Who was/is Big Dave ? - CDs, Vinyl LPs, DVD and more
Big Dave And His Orchestra
Rock And Roll Party
Tenor saxophonist Dave Cavanaugh became a session player in California during the mid-1940s, working with the bands of Woody Herman, Eddie Miller, Bobby Sherwood and Benny Carter and backing singers like Sammy Davis, Jr., Ella Mae Morse and Peggy Lee. In the early ‘50s, Cavanaugh became the director of A&R for Capitol Records where he signed artists such as Dakota Staton, Nancy Wilson and Plas Johnson and produced artists such as Nat 'King' Cole, Peggy Lee, Billy May and Frank Sinatra. He also arranged Sinatra's "spoof doo-wop" single, Two Hearts, included on this compilation.
Maybe Rock And Roll Party was a spoof as well. On the other hand, pioneer rock 'n' roll DJ Alan Freed is listed as a 'co-writer' so the record could have been intended as a theme for Freed's Rock 'n' Roll Party radio show. Whatever the intention, as much as Big Dave and his cast of accomplished session players and singers try to rock, they just don't make the grade. In fact, they come off sounding stiff, square and clueless. Not surprisingly, the record failed to chart. Nor did Alan Freed take the bait and use it as a nightly theme song.
Cavanaugh remained with Capitol Records, eventually becoming president. He stayed with the label until his death in 1981
Various The Popsters - They Tried To Rock Vol.3
Read more at: https://www.bear-family.com/various-the-popsters-they-tried-to-rock-vol.3.html
Copyright © Bear Family Records
Copyright © Bear Family Records®. Copying, also of extracts, or any other form of reproduction, including the adaptation into electronic data bases and copying onto any data mediums, in English or in any other language is permissible only and exclusively with the written consent of Bear Family Records® GmbH.