The Peggy Lee Bio-Discography's Picture Gallery:
Radio Collaborations With Benny Goodman
by Iván Santiago-Mercado

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Scope And Contents

This page focuses on albums which contain radio performances by Peggy Lee in the company of Benny Goodman and his orchestra. An index of all the featured albums can be found at the bottom of the page. (As for albums that include not radio material but studio recordings by The Benny Goodman Orchestra and its canary, consult this page.)

I. PEGGY LEE'S APPEARANCES, AS A MEMBER OF THE BENNY GOODMAN ORCHESTRA, IN REMOTE BROADCASTS





Album Covers Shown:

1. Title: Benny Goodman And His Orchestra 1941-42 / Format: LP / Label: Sunbeam / Cat. Num.: Sb 158 / Rel. Year: 1984 / Note: In this unfortunately blurry image, you can see a rectangular photo of Benny Goodman (with his clarinet) and an oval photo of Peggy Lee by a microphone. Four Peggy Lee vocals are included, all of them performed live and simulcast over the radio. Her performances are "Soft As Spring" (October 4, 1941, Matinee at the Meadowbrook,, CBS), "The Shrine Of St. Cecilia" (October 26, 1941, Fitch Bandwagon, NBC) "That Did It, Marie" (November 1, 1941, sustaining broadcast, Mutual) and "Blues In The Night," (November 12, 1942, sustaining broadcast, CBS).

2. Title: The War Years / Format: LP / Label: Jazz Society / Cat. Num.: Aa 510 / Rel. Year: unknown / Note: This LP includes three Peggy Lee vocals, all of them performed live and simulcast over the radio. The Lee numbers are "Cow Cow Boogie," "Praise The Lord And Pass The Ammunition" (both performed on October 19, 1942, during a show broadcast by CBS) and "Mr. Five By Five" (possibly November 12, 1942, CBS).


Related Issues, Not Shown Above:

3. Title: The War Years, 1943, 1944, 1945 / Format: LP / Label: Musicdisc / Cat. Num.: (France) 30 Ja 5226 / Note: Contains the performance of "Mr. Five By Five" that can also be found in #2 above.





Album Covers Shown:

4. Title: Benny & Sid "Roll 'Em" / Format: LP / Label: Honeysuckle Rose / Cat. Num.: Hr 5004-5005 / Rel. Year: unknown; presumed to be between 1970 and 1989 / Volumes: 2 / Note: This gatefold 2LP set contains two Peggy Lee vocals, "When The Sun Comes Out" (September 11, 1941) and "Smoke Gets In Your Eyes" (September 16, 1941), both performed live and simulcast over the Mutual radio network.

5. Title: Benny Goodman & Sid Catlett "Roll 'Em" / Format: CD / Label: Vintage Jazz Classics / Cat. Num.: Vjc 1032 / Rel. Year: 1991 / Note: Although not overly identified as such, this CD is a reissue of item #1. As the images on display make evident, the Honeysuckle Rose LP set and the Vintage Jazz Classics CD share some of the same artwork and, basically, the same title. On the other hand, the liner notes are different and, more to the point, 5 of the Honeysuckle Rose set's 25 tracks are excluded, probably due to space constrictions. Unfortunately, Peggy Lee's performance of "Smoke Gets In Your Eyes" is among the casualties. "When The Sun Comes Out" is included.





Album Covers Shown:

6. Title: The King Of Swing "On The Air" / Format: LP / Label: Aircheck Records / Cat. Num.: 16 / Rel. Year: unknown / Note: Contains two complete broadcasts from the Mark Hopkins Hotel in San Francisco and a couple of excerpts from dates at other venues. Peggy Lee is heard in an excerpt from an August 10, 1942 date at the Chicago Theater in Chicago, simulcast on a Bond Wagon Drive radio show. She performs "These Foolish Things."

