Search - Henry Jerome :: The Henry Jerome Orchestra 1944-45 (The First Big Band To Ever Play Bebop) Featuring World Famous Personalities and Musicians The Honorable Alan Greenspan, Len Garment, Al Cohn, Johnny Mandel, and Tiny Kahn. Live Radio Air Checks. (It's Jazz History)

(There's only one FIRST-- It's Jazz History) These are live radio air checks--there has never been a commercial record released. You will actually hear live announcements & station breaks between tracks. Before Rock, Bebop was THE Cool Music. Henry made Jazz History when he organized & led the First Big Band to ever orchestrate & play "Bebop" which in those days was only being played by Dizzy Gillespie, Charlie Parker & a few other black combos on New York's 52nd St., while Henry's big band was playing at the huge Child's Paramount Restaurant (capacity 2,000) which was under the Paramount Theater, Times Square, NYC. Henry's band was heard nationally on Mutual Radio, but there was never a commercial record, never the less it had introduced a new sound. Musicians loved this new music-big band style and packed the place just to listen to the guys making fantastic chord changes and actually playing the changes. That's why it caught ears. The band made a big impact in the Progressive Jazz World and added a whole new dimension to the Big Band's called "Bebop". The bands personnel included those who have achieved great sucess in other fields such as Alan Greenspan, former Chairman of The Federal Reserve, Leonard Garment who was White House Counsel to the late President Richard Nixon, and Larry Rivers, the famous American painter. Some of the Legendary Jazz Greats who played at various periods with the band included musician & Hollywood composer Johnny Mandel who wrote "Shadow Of Your Smile" and the theme from "Mash, Al Cohn, Tiny Kahn, Stan Levy, Jack Eagle, better known as "Brother Dominick" on the Zerox TV Commercials, Norm Faye, Gene Roland, Many Fox, Paul Cohen Marty Napoleon, Bill Vitale, Ray Turner and Gerry Mulligan who was not on the payroll but sat in with the band frequently. Vocalists included David Allyn, Gordon Polk & Bob Stewart. Arrangers included Al Cohn Johnny Mandel, Bill Vitale, Gene Roland, Tiny Kahn and many others. Some of the musicians from Henry's band joined other big bands such as Boyd Raeburn, Gene Krupa & Woody Herman and their musical imput , both as players and arrangers, influenced the sounds of these bands. Progressive Jazz was on its way, not only as an accepted jazz form, but as a major influence in popular music. Ira Gitler, the Jazz Authority, wrote many pages about Henry's band in his book "Swing to Bob". Ira Gitler writes "Bebop was an expression of finest Black musical minds.".