Swing, Sing and All That Jazz: The Autobiography of Henry Holloway

By Henry Holloway

Apart from being one of just two non-Americans in history to be honoured with Americas prestigious Golden Bandstand Award, South African broadcaster, Henry Holloways remarkable impact on American light music during his 40 years on the air, internationally, is told in this book, in words and pictures. Holloways dozens of long-running radio series on American music legends are jewels, in addition to his regular series, Swing, Sing and All That Jazz, the title of which clearly depicts Henrys penchant for that genre. His relentless pursuit to perpetuate the best from the Golden Age has prompted remarkable responses from music legends like Artie Shaw, Buddy DeFranco, Sammy Cahn, Professor Paul Tanner, Neal Hefti, Steve Allen, Bob Crosby, Les Brown, Milt Bernhart and Ray Evans, to mention but a few of many. His Golden Bandstand Award, invitations from the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences, the Society Of Singers, the Glenn Miller Birthplace Society, setting world records with his 60 hours radio series on Les Brown in 2001 and his 115 programmes on Glenn Miller in 2004/06, lectures on luxury cruise liners, broadcasting on the BBC, being interviewed on television and by the press in the USA; these and many other highlights are encapsulated on a first-hand basis in this remarkable autobiography by a unique South African.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Trafford Publishing
• Release date: Feb 10, 2015
• ISBN: 9781490759371

Henry Holloway

Broadcaster/musicologist Henry Holloway is the first non-American to be honored with America's "Golden Bandstand Award" (in 2003) and remains one of just two persons outside the USA to have received this accolade. Frank Sinatra, Glenn Miller and Duke Ellington are just three of the 52 American recipients.

Book preview

Reviews

HENRY HOLLOWAY and SWING, SING AND ALL THAT JAZZ

I first met Henry Holloway 20 years ago when attending the 1994 staging of the National Arts Festival in Grahamstown, South Africa - an annual visit, arising out of my then position as Arts and Entertainment Editor of the Evening Post and Weekend Post newspapers, to review various presentations and productions for the two titles.

He was doing what I recall must rank as a unique programme in a yearly event that regularly includes such unique events: introducing rare musical documentary videos, as part of the Fest’s always strong Jazz component, featuring the various Glenn Miller bands and other similar aggregations and then chatting about each video with his audience.

I paid a visit to several of his sessions, getting to know him rather well since I have long been a fan of big band jazz and also the Great American Songbook.

Although I was obviously previously aware of his special talents as a broadcaster and was in awe of his knowledge of those two subjects from listening to his many previous programme compilations on the then English service of the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC), it was a delight to finally meet the man himself and forge what has become a long-term - if long-distance! - friendship.

So it fell to me professionally as a showbiz journalist with a special interest in this field, to cover in print Henry’s several similarly unique achievements in the years that were to follow, such as:

1) Henry becoming the first - and only to date - South African and one of just two non-Americans in the accolade’s history, to have been awarded the prestigious American trophy, the Golden Bandstand Award, joining the likes of Frank Sinatra, Glenn Miller, Benny Goodman and 50 other American music legends so recognised and acclaimed over the years in special ceremonies in the United States.

2) A couple of years after that, in 2009, Henry becoming the first ever non-American to be invited to participate in a top-level discussion panel at the annual Glenn Miller Birthplace Society’s annual GMBS Festival, held each year in Clarinda, Iowa, where Miller was born, and similarly being invited to lead the event’s official parade as Grand Marshall, and be driven down Clarinda’s Main street in a horse-drawn buggy!

3) Related to that - and surely leading, in part, to the GMBS invitation, Henry creating a world on-air record with his 115 half-hour programmes in the series, Miller Magic (which ran from 2004 to 2006 on Fine Music Radio), along the way proving his outstanding knowledge of Millercana.

4) Also linked as part of that 2009 visit to the USA, Henry being the guest of honour at a special dinner in Los Angeles, hosted by Henry Mancini’s widow, Ginny, at which he met veteran singer and movie star, Tony Martin, and other luminaries and which should also have been attended by Julie Andrews, but which she sadly was unable to be at because of her husband, film director Blake Edwards’ illness. Not many folk can number an item such as the sincere handwritten note of apology which Henry received from her among their personal memorabilia.

As a long-time Arts Editor, one can become rather blasé about the plethora of local, national and international personalities and stars one meets along the way, but my not altogether minor list pales into insignificance which measured against such occurrences - to name but one experienced by Henry - as having a top US musician, actor and TV star in Steve Allen (remember him in the title role of the movie, The Benny Goodman Story ?) salute him from the stage and host him at his personal VIP table when a thousand folk in the American music world gathered to pay tribute to bandleader Les Brown at the Beverly Wilshire Hotel Ballroom on September 28, 1999.

So I am honoured to be mentioned several times in the 700 pages of Swing, Sing and All That Jazz, with Henry having more than just rubbed shoulders with many similar US swing legends over the past 35 to 40 years during his regular visits to the country that is the home of such music and which meetings are covered among the 500-plus images in this volume.

I was also proud to be invited by Henry to be the South African media personality to join the international showbiz scribes and the likes of Ginny Mancini penning these few words saluting the author.

This book is a most entertaining look at the life and career of a most entertaining man - one final fact, Henry Holloway recently marked 40 years as a broadcaster of light music fare - 21 with the SABC and 19 to date on Cape Town’s Fine Music Radio, whose listeners are privileged to still be able to enjoy the knowledge of a man who - and I repeat a word I have used several times in this Commendation - is absolutely unique in the field he long ago chose as his entertainment sphere and has made very much his own in this country.

So brilliantly done, Henry - I can wholeheartedly recommend Swing, Sing and All That Jazz to anyone who has ever enjoyed the many, many bandleaders, musicians and vocalists who have specialised in big band jazz and/or interpreting the Great American Songbook over the years.

And I am just one of them.