7. Title: One Night Stand With Benny Goodman At The Meadowbrook / Format: LP / Label: Joyce Record Club / Cat. Num.: 1097 / Note: Consists of two Goodman dates, one at New Jersey's Meadowbrook (September 20, 1941) and the other in California's Meadowbrook Gardens (January 26, 1946). For the 1941 date, simulcast on the CBS radio show Matinee at the Meadowbrook, Peggy Lee sings a rendition of "It's So Peaceful In The Country"

8. Title: One Night Stand With Benny Goodman / Format: LP / Label: Joyce Record Club / Cat. Num.: 1056 / Rel Year: unknown / Note: Contains a Peggy Lee rendition of "It's So Peaceful In The Country," performed live (September 13, 1941) and simulcast over the CBS radio show Matinee at the Meadowbrook. This rendtion seems to be different from the one included in item #7. Peggy Lee can be seen in the front cover's photo, sitting in the regular canary chair, next to the crooner chair -- left side of the photo. Notice that the Joyce Record Club released a handful of LPs that bear the title One Night Stand With Benny Goodman, of which only #1056 and #1097 (the latter itemized as #8 below) contain Lee vocals.

9. Title: Benny Goodman And His Orchestra / Format: LP / Label: Jazum / Cat. Num.: Jaz 51 / Rel. Year: unknown / Note: Contains a Peggy Lee performance of "How Long Has This Been Going On?" that was simulcast over the CBS radio network on December 2, 1941. The shot on the front cover seems to have been taken on the same night as the one that graces item #8, and shows Peggy Lee sitting, in the same place as the other photo. The record label Jazum released other LPs that also featured Peggy Lee with Benny Goodman, but those seem to be studio recordings, not radio broadcasts; see the Goodman studio page.



Album Covers Shown:

11. Title: NBC Broadcast Recordings, 1936-1943 / Format: CD / Label: Nimbus / Cat. Num.: 2734 / Rel. Year: 2010 / Volumes: 2 / Note: This CD set contains one Peggy Lee vocal, "I See A Million People," performed live (September 17, 1941) and simulcast over the CBS radio network.

II. PEGGY LEE'S APPEARANCES, AS A GUEST OF BENNY GOODMAN, IN PROGRAMS CREATED BY THE ARMED FORCES RADIO SERVICE




Album Covers Shown:

1. Title: "Command Performance" / Format: CD / Label: Sounds Of Yesteryear / Cat. Num.: (England) Dsoy 636 / Rel. Year: 2004 / Tracks: 14 / Note: This CD (a reissue of item #3 below) includes a 1943 episode of the American Forces Radio show Downbeat in which host Benny Goodman announces that his canary Peggy Lee has recently gotten married. She sings two numbers, one of them solo ("Why Don't You Do Right?") and the other in a vocal duet with Goodman himself ("I Love A Piano").

2. Title: Why Don't You Do Right?; 1943-1947 / Format: CD / Label: Magic / Submarine / Cat. Num.: (England) Dawe 102 / Rel. Year: 2001 / Tracks: 15 / Note: Includes, as bonus tracks, the two numbers that are found in item #1 -- "Why Don't You Do Right?" and "I Love A Piano." (As for this CD's main program of tracks, it consists of songs from Peggy Lee's 1947 radio show with Woody Herman, in which Benny Goodman was not involved.)

Related Cover, Not Shown Above:

3. Title: "Command Performance"; Benny Goodman With A Parade Of Stars / Format: CS & LP / Label: Swing House / Cat. Num.: (England) Cswk 46 & Swh 46 / Rel. Year: 1984 / Tracks: 14 / Note: The performances in this album are from various 1943 and 1944 live and radio dates. Includes a Peggy Lee solo, "Why Don't You Do Right?," and a vocal duet with Benny Goodman, "I Love A Piano." Reissued on CD; see item #1. All three configurations (vinyl, cassette, compact disc) share the same artwork.





