Russell Davies - 29/08/2010

A new release by glamorous singing bass-player Nicki Parrott leads Russell Davies this week into a brief exploration of vocalising bull-fiddlers and we hear from Slam Stewart and Major Holley in duet and, with Lew Stone's band in the 1930's, the unusual sound of Tiny Winters. Next, Russell turns to recently-departed music mogul Mitch Miller who first made his mark as one of America's most in-demand oboists. We hear him on an early Frank Sinatra side in this capacity before moving onto to two of Miller's most famous proteges - Guy Mitchell and Rosemary Clooney. Mentioning a good deed of Miller's (he's tended to have a bad press over the years), Russell tells how, when black Leslie Uggams was part of the "Sing Along With Mitch" TV show and the suits told him to remove her from the cast, Miller told them if she went, the whole Miller package went. August 29th is the date of Charlie Parker's birth - we hear one of the few vocal records backed by his quartet. A string of connections, starting with this date, lead also to Ethel Waters, Sammy Davis Jr, and Judith Durham before we hear Nina Simone's moving account of "The Last Rose Of Summer" and a final word from Spike Milligan.