Yes, this is a book to read straight through and then occasionally dip into and out of for the sheer pleasure of constantly joining in sharing the author’s delight at the events that have befallen him in what has been a quite wonderful life and career, filled to the brim with music.

BOB EVELEIGH

Arts Editor, 1984 to 2006: Evening Post, Weekend Post and The Herald

Port Elizabeth

South Africa

I had the singular good fortune to run into Henry Holloway more than 10 years ago when he was presenting an excellent series of musical lectures aboard a Caribbean cruise liner.

Although we met by chance, his was already a familiar name as the founder of the South African Glenn Miller Appreciation Society and, especially, as the man who had brought the attention of the world’s media to an eye witness account of the possible downing of the famous bandleader’s plane in 1944.

We immediately became musical soul-mates and in the years since I have become very aware that Henry’s love of the Miller sound is but one part of his much wider musical appreciation and of his total commitment to preserve, provide and promote the wonderful legacy of what is now rightly regarded as The Golden Era of American Popular Music.

As producer, broadcaster, writer, presenter and sponsor he has become a tireless champion of the recordings of the dance bands that dominated the 1930s through to the 60s, the star vocalists who emerged from their ranks to become masters of their own genre and the Basie and Ellington-based jump groups of the 30s and 40s who created what we now call mainstream jazz.

In effect these have been the Swing, Sing and All That Jazz themes that have inspired his long running radio series of the same name and which have now provided the very apt title of this new book.

In his overview, he states: I just wanted to put my life down on paper for the record. He has certainly done that - and much more. Liberally illustrated with a mind-boggling collection of press clippings, reviews, personal communications and photographs, this minutely detailed autobiography charts, year by year, month by month and sometimes almost day by day, his chronological progression from early long-distance admirer of his American musical heroes to becoming a welcome and accepted guest at their top table.

It’s a journey that started a whole Continent away from its musical fountainhead, where, as a teenage fan, he acquired his 1st treasured Glenn Miller 78rpm record. It culminates in Los Angeles with him receiving the Big Band Academy of America’s much-prized Golden Bandstand Award.

By being honoured so by his peers, he has thus joined the hallowed ranks of such eminent recipients as Benny Goodman, Duke Ellington, Frank Sinatra and Ella Fitzgerald, with the added distinction of being the first South African and 1 of only 2 non-Americans ever to have received this prestigious award.

Henry Holloway has earned his international acclaim and has good reason to be proud of his achievements. His radio shows have now been running for an astonishing 40 years. His massive 2004-6 radio series on Glenn Miller, 115 programs in all, remains the longest continuous broadcast tribute to any musical artist anywhere in the world. And, now in his 81st year, his enthusiasm for the best in popular music and for those who sustain it continues unabated.

For him it has been, and continues to be, a fascinating and event-filled journey. As such, his new book - packed with anecdotes and reminiscences of the showbiz ‘greats’ he has met along the way - provides a unique insider’s view on ‘the Great American Song Book’ and the famous people who created it.

As a reminder of that golden period when, for once, musical quality and public taste came into happy alignment, and of a man who has done so much to preserve and promote the legacy, this autobiography has much to commend it.

Tony Eaton

Broadcaster, Writer & Historian

High Wycombe, UK

Swing, Sing and All That Jazz is the remarkable autobiography of a unique South African, Henry Holloway, who came from humble beginnings in Zebediela, a small town in the north eastern area of the province of Transvaal, to rise to the rank of the country’s most preeminent big band jazz personality and scholar.

Henry and I met for the first time at the Empire Room of the Sportsman’s Lodge in Studio City, CA, on March 2, 2003, when he became the first non-American to ever receive the coveted Big Band Academy of America’s Golden Bandstand Award, joining prominent American music legends such as Duke Ellington, Benny Goodman, Glenn Miller, and Frank Sinatra, who were among the over fifty previous Award recipients. It was presented to him by long time Stan Kenton trombonist and Academy president, Milt Bernhart.

I am a Board Member of the Academy. In late 2002 the Board voted unanimously to bestow the Golden Bandstand Award on Henry. The Board Members agreed that Henry’s big band radio program that began in 1974 along with his work in promoting the big bands in South Africa were worthy of high level of recognition here in America. To this day he remains one of just two non-Americans who have received the Golden Bandstand Award. The other is British big band author and radio personality Sheila Tracy.

The day after Henry received his award he met with his good friend and legendary big band arranger and trumpet player Neal Hefti at Hefti’s home in the San Fernando Valley. While they were having lunch Hefti congratulated Henry on receiving his Award and said to him Henry, they don’t just give those things away. I have yet to receive one.

Henry began his acceptance speech after being presented his Golden Bandstand Award by saying that his most prized musical experience before receiving the award took place the evening of September 28, 1999, when several hundred American music industry VIPs gathered at the Beverly Wilshire Hotel in Beverly Hills to pay tribute to Les Brown for entering the Guinness Book of World Records for leading his Band of Renown for an amazing 60 years. Henry was cited at the start of the event when host Steve Allen said I’d like to start proceedings by welcoming a man who has come ten thousand miles from South Africa to be with us. He has broadcast Les Brown’s music and that of Les’s peers internationally for the past 25 years. Mr Henry Holloway. The ballroom erupted with applause.

I shared a truly magical evening with Henry when Ginny Mancini, widow of the famous composer and arranger Henry Mancini, hosted a dinner party on June 6, 2009, honouring Henry at her penthouse on Wilshire Blvd. in Los Angeles. There were twenty prestigious guests that included Tony Martin at the gathering. Her high-rise penthouse provided a spectacular view of Los Angeles and was filled with many of her husband’s Oscars. I was in awe. It was the first time I saw an Oscar, let alone several.

At the end of a most enjoyable evening I had the pleasure of formally presenting a copy of my new book, When Swing Was the Thing: Personality Profiles of the Big Band Era, to Henry. Copious photos of the presentation were taken for the South African press. Incidentally, that book contains chapters on forty six noted big band personalities such as Benny Goodman, Fletcher Henderson, Glenn Miller, Artie Shaw, and the only non-American, Henry Holloway. Also included in my book is a chapter on Bea Wain, who sat next to Tony Martin at the stylish Mancini event.

