Listen To:


Selected MP3s of guitar instrumentals, jazz, big band, and classic easy listening from the original vinyl.

Welcome to Guitars & All That Jazz

Welcome to Guitars & All That Jazz

Guitars & All That Jazz was a radio station that webcast via Live365 for 11 years, ending in June 2011. The playlist consisted of guitar instrumentals, jazz, big band, early rock 'n' roll, lounge music and classic easy listening.

I hope to share some of this music with you via this blog. Most of it will be taken from the original vinyl (LPs and 45s) , cassettes and the occasional commercially unavailable CD.

Here's hoping you'll find something to enjoy. Please note files are available only for a limited time.

I urge you to purchase the digital version of the albums featured, either on CD or via download, wherever possible.

Listen to the Music
There are now two music streams. Click the appropriate player to the right.
1. Guitars & All That Jazz: Five hours of the best in jazz, guitars and other instrumental gems. New songs are added weekly.
2. Tiki Shores: Music to sweep you away to a tropical isle, a South American dance floor or a bossa nova on the beach at Rio. About 4.5 hours of classic exotica music, Latin rhythms and bossa nova.
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Saturday, April 21, 2012

Jack Nathan & His Orchestra - If Glenn Miller Played the Hits of Today



A number of albums have popped up over the years with this simple premise: What would Glenn Miller's orchestra sound like if the bandleader were alive and had his musicians take on current pop hits? These albums seemed to be particularly popular in the 1960s.

Case in point is If Glenn Miller Played the Hits of Today (1968) by British bandleader Jack Nathan & His Orchestra. It's better than most, probably because of Nathan's roots in the swing era.

Nathan, a pianist, and his orchestra became well known in the U.K. through their frequent broadcasts on the BBC's Music While You Work. The program was begun in 1940 following a British government suggestion that morale in industry would be improved if there were daily broadcasts of cheerful music piped into the factories. There must have been something to officialdom's theory that improved morale would lead to better production because the program lasted in one form or another until 1967.

It was around this time that Nathan fronted a big band (not his regular orchestra) for some LPs for EMI in the U.K. The first was If Glenn Miller Played the Hits of Today, which was issued on Phillips in the U.S. From it comes a version of Lennon/McCartney's Yesterday.

Yesterday

None of Nathan's recorded output appears to have made it to the digital era, so here's another sample of the contents of the above album from the vaults of YouTube.

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