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Well, we made it! Seven years of Second World War mixes. It has been intense, dramatic, often disturbing, occasionally fun. I don’t think anyone reasonably expected these mixes to have the feel of the nostalgic action films which form so much of the popular memory of the era, but speaking for myself, how miserable this era was to live through wasn’t something I truly appreciated until I’d fully immersed myself in it. Part of this immersion was the downloading of hundreds of hours of original radio broadcasts, and while music has still formed the bulk of these mixes, the bulk of the work – and therefore the heart of these things – has increasingly been in constructing montages of these broadcasts of news events. I wouldn’t say this has exactly derailed things, there was really no alternative, but it limited choices, it imposed a narrative and a structure on each mix. Being free from that – as I was for the second half of this mix – is an absolute joy, and already I can feel my enthusiasm for the project returning.

Musical stars of this mix largely avoided the war. Dizzy Gillespie said to his selective service interviewer “in this stage of my life here in the United States whose foot has been in my ass? So if you put me out there with a gun in my hand and tell me to shoot at the enemy, I’m liable to create a case of ‘mistaken identity’ of who I might shoot.” He was classified as 4-F, “not acceptable for military service” – as were Charlie Parker and Thelonious Monk. Louis Jordan had a hernia, Nat “King” Cole had either flat feet or hypertension, and Frank Sinatra was “not acceptable material from a psychiatric viewpoint.” Conscription being only for men, Mary Lou Williams, Judy Garland, Betty Hutton and Kay Starr were naturally not asked to serve. The only exception to this general rule was Cecil Gant, labelled “The G.I. Sing-sation” on his earliest releases – somewhat ironically as his health was already in a poor state, and he would die in 1951.

Though most did not serve in Europe or The Pacific, there’s no doubt that the end of the war came as a relief to these artists as much as it did the rest of the population, especially as it meant that they would no longer be held back from touring or recording due to lack of fuel or plastics. This new era doesn’t arrive with a wave of celebration, exactly, nor quite a sense of relief. Instead there’s a sense of a new freedom to spread out and express. The musicians recording be bop were doing so not to entertain a dancing crowd, but to explore and enjoy sounds themselves. Jump blues artists were in a sense going completely the other way, but their audiences being smaller and more raucous than those of the big bands, their music was therefore equally expressive and free. Perhaps most representative of all, 1945 saw Mary Lou Williams’s “Zodiac Suite” – a cycle of piano recordings combining jazz (and even be bop) with modern classical music, a record which not only transcends genre, but anticipates the different ways music would be appreciated once long playing records and home stereo systems became standard a decade later.

So this is, in a sense, a fun mix, albeit one that contains, in its first half, events such as the dropping of the atom bomb over Hiroshima. Towards the end, though, you may be hear something awakening. The late 40s aren’t years that live on vividly in the popular imagination, but maybe that’s something that should change.

Intro

0:00:00 Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra conducted by Fritz Reiner – Shostakovich Sixth Symphony (Excerpt)
(Clip from 1945-08-10-1430-NBC-WEAF-Woman-In-White)
(Clip from 1945-08-10-1215-NBC-WEAF-Maggies-Private-Wire)
(Clip from 1945-09-23-ABC-Lear-Radio-Show-01—Prophecy)
0:00:53 Dizzy Gillespie – All The Things You Are
(Clip from 1945-08-10-1245-NBC-WEAF-The-Music-Room)
0:03:41 Xavier Cugat – Tierra Va Tembla
0:06:49 Fred Allen – It’s In The Bag
0:08:21 Big Maceo – Chicago Breakdown
(Clip from A Tree Grows In Brooklyn)

June

0:11:35 Mary Lou Williams – Aries
(Clip from 1945-06-xx-WTIC-The-War-Goes-On—USS-Franklin-Survivors-Alfred-E-Amos-of-Hartford–Stanley-J-Olander)
(Clip from 1945-06-10-General-Patton-Speech-Los-Angeles)
(Clip from 1945-06-12-Guildhall-Address-London)
(Clip from 1945-06-22-NBC-Ben-Grauer-Reports-On-Eisenhowers-Homecoming)
0:16:04 Bidu Sayao – Bachianas Brasileiras No.5, for voice & 8 cellos
(Clip from 1945-06-xx-WTIC-Bob-Steele-Interviews-Cpl-Charles-Connor–Cpl-Henry-Eaststrich)
(Clip from 1945-09-20-Orphan-Anne-Performs-Mock-Sign-On-For-US-Newsreels)
(Clip from 1945-08-09-NHK-The-Zero-Hour-Hosted-By-Orphan-Anne-Iva-Toguri)
(Clip from 1945-09-20-Orphan-Anne-Performs-Mock-Sign-Off-For-US-Newsreels)
(Clip from 1945-06-15-NHK-The-Zero-Hour-Hosted-By-Orphan-Anne-Iva-Toguri)
(Clips from 1945-06-xx-VOA-First-Marine-Division—A-Love-Note-To-Tokyo-Rose)
0:21:06 Louis Jordan & his Tympany Five – Caldonia
(Clip from 1945-12-25-MBS-In-Review-1945-In-Review)
0:23:45 Erskine Hawkins – Caldonia
0:25:15 Abbott & Costello – Who’s On First?
0:30:12 Stan Kenton & His Orchestra – Artistry In Rhythm
(Clip from Lost Weekend)
0:33:14 Stan Kenton – Artistry Jumps
(Clip from The Seventh Veil)
0:35:39 Stan Kenton & His Orchestra – Artistry In Rhythm (Reprise)
(Clip from And Then There Were None)
0:36:00 Roy Milton & His Solid Senders – Milton’s Boogie
(Clip from And Then There Were None)
0:39:06 Oscar Pettiford and his 18 All Stars (feat. Dizzy Gillespie and Don Byas) – Somethin’ for You
(Clip from A Walk In The Sun)
0:42:15 Duke Ellington and his Orchestra – Caravan
(Clip from 1945-06-18-CBS-Wings-Over-Jordan-Interrupted)
0:45:38 The Les Paul Trio – How High The Moon