While gathering information for my book I interviewed Artie Shaw at his home in Newbury Park, CA. It was a delightful visit. I mentioned to Artie that I was working on an article on Henry for the LA Jazz Scene, Southern California’s only jazz publication, which eventually appeared in their April 2007 edition. Artie spoke glowingly about his association with Henry and their correspondence that began in 1990.

After the Mancini soiree Henry travelled to Clarinda, IA, the birthplace of Glenn Miller. He became the first international music personality to act as Grand Marshal in the grand parade through the streets of Clarinda during the annual Glenn Miller Birthplace Society’s Festival that is held there every June. The 40th annual Festival is scheduled to take place in 2015. Henry’s participation in the event was well received both for his role as Grand Marshal and lecturer at Festival seminars.

Peer respect is important in any profession. Radio personality Chuck Cecil has been on the air in America with his syndicated big band program since 1956 and has a chapter in my book. He commented on Henry when I wrote Henry’s article for the LA Jazz Scene: I enjoyed meeting Henry at the Big Band Academy Reunion. His reputation preceded him. He is highly respected in the American broadcasting community and is an important contributor to the cause of big band music. Henry certainly deserved his Golden Bandstand Award for all he has achieved in South Africa where he is so far removed from the jazz mainstream.

Henry is a man of accomplishment. In addition to his encyclopedic knowledge of jazz he holds the confirmed world record for a radio series on one musician or orchestra with his 115 half hour programs titled Miller Magic that ran from 2004 into 2006. In fact, Henry set the previous record in 2001 with a series on his friend Les Brown which consisted of sixty hour-long programs. He reached a milestone on July 1, 2014, when he completed forty years as a music compiler, producer and presenter on South African radio. His current show, Swing, Sing and All That Jazz, has just reached the thirty year mark.

There is much more to say about Henry Holloway, but it’s all in his well-written autobiography. I strongly recommend reading it.

John Tumpak

Big band author, journalist, and lecturer who is archived in the Smithsonian Institution.

Endorsements

FW DE KLERK_________________________________________

I have known Henry Holloway for more than 40 years. We first met in the late 1960s in Vereeniging, the main town of the industrial area known as the Vaal Triangle (the Detroit of South Africa) south of Johannesburg. I was a young attorney at the time and Henry was the editor of the local newspaper.

Even then Henry’s love for good music was evident. He founded the Vereeniging Jazz Club, and my wife and I were among the invitees to his concerts.

It was almost inevitable that Henry would become a music broadcaster, and during his more than 30 years of presenting radio programmes, hundreds of thousands have enjoyed his expertise on the air.

The Americans paid tangible tribute to Henry for these broadcasts in 2003 when he received their Golden Bandstand Award in Los Angeles. On receiving news of this award, I wrote to Henry to express my felicitations. Uniquely, Henry is one of just two non-Americans in history who have been honoured with this prestigious award. Among the 50 or so Americans who had previously received the Golden Bandstand Award are Frank Sinatra, Glenn Miller, Benny Goodman and Duke Ellington. What good company for Henry to be in!

Now Henry is putting the final touches to his autobiography, Swing, Sing and All That Jazz (the same title as his long-running radio series) which tells the life story of this internationally-acclaimed man of music.

Whether you’re interested in music or not (who isn’t?) I suggest that you obtain a copy of this book.

It is my pleasure to write this endorsement for Henry Holloway’s autobiography.

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FW DE KLERK

FORMER STATE PRESIDENT OF SOUTH AFRICA

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Editor’s Note: Ginny Mancini is the legendary Henry Mancini’s widow. She is a Board Member of the ASCAP Foundation, and the Co-Founder, Past President and Chairman of the Society of Singers, just two affiliations of a dozen important American organizations. She enjoyed a flourishing singing career, performing with Mel Tormé, the Mel-Tones and the Tex Beneke Orchestra before marrying Mr Mancini in 1947.

I first became aware of Henry Holloway’s enthusiastic efforts with regard to the Glenn Miller legacy in the 1970s, when he regularly sent me his IN THE MOOD newsletter of his Glenn Miller Appreciation Society of South Africa, and when he asked me to accept Honorary Life Membership of the Society.

As our communications increased, I realized more and more what an ardent and knowledgeable big band aficionado Henry was, and what a passion he had for the Great American Songbook.

By 1980 his weekly syndicated radio series, Back to the Big Bands, had not only made him well-known in South Africa, but it started gaining credence in America as well. So much so, that when Henry wrote me that he would be visiting the USA in 1981, I invited him to my Los Angeles home.

On Sunday, January 26th, 1981 I met Henry Holloway in person for the first time, and my first (late) wife, Bunny, and I spent a wonderful couple of hours reminiscing about those splendid four-and-a-quarter years during which I was a trombonist with Glenn Miller and his civilian band. And Henry continued to draw facts about my musical life after World War II from me. He soaked up my playing trombone while studying at UCLA until I obtained my Doctorate, and then becoming Professor of Jazz Studies for 23 years at the same university.

In fact, I had retired from UCLA shortly before Henry’s visit, so Bunny and I decided to pay Henry a visit in South Africa in 1982. Sadly, Bunny passed away and the visit did not transpire, but I wanted to fulfill Bunny’s desire to visit Henry, so on January 14th, 1983 I flew into the Johannesburg airport.

The two weeks which I spent with Henry and his Glenn Miller Society friends were memorable. I was asked to do a number of radio interviews, the highlight of which was the recording with Henry of two of his Back to the Big Bands programs on the 24th of January. The cherry on the top, however, was a special recital at Henry’s home studio on January 30th, 1983. The members were particularly enamored by my private films about those Glenn Miller days, and I donated a copy of them to the Society.

