GLT's Radio Munson

Don rings out 2017 and also closes a 58 year career on this week’s Radio Munson with music from some of his favorites—Count and Duke, Sassy and Satchmo, Ella and Frank, Lady Day and Tony—and a heartfelt thank you to generations of faithful listeners.

Kurt Elling is on Don’s playlist for this week’s Radio Munson along with Louis Armstrong, Lionel Hampton, Keely Smith, the Glenn Miller Orchestra, plus Wynton Marsalis and friends with a rousing version of “Go Tell It On the Mountain".

Louis Armstrong is on Don’s playlist for this week’s Radio Munson, along with the Boswell Sisters, Jimmy Rushing, stride pianist Jeff Barnhart, Harry James, Jane Monheit, Erroll Garner and more.

The great bands of Duke Ellington, Count Basie, and Artie Shaw take center stage in this week’s Radio Munson, along with swingers from Ann Hampton Callaway, Barbara Carrol, and Fats Waller and, in a nod to their week’s blast of cold air, Johnny Mercer sings “Button Up Your Overcoat."

Sammy Davis, Junior is swinging on this week’s Radio Munson, along with Doc Severinsen and the Tonight Show Band, Woody Herman’s “Four Brothers,” Tierney Sutton, Supersax, and Sarah Vaughan.

Harry James’ great band is on Don’s playlist for this week’s Radio Munson and so is the Glenn Miller Orchestra. Benny Goodman and Count Basie provide a set of 1939 swing classics, plus vocal swingers from Betty Carter, Frank Sinatra, Fred Astaire, and Della Reese.

Legendary pianist/bandleader Earl “Fatha” Hines is on this week’s Radio Munson playlist, along with Dianne Reeves, Dave Brubeck, Julie London, Jack Teagarden, and George Shearing’s classic recording of “Lullaby of Birdland."

Doc Severinsen, Ella Fitzgerald, and Frank Sinatra are all swinging’ on this week’s Radio Munson, plus Harry “Sweets” Edison, the Delta Rhythm Boys, and an early Veterans’ Day musical salute.

Saxophonist Paul Desmond gets a featured spot on this week’s Radio Munson, along with sides from Linda Ronstadt, Lionel Hampton, Peggy Lee, and Louie Prima.

The Andrews Sisters are on Don’s playlist for this week’s Radio Munson, plus Wynton Marsalis, Ann Hampton Callaway, the Count Basie Band, and the rollicking Stan Kenton recording of “The Peanut Vendor."

An upbeat song by Fletcher Henderson called “Happy As the Day Is Long” brought the exciting dancer Henry “Rubber Legs” Williams on stage at the Apollo Theater back in 1934, and the same rouser kicks off this week’s Radio Munson. Don also offers up recordings by Billy Eckstine, Carmen McRae, and the Bill Charles Trio, plus Stacy Kent singing “’Tis Autumn."

Radio Munson returns to the desert this week as Don spins some iconic tunes from Tucson, including offerings by Ray Charles, Sarah Vaughan, Paul McCartney, Peggy Lee, and Jimmie Lunceford.

If the sky is all clouds and gloom, you can still sing “Shine On Harvest Moon" with Leon Redbone on this week’s Radio Munson. Dianne Reeves is on Don’s playlist and so are Louis Armstrong, Manhattan Transfer, Charlie Barnet and Linda Ronstadt.

Some time travel on this week’s Radio Munson for an autumn evening in 1939 when young drumming whiz Buddy Rich put a charge in the Artie Shaw Orchestra at New York’s Cafe Rouge. Don also plays sides by Harry Connick Jr., Clark Terry, Dinah Washington, Tommy Dorsey, and the Hot Club of Cowtown.

Don suggests enjoying this last evening of summer on tonight’s Radio Munson with a 1928 recording of “Get Out and Get Under the Moon.” Betty Carter and Big Bad Voodoo Daddy are on Don’s playlist along with Billie Holiday, Benny Goodman, Nat “King” Cole, and Sarah Vaughan.

Don might be rushing the season just a bit, but this week’s Radio Munson features Woody Herman’s iconic recording of “Early Autumn.” There’s also swinging tunes by Cab Calloway, Tommy Dorsey, Lionel Hampton, and a special duet by vocal legends Ray Charles and Johnny Mathis.

Erroll Garner, Jane Monheit, Fats Waller and Ella Fitzgerald headline this week’s Radio Munson, along with Stan Kenton’s famous recording of “September Song” and the Duke Ellington Orchestra playing “Things Ain’t What The Used To Be.” It’s radio the way IT used to be with Radio Munson.

Don Munson returns to GLT this week with an all new, all-Basie Radio Munson. It’s the best of Count Basie’s five decades—the great band, spectacular soloists, swinging vocalists, and even a tap dancer doing a buck-and-wing with Basie’s piano supporting.

Was Anita O’Day referring to Uptown Normal when she recorded “Let Me Off Uptown?” Probably not, but the question provides some fodder for discussion and the playing of Anita’s famous duet with trumpeter Roy Eldridge on this week’s Radio Munson. The exciting Buddy Rich band is also on Don’s playlist along with Chick Webb, Bobby Troup, and a new duet with vibraphonist Terry Gibbs and Bloomington-Normal pianist John Campbell.

There’s a lot of the 1940s in this week’s Radio Munson as Don spins platters by the Andrews Sisters, Cab Calloway, and the Mills Brothers. Woody Herman sings the “G.I. Jive", while Doris Day croons “Sentimental Journey."