Jerry Wald and His Orchestra

Swing outfit led by clarinettist Jerry Wald and launched at Child's Spanish Garden in New York City in 1941. Between 1942 and 1943, the band enjoyed a lengthy tenure at the Lincoln Hotel and at the Panther Room of the Hotel Sherman. The main focus was on Wald's clarinet solos which were played in the style of his idol Artie Shaw . Wald also hired several Shaw alumni to emulate the sound of the Shaw Orchestra: trumpet player Bernie Privin, saxophonist Les Robinson, bass player Sid Weiss, vocalist Anita Boyer and arrangers Ray Conniff, Bill Challis and Jerry Gray. Other band members variously included saxists Larry Elgart and Bobby Dukoff, trombonist Ray Sims, guitarists Billy Bauer and Art Ryerson, Irv Cottler on drums, vocalist Ginny Powell and arranger Manny Albam. Wald's theme song was "Call of the Wild". The band had recording contracts with Decca, Majestic and Columbia and was sponsored on radio by the Robert Q. Lewis Show. By adopting a more progressive style of swing in the mid-40s, Wald's heyday extended to the end of the decade by which time he relocated to Hollywood, leading another big band at the Studio Club. In 1952, he returned to New York where he made several Decca recordings featuring Chris Connor .