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Two years after Sentimental Journey soared to the top of Your Hit Parade, my mother and I and two of her sisters rode the Santa Fe's El Capitan from Chicago to Los Angeles to visit another sister and her family in Santa Barbara. We sang this beautiful song all summer long in anticipation of our trip. Whenever I hear Sentimental Journey, it opens a scrapbook of wonderful memories for me. Sentimental Journey is one of the most famous and important songs of the entire Swing Era—and one of my all-time favorites. BROWN'S LITTLE JUGOne of Brown's instrumental hits in 1944 was a variation on the traditional song "Little Brown Jug" that had been such a big hit for Glenn Miller in 1939. This recording illustrates what a great, modern sound Brown had created for his band. He called the song "Brown's Little Jug." As you listen to a few sides, you can tell this band really stood apart from the rest. You're listening to a band with deep roots in the Swing Era that was moving along its very own track to the future. And what a future it would be! Les Brown and His Band of Renown always sounded fresh, exciting, and contemporary. In February 1945, Les Brown and His Band of Renown released "Leap Frog," which became so popular that Brown made it the band's theme song. In September 1946, they recorded "I've Got My Love to Keep Me Warm." The song was popular with Brown's audiences, but a couple of executives at Columbia Records didn't like it and refused to release it. As time passed by, many Les Brown fans wrote Columbia to ask for a recording of it. Columbia's execs forgot the song had been recorded. In 1949, when Columbia finally asked Brown to record the song, he told them it was lying in their vault. Columbia found the master and issued "I've Got My Love to Keep Me Warm," which became another blockbuster for Les Brown.
"I've Got My Love to Keep Me Warm," is another of my favorites. It evokes memories of cold and snowy winter evenings in our home in Berwyn, just west of Chicago, during the 1940s and 1950s. Living in California for almost two decades now, I tend to forget the warmth of the open hearth when the temperature outside is close to zero and three feet of snow falls from the sky. Families were very close in those days. We always spent Thanksgiving Day, Christmas, and New Year's Day together, no matter what the weather was like outside. Those wonderful days long ago have remained in my heart all these years, and the love I felt back then still keeps me warm. ENTERTAINING OUR TROOPSDuring the late 1940s, Doris Day went out on her own, as did many other big band singers. It was the now the era of pop vocalists; big bands were losing their popularity. Day's musical career soared, and before long she was making movies and television shows.
At the onset of the Korean War in 1950, they switched the tour to the military bases that Hope was famous for visiting. The first trip, to a bitter cold Korea, lasted 35 days and was the first of 18 Christmas tours that Brown and Hope would perform on military bases around the world. Brown would often recall the warm enthusiasm of his military audiences, citing their affection for the songs that reminded them of their homes so far away.
"They were the greatest audiences in the world," Brown recalled. "To hear anything from back home, for them, was great. The tours were very tiring, but also very exhilarating. And interesting." The only drawback was leaving his family, something Brown never liked doing, but which was worse at Christmas. He made up for it by being able to stay in town, working much of the year by playing on many different TV shows. Brown landed his own local TV show in Los Angeles called Bandstand Review. He did the Hope shows, The Steve Allen Show for two years, and performed on the variety show, The Hollywood Palace. And in September 1965, he started what became eight years of performing on The Dean Martin Show. "I was working all the time," he said. "I was young and dumb. And I had fun."
In April 1996, the Guinness Book of World Records awarded Les Brown with the distinction of being the leader of the longest-lasting musical organization in the history of pop music. Les Brown and His Band of Renown toured tirelessly from the 1960s to just five months before Brown's death from lung cancer on Jan. 4, 2001. "The world has lost a great musician," mourned Hope in a public statement, "I have lost my music man, my sideman, my straight man, and a special friend." Brown was 88. THE BAND OF RENOWN TODAY
His
son, Les Brown, Jr., now leads the band, which remains one
of the most popular big bands in the nation. To find out when
they will be coming your way, visit Les Brown and His Band
of Renown's web
site to see their schedule and learn more about this exciting
orchestra. George
Spink
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©
George Spink, Los Angeles, California, United States of America (2011-2012)
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The
American Federation of Musicians imposed a recording ban beginning
July 31, 1942 that lasted two years. The union only allowed
bands to record V-discs for our troops during this period.
Everyone resented the recording ban, and finally the powerful
head of the AFM, James C. Petrillo, was persuaded to drop
it. 
In
1949, Bob Hope brought Doris Day and Les Brown back into the
fold. Their combined star power was staggering. Hope had the
No.1 movie, Pale Face, Les had the No.1 instrumental
with "I've Got My Love To Keep Me Warm,"
and Doris Day had the No.1 vocal tune with "It’s Magic."
They went on a national tour that broke sales records everywhere.
