouraged and went to New York City. Miller realized that if he was going to be successful, he needed to find a unique sound. He found that sound by blending one clarinet with four saxophones. Miller put a band together and within a year, they were an international success. The band played a mix of smooth, danceable ballads and crisp, driving swing numbers.
Miller’s band played Carnegie Hall in 1939 and played three times a week on CBS radio. His band also appeared in two movies: Sun Valley Serenade and Orchestra Wives. In 1942, Miller received the first gold record for “Chattanooga Choo-Choo.” Over the course of just four years, Miller had 16 number-one records and 69 top-ten hits - more than Elvis or the Beatles would have during their careers!
By 1942, Miller was at the height of his civilian career. But as the US joined the Second World War, he felt it was more important to join the war effort. Giving up his $15,000- to $20,0000-a-week income, Miller set his sights on military service.
Too old to be drafted (at age 38), Miller first volunteered to join the Navy, but was told they didn’t need his services. He then wrote to the Army and asked to “be placed in charge of a modernized Army band. His offer was accepted and he was soon transferred to the Army Air Force. There he served as assistant special services officer for the Army Air Forces Southeast Training Center at Maxwell Field in Montgomery, Alabama. He formed the Glenn Miller Army Air Force Band, which broadcast a weekly radio program, I Sustain the Wings, out of New York City.
Miller performed in service clubs and on radio programs, publicizing the activities of Maxwell’s civil service women aircraft mechanics. In Montgomery, Miller formed a large marching band and made strides to modernize military music. His “St. Louis Blue March” incorporated blues and jazz into the traditional military march.
In the summer of 1944, Miller traveled to England with his 50-piece Army Air Force Band. There he put on 800 shows and recorded at the famed Abbey Road Studios. Of his recordings there with Dinah Shore, General Jimmy Doolittle said, “next to a letter from home, that was the greatest morale builder in the European Theater of Operations.” In addition to raising morale, some of Miller’s songs were performed in German and used as counter-propaganda to persuade the enemy to turn away from Nazism.
On December 15, 1944, Miller boarded a plane to cross the English Channel. He was headed to Paris to perform for the forces that had liberated the city. That night the plane disappeared and was never found. Miller’s wife accepted a Bronze Star medal on his behalf in March 1945. Miller is still listed as missing in action today. Two of the towns in which he grew up - Clarinda, Iowa, and Fort Morgan, Colorado - have annual festivals in his honor.
Benny Goodman: Bandleader Benjamin David Goodman was born on May 30, 1909, in Chicago, Illinois. The ninth of twelve children, Goodman came from a family of poor Jewish immigrants. When he was a child, his father would take the family to free concerts in Douglas Park to help give them appreciation for live music. When Goodman was 10, his father enrolled he and some of his siblings in music lessons. Goodman then joined the band at the Hull House and had his first professional performance in 1921 at the Central Park Theater in Chicago. He then got his first union card at the age of 13 and began performing on Lake Michigan tour boats and in dance halls. Goodman did his first recordings in 1926.
Goodman eventually moved to New York City where he first found work as a session musician for radio and Broadway musicals, playing clarinet and saxophone. During this time, Goodman played with Glenn Miller, Tommy Dorsey, and Joe Venuti. In 1928, he and Miller wrote “Room 1411.” He first appeared on the charts with “He’s Not Worth Your Tears.”
Goodman signed to Columbia in 1934 and had a series of top ten hits including “Ain’t Cha Glad,” “I Ain’t Lazy, I’m Just Dreamin’,” “Ol’ Pappy,” and “Riffin the Scotch.” Goodman was then invited to play at the Billy Rose Music Hall, which led him to form his own orchestra. They recorded the number one hit “Moonglow.” Goodman then spent six months performing on the radio show Let’s Dance, and had six more top ten hits.
In August 1935, Goodman and his band had a three-week engagement at the Palomar Ballroom in Los Angeles. They played songs by Fletcher Henderson and Spud Murphy that got the crowds excited, leading to enthusiastic dancing. These performances are often considered to be the start of the Swing Era.
Goodman returned to Chicago and put on a series of successful and popular performances that earned him the nicknames “Rajah of Rhythm” and “King of Swing.” He then went to Hollywood to record another successful radio show. Then in January 1938, Goodman’s band played a sold-out concert at New York City’s Carnegie Hall. It’s considered one of the most significant jazz concerts in history, as it marked the time that mainstream audiences finally accepted jazz.
Until it disbanded in 1944, Goodman’s band was among the most popular of swing bands, and served as a springboard for the careers of trumpeter Harry James, drummer Gene Krupa, vibraphonist Lionel Hampton, and pianist Teddy Wilson. Orchestrations by Fletcher Henderson were especially noteworthy. Goodman was the first bandleader to feature interracial musical groups. His band appeared in a number of films throughout the 1930s and 40s including: The Big Broadcast of 1937, Hollywood Hotel, Syncopation, The Powers Girl, Stage Door Canteen, The Gang’s All Here, Sweet and Low-Down, Make Mine Music, and A Song Is Born. Goodman was also the first jazz musician to achieve recognition as a soloist with symphony orchestras.
In the 1940s, Goodman explored bebop and found significant critical success. In the late 1940s, Goodman studied with clarinetist Reginald Kell and changed his playing technique, essentially re-learning to play the instrument he had played for 30 years from scratch. Goodman collaborated and commissioned works with classical composers such as Igor Stravinsky, Paul Hindemith, and Aaron Copland.
Goodman started a new band in 1953, and later led the first jazz band to tour the Soviet Union in 1962. Goodman continued to perform and record music until his death on June 13, 1986. Goodman received a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award, a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, and was inducted into the Jazz Hall of Fame.
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