At the end of the recital, Henry announced that January 30th would in future be Paul Tanner Day, and I believe that that remains so to this day.

Henry also announced that he would be taking a group of fans to the USA in August 1983, and I offered to meet them at the Los Angeles airport, and during their stay there I would do various things for them. And so it came to fruition. I drove them in a small bus to Disneyland (where Louis Bellson was playing at the time), to Burbank for a taping of the Tonight television show, to San Diego to attend a concert by the then current Official Glenn Miller Orchestra, directed by Larry O’Brien, to Carmelo’s (where Shelley Manne was playing), and to the homes of Sammy Cahn, George Montgomery, Tex Beneke, Billy May, Johnny Best, Paula Kelly and one or two other notable people.

I kept in touch with Henry for the next few years, and in 1986 my wife Jan and I had the pleasure of entertaining Henry and HIS new wife, Marilyn, at our home in Carlsbad.

In June 1992 the American Ambassador in South Africa, Mr William Lacy Swing, officially opened Henry’s music studio, Swingdom, and I was so intrigued by the name similarities that I sent Henry a special congratulatory message, especially as I know that swing is Henry’s bag, and that he is a world authority on it.

The Big Band Academy of America acknowledged that fact officially in 2003 when they awarded their prestigious Golden Bandstand Award to Henry in Los Angeles for his tireless efforts in support of this music on his radio programs and personal appearances during the previous 30 years (at that time). Not only is Henry the first and only South African to be thus honored, but he is one of just two non-Americans in history to receive this award. If one considers that Glenn Miller, Frank Sinatra, Benny Goodman, Duke Ellington and Billy May are just five of the more than 50 legends who have been honored in this way, Henry Holloway is in good company. I am pleased to add that I have also received the Golden Bandstand Award.

And now, in late 2009, Henry has again been honored in America, this time by an American book publisher, who has agreed to publish his autobiography. And having known Henry for more than 30 years now, I can fervently say that his book, titled Swing, Sing and All That Jazz, should be on every music lover’s bookshelf.

Dr Paul Tanner

Professor Emeritus

Jazz Studies

UCLA, California

When I visited South Africa in 1981 on a performance tour, one of the people who met me at the airport was Henry Holloway. I knew very little about him at that point in time, but when I left for my home in Panama City Beach, Florida, two weeks later, I had amassed, between my various gigs, such a wealth of information about this informative broadcaster/musicologist that a lifelong friendship had been firmly cemented between us.

Not only did Henry know things about me which I had forgotten (for instance that Gerry Mulligan and I were the world-record holders with 20 Down Beat Awards each among all jazz instrumentalists, but that I am indeed the world leader in awards won if you put all the jazz polls together), but his knowledge about the Golden Age of light music (especially in the big-band field, and most particularly about Glenn Miller) was amazing.

Henry attended my concerts at the President Hotel and at the Johannesburg Jazz Club, cheering like mad from the front row on each occasion.

Henry’s regular Saturday-evening radio programs, Back to the Big Bands, had made him nationally famous in South Africa, and I was delighted to be his guest on two of these broadcasts. And he was partly instrumental in my recording a television program at the SABC (South African Broadcasting Corporation), where he worked.

Henry invited me to his home in Johannesburg for dinner during my visit, and we spent a most happy and fascinating evening discovering how much we had in common musically.

By the time I left South Africa (and Henry was one of the people who saw me off at the airport) I had invited him to spend a few days with me and my wife Joyce, at our home during his intended visit to the USA in 1982.

I fetched Henry Holloway at a military airport near Panama City Beach when he flew in from South Africa in September 1982, and his visit with us turned out to be a bonus in so many ways. Henry fitted in with us so easily through his affable ways, and the music angle was intensified when I took Henry to our close friend Bob Downing’s house near to ours. Bob, a multi-millionaire property developer, who was instrumental in bringing me and Joyce to live in Panama City Beach some years earlier, was a Glenn Miller nut, so it all worked out fine with Henry.

Bob took us to nearby Seal Island with his yacht, and Henry marveled at the warmth of the northwestern Florida ocean (the Gulf of Mexico). Bob also sold Henry a plot of land in one of his new developments, on the corner of Moonlight Avenue and Serenade Lane. How appropriate for a Glenn Miller authority!!

I gave Henry a miniature harmonica on a neck chain and he wore it for many years afterwards.

A journalist from a local newspaper came to our house, and did a double-page article, with a number of photographs included, of the three Glenn Miller fanatics. Henry made sure that the journalist inserted the fact that I directed the Official Glenn Miller Orchestra between 1966 and 1974. When Henry left us a few days later to continue his American trip, Joyce and I felt that we had made a friend for life.

In 1986 Henry brought his brand-new wife, Marilyn (a marvelous broadcaster in her own right) to meet us, and we had a ball together for another few days. Bob and Joan Downing joined us on a number of occasions, and a good time was had by everyone. Bob’s yacht, Seal Island and the lukewarm sea impressed Marilyn as much as Henry had been impressed four years earlier… .

When Henry came to Los Angeles in 2003 to receive the coveted Golden Bandstand Award from the Big Band Academy of America for his fantastic services to big bands, one of jazz’s greatest offshoots, I was almost in the chair next to him. I had also been invited to be honored with the same award, but I could not cancel a prior appointment on the 2nd of March that year. My very close music associate and friend, Terry Gibbs, sat next to Henry, and they both told me that they missed my presence there. You just can’t win ’em all… .

I am very happy to write this Foreword to Henry’s autobiography, entitled Swing, Sing and All That Jazz, which I can assure readers will be a winner, because I know Henry Holloway, and what he has done for American music on his radio programs over the past 35 years.

