Those of us who grew up in the Rock and Roll era don't really appreciate what a labor intensive endeavor the Big Band sound was. In both cases, the music found its audience over the radio, but the delivery was completely different. Rock and Roll has similar roots with Big Band, both coming to us through the "whitening" process of African American Jazz and Blues. Rock was usually the product of a four or five person band who would cut a record and then a disc jockey would play it on a local radio station. Big Band music was performed live over the networks. Although the Big Bands made "more expensive" music, it was the sound of the OTR era, especially the War years. Rather than the four to five piece combos that formed Rock Bands, a typical Big Band Orchestra would have 17 or more individual players. However, the publicity usually went to the band leader whose name was on the outfit. To a certain extent, the players of the individual instruments were interchan...
Old Time Radio Shows from the Golden Age of Radio