Album Covers Shown:

4. Title: The Complete AFRS Benny Goodman Shows (#9 & #10), Volume Five / Format: CD / Label: Sounds Of Yesteryear / Cat. Num.: (England) 840 / Rel. Year: 2011 / Note: Contains two full episodes of the American Forces Radio's Magic Carpet Show, both hosted by Benny Goodman in 1946 (years after Peggy Lee had left The Benny Goodman Orchestra). Lee guests in one of the episodes -- the ninth in the series. She is heard singing a solo rendition of "Why Don't You Do Right?" and, in a duet with Art Lund, a rendition of "I Don't Know Enough About You." I have not yet listened to this particular CD, but I am familiar with homemade copies of the original broadcast. They all suffer from poor handling of its playback. As a result of this problem, Lee's voice comes off distorted, sounding almost as light as Minnie Mouse's. Fortunately, the CD under discussion does not appear to suffer from this problem -- if online samples are to be trusted. Sounds Of Yesteryear might have used a different, better source than the ones with which I am acquainted -- or, alternatively, the company might have corrected the broadcast's defectiveness in pitch.

5. Title: The Benny Goodman Memorial Album / Format: CS & LP / Label: Magic - Submarine / Cat. Num.: (England) Cawe 23 & Awe 23 / Rel. Year: 1986 / Note: Released on the year of Benny Goodman's passing. Combines performances from 1943, 1946, and 1961. Lee's one performance, the duet with Art Lund mentioned in item #4 ("I Don't Know Enough About You," is from 1946. Reissued on CD; see item #6. Aside from details such as the differing title, all three configurations (LP, cassette, CD) use the same exact front cover.

6. Title: Remember / Format: CD / Label: Sounds Of Yesteryear / Cat. Num.: (England) Dsoy 731 / Rel. Year: 2007 / Note: This CD is digital reissue of item #5. Suffers from the aforementioned distortion problems, which alter the tone of Lee's voice.

III. BENNY GOODMAN'S APPEARANCES, AS A GUEST, IN RADIO BROADCASTS HOSTED BY PEGGY LEE




Album Covers Shown:

1. Title: If I Could Be With You / Format: LP / Label: Starline's Sounds Rare / Cat. Num.: Sr 5008 / Rel. Year: 1986 / Tracks: 12 / Note: Contains two episodes of Peggy Lee's own radio show, one of them broadcast in 1951 and the other in 1952. Former boss Benny Goodman is her guest in one episode, in which the numbers that she sings include "Toodle-Ee-Yoo-Doo," a novelty written by Goodman's then-vocalist, Nancy Clayton.

2. Title: If I Could Be With You / Format: CS & LP & CD / Label: Jasmine / Cat. Num.: (England) Jasmc 2534 & Jasm 2534 & Jascd 2534 / Rel. Year: 1987; CD released in 1993 / Tracks: 12 / Note: Reissue of #1 above.





Album Covers Shown:

3. Title: Swingin' Through The Years With Benny Goodman (Benny Goodman, Volume 1) / Format: LP / Label: Giants of Jazz / Cat. Num.: Goj Lp 1005 / Rel. Year: 1977 / Note: Contains two tracks excerpted from items #1 and #2 above. Of the two tracks, one is a Goodman instrumental, the other the Peggy Lee solo "Toodle-Ee-Yoo-Doo."

Index

The following alphabetical list includes every album whose image is displayed in this page. To find a given album's location herein, use as your guideline the Roman numeral that follows each title.

Benny Goodman And His Orchestra 1941-42: I
Benny Goodman And His Orchestra (Jazum 51): I
Benny & Sid "Roll 'Em": I
Benny Goodman & Sid Catlett "Roll 'Em": I
Benny Goodman Memorial Album, The: II
"Command Performance": II
Complete AFRS Benny Goodman Shows, The (#9 & #10), Volume Five: II
If I Could Be With You: III
King Of Swing "On The Air," The: I
NBC Broadcast Recordings, 1936-1943: I
One Night Stand With Benny Goodman (Joyce): I
One Night Stand With Benny Goodman At The Meadowbrook: I
Remember: II
Swingin' Through The Years With Benny Goodman: III
War Years, The: I
War Years, The; 1943, 1944, 1945: I
Why Don't You Do Right?: II

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