Buddy DeFranco

Note: Buddy DeFranco has won more Down Beat, Metronome and Playboy polls than any other clarinetist in jazz history; in fact, it is believed he has won more polls than any other jazz instrumentalist in history. Buddy won the Down Beat poll 20 times (and came in second or third on numerous other occasions), the Metronome All Stars 9 times, and the Playboy All Stars’ ALL STARS award 16 times (where the All Stars voted for THEIR all stars). In 2006 America’s highest award, the Jazz Masters Award from the National Endowment for the Arts, went to Buddy, and in 2007 he was presented with a Living Legend Award at the Kennedy Centre’s Jazz In Our Time Gala.

I am confident that I know Henry Holloway both personally and professionally as well as, if not better than, most do. Why do I make that claim? It is because of the extensive research I conducted on Henry for well over a year for both an article I wrote about him for the Los Angeles publication L.A. Jazz Scene and the chapter I wrote about him for my book When Swing Was the Thing: Personality Profiles of the Big Band Era.

I first became dramatically aware of Henry’s enormous contributions to the cause of the big bands in 2002. That year the Board of Directors of the Big Band Academy of America, of which I am a Board Member, voted unanimously to award their prestigious Golden Bandstand Award to Henry Holloway on March 2, 2003, at their Annual Reunion in Studio City, California. The event drew a packed-to-capacity crowd of over 700 attendees in the historic Sportsman’s Lodge. I’ll never forget Henry’s eloquent acceptance speech. In fact, that speech persuaded me to write an extensive article about his by then thirty-year-long broadcasting career on the Great American Songbook. Incidentally, it’s amazing that of the fifty-odd music legends who have been honored with this award (including Frank Sinatra, Glenn Miller, Duke Ellington, Jo Stafford, Billy May, and Tex Beneke) only two people are non-Americans, and Henry Holloway is one of them.

I started my research afterwards, and by the time my article on Henry appeared in the April 2007 issue of the L.A. Jazz Scene I was exhorting Henry to write his autobiography. Henry’s passion for the American big bands, their great vocalists, and mainstream small-group jazz served as a catalyst to urge Henry on.

In 2009 my book, When Swing Was The Thing was published by the Marquette University Press. It included chapters on, among others, Benny Goodman, Glenn Miller, Artie Shaw, Dr Paul Tanner, Jo Stafford, Dolores O’Neill, Bea Wain, Fletcher Henderson, George T. Simon and, of course, Henry Holloway. One sentence in my chapter on Henry is most significant: Henry Holloway’s knowledge of the Swing Era is encyclopedic.

On the sixth of June 2009 I was one of twenty specially selected famous music personalities invited by Ginny Mancini to honor Henry Holloway at an elegant dinner at her magnificent high-rise penthouse on Wilshire Boulevard that impressively overlooks all of Los Angeles. I was delighted to officially hand a copy of my book to Henry after dinner. I asked him: Henry, have you started your autobiography? He replied: Thanks to you, John, yes! I was honored to hear him say that.

Henry Holloway has led an uncommonly colorful life of significant accomplishment that he has most fortunately documented. I can confidently state that no music lover should be without Henry’s book, "Swing, Sing and All That Jazz", which happens to be the title of his regular radio programs. How appropriate!!

John Tumpak

Los Angeles

Published Author/Jazz Journalist/

Director Big Band Academy of America

[e-mail]

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During the 1980s and 1990s my late father, Les Brown, from time to time mentioned the South African broadcaster, Henry Holloway, whom he had been in touch with from the 1970s, and who had regularly played music from the Band of Renown’s book on his ongoing radio programs, Swing, Sing and All That Jazz.

It was only on the evening of September 28th, 1999 that I became forcibly conscious for the first time of what an important place Henry held among leading American musicians in relation to the Great American Songbook.

On that evening the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences of America staged a glittering tribute to my father for entering the Guinness Book of World Records for leading his Band of Renown for an amazing 60 years. The function took place in the ballroom of the Beverly Wilshire Hotel in Beverly Hills, and one thousand American music VIP’s (plus Henry Holloway) heard the Master of Ceremonies, the legendary Steve Allen, opening the events as follows: Ladies and Gentlemen, first of all I’d like to welcome a man who’s come 10,000 miles from South Africa to join us in paying tribute to Les Brown. This man has broadcast Les’s music, and that of his peers, on his radio programs during the past quarter century, internationally, Mr Henry Holloway.

The place erupted!! The floodlights and television cameras swung onto Henry, and those famous Americans cheered and applauded for a long time, as he bowed, waved and smiled. I was directing the Band of Renown that evening, and I watched in amazement from the stage… .

There were two VIP tables that evening… the Brown family’s table and the Master of Ceremonies’ table. Henry sat at Steve’s table, between Jack Jones and Larry Gelbart. That too must tell you something.

I met Henry after the function (while pictures of my dad and Henry were being taken), and we resolved to stay in touch. Little did I know then how soon and under what circumstances that would be.

My father passed away on January 4th, 2001, and I assumed ownership and leadership of the Band of Renown. Henry contacted me and told me that he was planning to broadcast a 60-part radio series on Les Brown and his Band of Renown (in keeping with the Guinness figure of 60 years), and that those programs would each be of one hour’s duration. What a mammoth undertaking!!!

True to his word, Henry started the series, and I sent him a message, thanking him on behalf of my family, and concluding with the following words: Henry, this series must be the longest ever in the history of this planet. And so it was. SIXTY hours!!

In 2003 Henry Holloway again came to the Los Angeles area, this time to receive an unbelievable honor: The Golden Bandstand Award from the Big Band Academy of America. Included among the 49 Americans who have been honored with this prestigious award are Glenn Miller, Frank Sinatra, Benny Goodman and… . Les Brown. Only two non-Americans in history have received this award, and Henry Holloway is one of them.

During the 2003 visit by Henry, we naturally spoke on the telephone, and I invited him for lunch. It was a wonderful time to reminisce, and we certainly did.

Now comes the cherry on the top: An American Publisher has agreed to publish Henry’s autobiography, titled Swing, Sing and All That Jazz (the name of his regular radio programs, when he’s not doing a specialist series), and it is my pleasure to write this Endorsement for the book. No music lover should be without a copy of it. It’s fascinating.