July

(Clip from The Clock)
0:47:27 Frank Sinatra – Nancy (With The Laughing Face)
(Clip from The House I Live In)
0:49:37 Ray McKinley Trio – Sugar
(Clip from Welcome Home)
(Clip from A Walk In The Sun)
(Clip from Welcome Home)
0:53:01 Harry James and His Orchestra – Autumn Serenade
(Clip from They Were Expendable)
0:55:46 Illinois Jacquet and his All Stars – Flying Home Part 1
(Clip from 1945-12-25-MBS-In-Review-1945-In-Review)
(Clips from Pathe – UK General Election 1945)
0:59:40 Trummy Young and his Lucky Seven – Rattle and Roll
(Clip from 1945-07-08-CBS-World-News-Today)
1:01:19 Wynonie Harris – Wynonie’s Blues
(Clip from 1945-07-28-MBS-Reports-Army-Bomber-Crashes-Into-Empire-State-Building)
(Clip from Alastair Cooke Letter From America)
(Clips from 1945-07-28-MBS-Reports-Army-Bomber-Crashes-Into-Empire-State-Building)
(Clip from Alastair Cooke Letter From America)
1:07:42 Miguel Caró – Cimarron de ausencia
(Clip from 1945-07-29-CBS-World-News-Today)
1:10:20 Spike Jones & His City Slickers – Liebestraume
1:13:28 Bob Wills & His Texas Playboys – Roly Poly
(Clip from 1945-08-14-NBC-HV-Kaltenborn-Comments-On-Japanese-Surrender)
1:16:15 Nat King Cole – Frim Fram Sauce
(Clip from 1945-07-29-Truman-Speaks-Of-Japanese-Rejection-Of-US-Ultimatum)

August

(Clip from 1945-08-05-BBC-David-Lloyd-James-Red-Cross)
1:19:22 Lester Young and his Band – These Foolish Things
(Clip from 1945-08-06-Atomic-Bomb-Destroys-Hiroshima)
(Clip from 1945-08-06-BBC-Frank-Phillips-Reports-On-Hiroshima-Bombing)
(Clip from 1945-08-08-BBC-Nagasaki)
1:23:55 Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra conducted by Fritz Reiner – Shostakovich Sixth Symphony (Excerpt)
1:25:43 Sumoni & Party – Soya
(Clips from 1945-08-08-CBS-Edward-Morrow-Reports-Russia-Declares-War-On-Japan)
(Clips from 1945-08-09-MBS-Gabriel-Heatter-US-Waits-For-Japanese-Surrender)
1:27:33 Luis Vola Del Quinteto Del Hot Club De Francia – Mi Cielo Azul
(Clip from 1945-08-10-1100-NBC-WEAF-Japan-Surrender-Offer)
(Clips from 1945-08-10-1115-NBC-WEAF-News-announced-as-1145)
(Clip from 1945-08-11-NBC-Alex-Dreier-Weekly-News-Analysis)
(Clip from 1945-08-10-1130-NBC-WEAF-Barry-Cameron)
(Clip from 1945-08-12-MBS-False-Initial-UPI-Report-Of-Japanese-Surrender)
(Clip from 1945-08-12-NBC-Story-Behind-The-Headlines—The-False-Peace-Flash)
1:30:49 Stan Kenton and His Orchestra with June Christy – It’s Been A Long Long Time
(Clips from 1945-08-14-MBS-Bulletin—Japan-Surrenders)
(Clip from 1945-08-15-NHK-Hirohito-Announces-Japanese-Surrender)
(Clips from 1945-08-14-CBS-OWI-Hirohito-Speech-Surrendering-Because-Of-A-Bomb)
(Clip from 1945-08-14-CBS-Reports-Truman-Accepts-Japanese-Surrender)
(Clip from 1945-08-14-CBS-Robert-Trout-Reports-End-Of-World-War-II)
(Clip from 1945-08-14-Commentary-On-End-of-the-War)
(Clip from 1945-08-15-BBC-Clement-Atlee-Announces-The-Surrender-Of-Japan)
(Clip from 1945-08-15-BBC-King-George-VI-To-Empire)
(Clips from 1945-08-15-President-Truman-On-Victory)
(Clip from 1945-08-15-WOR-Bulletin-Suicide-Of-Japanese-War-Minister)
(Clip from 1945-08-15-CBS-Bill-Henry-The-Second-World-War-Is-Over)
1:38:57 Cecil Gant – Jam Jam Blues
(Clip from 1945-08-14-KMBC-Live-From-Independence-Missouri)
(Clip from 1945-08-14-CBS-Reports-VJ-Day-Celebrations-In-Cinncinati)
(Clips from 1945-08-14-1915-1930-MBS-Japanese-Surrender)
(Clip from 1945-08-14-1945-2000-ABC-Japanese-Surrender)
(Clips from 1945-08-14-2030-NBC-Japanese-Surrender)
(Clip from 1945-08-14-CBS-Live-Streets-Of-Hollywood)
(Clips from 1945-08-14-MBS-Japanese-Surrender-News-NYC-Crowds)
(Clip from 1945-08-14-NBC-Ben-Grauer-On-VJ-Day-Celebrations-In-Times-Square)
(Clips fro