Les Brown Jnr

The Band of Renown

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Mr F W de Klerk, former State President of South Africa, and Henry, holding Henry’s Golden Bandstand Award

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Ginny Mancini, Co-Founder, President and Chairman of America’s Society of Singers, and Henry

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Dr Paul Tanner, Professor Emeritus Jazz Studies UCLA, and Henry, broadcasting Henry’s Back To The Big Bands

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Buddy DeFranco, clarinetist/bandleader/poll winner supreme, and Henry, broadcasting Henry’s Back To The Big Bands

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John Tumpak, Board Member of the Big Band Academy of America, and Henry, holding John’s book When Swing Was The Thing, which includes a chapter on Henry

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Pat Longo, Board Member and Music Director of the Big Band Academy of America, and Henry

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Les Brown Jnr, owner/music director of The Band Of Renown, and Henry

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Henry’s Golden Bandstand Award

Henry is one of only two non-Americans to have received this award

The 50-odd American recipients include Frank Sinatra,

Glenn Miller, Benny Goodman and Duke Ellington

SWING, SING AND ALL THAT JAZZ

The Autobiography of Henry Holloway

HENRY HOLLOWAY

©

Copyright 2015 Henry Holloway.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the written prior permission of the author.

ISBN: 978-1-4669-7630-6 (sc)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2013903497

Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Thinkstock are models,

and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Thinkstock.

Trafford rev. 02/23/2015

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Table of Contents

Endorsements

Dedication

Acknowledgments

Foreword

Coda

Preface

Introduction

Prologue

Chapter I. Growing Up

Chapter II. Work and Play

Chapter III. Love and Marriage?

Chapter IV. The Second Time Around

Chapter V. 1974

Chapter VI. Eve Boswell

Chapter VII. All About Eve

Chapter VIII. Ups and Downs

Chapter IX. The Million Airs

Chapter X. Watershed

Chapter XI. My First American Trip

Chapter XII. Peanuts Hucko

Chapter XIII. My Second American Trip

Chapter XIV. Dr Paul Tanner

Chapter XV. Taking My Group To The USA

Chapter XVI. Miller Magic, Fred Shaw, Peanuts Again

Chapter XVII. Back to the Big Bands and Marilyn Verster

Chapter XVIII. A New Life

Chapter XIX. Between Visits

Chapter XX. Irving Berlin—on Radio and Stage

Chapter XXI. The Sammy Cahn Story

Chapter XXII. End of Epic Eighties

Chapter XXIII. The Notable Nineties

Chapter XXIV. Tole/Tex Star and Billy Amstell

Chapter XXV. Mother, Swingdom and Woman’s World Ending

Chapter XXVI. Glimpses of Europe in the Nineties

Chapter XXVII. Amazing American Association

Chapter XXVIII. American Ambassador William Lacy Swing

Chapter XXIX. Another Watershed

Chapter XXX. Changing Times

Chapter XXXI. Rotary President, Fine Music Radio

Chapter XXXII. The End of An Era

Chapter XXXIII. The End of Another Era

Chapter XXXIV. Hal Shaper, Henry’s CD, Clanwilliam

Chapter XXXV. Steve Allen, Les Brown, Artie Shaw, Ray Evans, Milt Bernhart, Pat Longo, Abe Most, BBC

Chapter XXXVI. The Twenty-first Century

Chapter XXXVII. Les Brown, Alandia Jazz

Chapter XXXVIII. The Alandia Jazz Festival, Mariehamn, Aland Islands, July 2001

Chapter XXXIX. The Golden Bandstand Award

Chapter XL. The Awards Ceremony

Chapter XLI. More Plaudits in South Africa

Chapter XLII. Henry Holloway and his Golden Bandstand Award with some legends…..

Chapter XLIII. Two Lecture Cruises

Chapter XLIV. The Years Between

Chapter XLV. Guinness World Records

Chapter XLVI. 2009 USA Trip The Best Ever

Chapter XLVII. Gratefully Yours

Dedication

My late mother, Ouma Bess, my late brother, Alf, and my late Dachsie child, Tallulah, my wife Marilyn, who is a much better broadcaster than I, my daughters Lee and Samantha, my grandchildren Genevieve and Tyronne, my extended family, especially my niece Dorothy.

Acknowledgments

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Joán and Henry in 2009

My SPECIAL thanks and appreciation to Joán McGinnis for her editing, proofreading, blocksetting (making the whole book print-ready), guidance, support and patience, sometimes against extreme odds, in making this book happen. Without her, it would not have seen the light of day.

About a year before the publication of this book, Joán felt that she had done her part sufficiently (and she did!) so she graciously withdrew from the project in regard to photographs still to be chosen, scanned and emailed to Trafford. By a miracle I discovered Diane Witman, also from California, who is a wizard with computers and cleaning up photographs, and she did exactly that—rejuvenate imperfect images. Mere words can not thank her enough! Diane went out of her way to present me with amazingly improved photos, always remaining charming and friendly.

At about the same time as Diane, Evan Villadores came into my life. Evan is the Production Supervisor for Trafford Publishing, and he assisted me in so many ways to finalise this book. We were in almost daily contact, and Evan stayed cool, calm and collected throughout our association. Nothing was too much for him to do!

As I thanked Joán, so I thank Diane and Evan; without them this book would more than likely never have seen the light of day!

Foreword

Henry Holloway started his broadcasting career in 1974, and up to now (mid 2007) he has devised, researched, compiled, scripted, produced and presented literally thousands of music programmes on South African and overseas radio stations, notably the BBC. Henry’s long-running series on Glenn Miller (21 half-hour programmes in 1974, 51 in 1984 and 115 in 2004/2005/2006) have all been acknowledged by international experts as world records in each instance at the time. His 60 programmes of one hour each on Les Brown in 2001/2002 have also been acknowledged as such.

The American music fraternity, especially, has credited Henry in a most practical way by presenting to him, on March 2, 2003, in Los Angeles, their Golden Bandstand Award, for devoting more than 30 years of his life in promoting (on radio and personal presentations) the only art form to emerge from America, jazz, and particularly the Big Bands, for which Henry has long been acknowledged as a world authority. Henry is not just the only South African to ever receive this prestigious award, he is one of just two non-Americans in history to be so honoured. As a matter of interest, Frank Sinatra, Glenn Miller, Benny Goodman, Duke Ellington and Stan Kenton are just five of the 50-odd Americans who’ve been so acclaimed.

In 1999 Henry was also honoured in America. The National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences invited him to a special Guinness World Record event in Beverly Hills. Les Brown had just been nominated to that hallowed distinction for leading his Band of Renown for 60 years, and a special celebration was organized at the Beverly Wilshire Hotel. One thousand American music VIP’s (and Henry Holloway) were present, and Steve Allen, the Master of Ceremonies, not only invited Henry to sit at his table, but paid tribute to Henry’s broadcasts of American music at the very beginning of the evening’s programme. A charming end to this story must be added: on that same day, September 28, 1999, Steve Allen had invited Henry to lunch, and then video-taped an interview.

Receiving the Golden Bandstand Award in America had tremendous spin-offs in South Africa for Henry. He received congratulatory letters from many people, including world-famous persons like Nobel Peace Laureate and the country’s Ex-President, Mr FW de Klerk, another Nobel Peace Laureate, Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu, legendary golfers Gary Player and Ernie Els, and jazz fan extraordinaire Cyril Ramaphosa, who just happens to be a billionaire businessman. From these letters photo sessions eventuated, as could be expected, gleefully pounced upon by newspapers.

Another direct spin-off from this award was a month-long lecture cruise in early 2004. The owners of the ultra-luxury liner, Constellation, offered Henry a contract to present audio-visual lectures on Glenn Miller, The Other Big Bands and My Legendary Music Friends, while the ship sailed across the Atlantic from Puerto Rico via the Scandinavian capitals and then up the Baltic to St. Petersburg, returning to Dover, England.

Henry’s legendary music friends also came his way as a result of his radio broadcasts during their 30-year existence (at that time). People like Count Basie, Les Brown, Bob Crosby, Doris Day, Henry and Ginny Mancini, Pat Longo, Neal Hefti, Sammy Cahn, Teddy Wilson, Steve Allen, Terry Gibbs, Sammy Kaye, Dr Paul Tanner, George Montgomery, Milt Bernhart, Ray Evans, Frank Chacksfield, Johnny Desmond, Buddy DeFranco, Herb Ellis, Tex Beneke, Paula Kelly, Abe Most, Dodie O’Neill, Larry O’Brien, Hal Shaper, George T. Simon, Ralph Carmichael; these and others Henry can name friends or very good acquaintances.

Late in 2004 Henry received a second invitation to lecture for a month on a cruise liner, this one the Saga Rose, from Southampton, England, across the Atlantic to the Caribbean, Mexico and South America, returning to the United Kingdom.

In 1984, during Henry’s year-long radio series on Glenn Miller, Henry was interviewed on American television, because he was the catalyst in solving Glenn Miller’s disappearance in December 1944. This is a long and fascinating story, and you must read Henry’s autobiography for the details. Just to mention that a British researcher named Roy Nesbit has written a book titled Missing, Believed Killed, published by Sutton in the UK in 2002, about it, and Henry features in this remarkable saga.

Three other television documentaries have been made about Henry, the first one on May 3, 1996, and the other two just before and after he had been honoured with his Golden Bandstand Award (December 2002 and March 2003).

On June 24, 1992, the American Ambassador in South Africa at the time, Mr William Swing, officially opened Henry Holloway’s music studio, Swingdom. As swing (particularly in the Big Band idiom) is Henry’s bag, the name coincidence is truly remarkable.

In late 1998 GSE Claremont Records produced a CD in honour of Henry’s reaching 25 years (at the time) in music broadcasting. Henry was asked to select the tracks (all Swing Era classics) and also to write the sleeve notes.

Henry’s radio programmes were first broadcast on the English Service of the South African Broadcasting Corporation. The English Service later became known as Radio South Africa. Henry’s first long-running series after his 1974 Glenn Miller series was Back to the Big Bands, which ran for six years. It was broadcast just after the 7 pm news on Saturday evenings, and launched Henry into fame. Many other programmes and series were launched by Henry during those early eighties, and two of these series were beamed abroad, mainly to America. One was titled The Big Bands and the other Music in the Sun. It meant that people in other countries could hear Henry and his expertise.

While Henry’s 1974 radio series, Miller Magic, was running its course, so many South Africans wrote complimentary letters and made telephone calls about it that Henry decided to form a Glenn Miller Appreciation Society of South Africa, which he did in November 1974. People from as far away from Johannesburg (where Henry lived at the time) as Cape Town and Port Elizabeth flew in for the opening, which proved to be the start of a number of societies and clubs which Henry founded over the next 25 years, and most of these organisations exist to this day. For instance, in 1977 Henry founded The Big Band Society of South Africa, because he soon realized that there were so many other great big bands in the world (apart from Miller) that needed to be perpetuated. Then Henry founded other societies like The Audio Visual Society of South Africa (in 1988) and The Jazz Society of South Africa (in 1990). At this stage the Glenn Miller lawyers in America wrote to Henry and forbade him to use the name Glenn Miller (THAT is a LONG story!) so Henry formed The Light Music Society of South Africa and put all the above-named societies under its banner. He also founded The Nostalgia Light Music Supper Club and The Exclusive Club in 1997 and The Riverside Music Club in 1999.

In 1983 Henry led a group of jazz/swing fans on a very successful extended tour of America. They visited many music shrines there, and a number of world-renowned people welcomed them. Tex Beneke, George T. Simon (who took them on a walking tour of New York City), Dr Paul Tanner (who drove them all over Southern California in a small bus), Billy May, Sammy Cahn, Sammy Kaye, George Montgomery and Larry O’Brien (the current leader of the official Glenn Miller Orchestra) to mention just a few.

In the late 1970s and early 1980s, Henry and his then wife, the famous singer Eve Boswell, went to the United Kingdom many times, and Henry was drawn into the top circle of performers in that part of the world. Dame Vera Lynn, Dame Cleo Laine, Lord Delfont, Sir John Mills, Sir Cliff Richard, Morecambe and Wise; these are just a few of the many legends whom Henry got to know through Eve. That also included American stars Lena Horne, Ella Fitzgerald and Count Basie.

After nine years’ marriage, Henry divorced Eve Boswell in 1985, and married Marilyn Verster in 1986. Marilyn was Radio South Africa’s Golden Girl for 21 years, first as Editor/Presenter of Woman’s World, a daily actuality programme on which Marilyn interviewed many famous people, like Elizabeth Taylor, Richard Burton, Liberace and Sir Tim Rice (Andrew Lloyd-Webber’s lyricist), and then as the programme’s manager.

Many dozens of articles have been written about Henry in newspapers and magazines in South Africa, and about a dozen in American and British publications.

From 1965 up to the present day, Henry Holloway has organised, promoted and presented probably a hundred or so live concerts and dinner-dances in mainly Johannesburg and Cape Town, but also in large towns like Vereeniging, and smaller towns like Clanwilliam and Caledon. He has presented not only the very top musicians on stage, but has also given up-and-coming ones early opportunities.

Eric Kieswetter—July 2007 (Mr Kieswetter was one of South Africa’s leading arrangers, saxophonists, organists, accordionists and clarinetists for about 40 years from the late 1930s. He died on September 18, 2007).

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Henry and Eric Kieswetter, holding his alto sax. Eric’s organ is in the background. Picture taken in 1996

Coda

In 2009 Henry Holloway undertook one of his most successful visits to the USA. During his slightly less than three weeks there, he was showered with love and kindness by many people. The accolades paid him rate very highly on his all-time list.

Henry arrived at the magnificent mansion of Betty Rose in Sherman Oaks on June 3, 2009 and that evening Betty and daughter Angela took him to dinner at a smart French restaurant which was the forerunner of a weeklong spoil Henry campaign! Every day it was lunch and dinner with someone famous, including child star Jane Withers and legendary arranger Pete Rugolo, to name just two.

The highlight of those early June days was without a doubt the evening of June 6th, D-day!

Henry’s other closest lady friend in America (besides Betty), lovely Ginny Mancini, had arranged a sophisticated sit down dinner for 20 (famous people!) at her magnificent penthouse on Wilshire Boulevard in Los Angeles, in honour of Henry. Yes, Henry!!!

If you know your music, you’ll know that Ginny is the widow of the legendary Henry Mancini, and Betty the widow of the also legendary David Rose. Tony Martin (then 96 years old!) was there, as well as 93 year old Bea Wain, voted Best Female Band Singer of 1938 in America, Ray Charles (he of the Ray Charles singers, or as he always says: the other Ray Charles!), beautiful Monica Mancini, who sings like an angel (how else with parents Hank and Ginny?), Terry Gibbs (a better vibes player alive today?), Pat Longo (musical director of the Big Band Academy’s Blue Ribbon Band and a director of the BBAA), the awesomely talented Patrick Williams, (composer/arranger/conductor/pianist who works with Monica regularly), drummer Gregg Field (ex Sinatra, Basie and Ella) who just happens to be Monica’s husband, Ellen Donaldson (who administers the catalogue of her father, the famous composer Walter Donaldson), David Bernhart, President of the Big Band Academy of America (his father, Milt, handed Henry his Golden Bandstand Award in 2003, and sadly died before the 2004 awards ceremony), John Tumpak, another BBAA director, as well as one of America’s leading music journalists (Henry occupies a whole chapter in his latest book!) I can go on and on… . Oh, megastar Julie Andrews and her husband, film director Blake Edwards, had also accepted Ginny’s invitation to attend, but had to cancel at the last moment because Blake was decidedly unwell. Readers will know that Mr Edwards subsequently died.

Henry’s head was spinning when he left the West Coast on June 10th, and he flew to the American midwest, specifically to go to Clarinda, a small town tucked away in the southwestern corner of the state of Iowa. Glenn Miller was born there in 1904, and every year (in June) the Glenn Miller Birthplace Society holds a festival in remembrance of its most famous son. People from all parts of the globe attend, and Henry was honoured in two ways in particular: he was asked to be the Grand Marshall on the Grand Parade through the town (the first-ever non-American to be so honoured) and to be on the high profile discussion panel (the only South African ever asked). During the panel discussion Henry handed two sets of his world record-breaking MILLER MAGIC radio series of 2004/06 (115 half-hour programmes) to Marvin Negley, President of the Glenn Miller Birthplace Society, as well as to Dr Alan Cass, Curator of the Glenn Miller Archive at the University of Colorado, based at Boulder.

Which is where Henry went to when he left Clarinda on June 15th. Dr Cass fetched him at the Denver airport, and took him home (to Longmont, near Boulder) from where they (and Alan’s charming wife, Sue) plus the Senior Consultant of the GM Archive, Dennis Spragg, travelled to various GM shrines (Miller attended the University of Colorado in the early ’20s).

They also made Henry a Member of the Heritage Society of the University of Colorado because of his announcement (during a broadcast at station KEZW in Denver with Programme Director Rick Crandall on June 18th) that he was bequeathing his entire Glenn Miller collection to the GMA at CU.

When Henry flew home on June 19th his head was spinning even more. A remarkable visit!

Brian Barends

Mr Barends was a Director of Reader’s Digest for many years. After he retired, one of the many relaxations he delved into was helping Henry form his various music societies and clubs in Cape Town in the late 1980s and first half of the 1990s. Brian was Vice