FASHIONS IN MELODY

New Zealand Listener, Volume 5, Issue 113, 22 August 1941, Page 13

FASHIONS IN MELODY

music will be interested in the new session Fashions in Melody, a studio presentation, featuring Ossie Cheesman, his Piano and his Orchestra, which is now being heard on Tuesday evenings from 1YA. For some time, this combination had been heard fortnightly from the Auckland station, but it is now a regular weekly feature, and the first of its kind from 1YA., While the new session was in process of organisation, A. R. G. Bothamley, of the NBS, paid a visit to Auckland to who follow modern

assist in "balancing" the new combination for radio work. This work of "balancing," i.e., the disposal of niicrophones so as to ensure the proper blending of the various sections, éntails more precision in respect to dance combinations than other broadcasting combinations, and to this work Mr. Bothaniley brings expert knowledge. Generally four microphones are used to broadcast a modern dance orchestra, thereby en- ~~ e

siting the proper balance of brass, saxophone and rhythm sections, and so on, Personnel The personnel of the new show is as follows: Leader: Ossie Cheesman. As leader of Ossie Cheesman’s Dance Orchestra, he has already been introduced to readers of The Listener. Associated at one time with Craig Crawford (who broadcasts from Sydney to the CBS network), he plays the piano and the piano-accordion, and also does most of the arranging for the combination. Saxophones: J. ("Tiny") McMahon, Jimmy and Pat Watters and Bert Peterson. McMahon was for years associated with leading bands in Australia, and was at one time a member of Maurie Gilman’s Sydney group, specialising in cabaret and broadcasting work. Jimmy and Pat Watters on tenor sax. specialise in ad lib work. Peterson will be known to many listeners, as he has himself led | bands in New Zealand. Brass: Stan. Hills, Phil. Campbell, Vern. Wilson and Des. Blundell. Hills (trumpet), has played in most centres in New Zealand, and he also arranges. Phil. Campbell is the hot trunipet in the outfit, and also plays the mellophone; he leads one of Auckland’s best-known cabaret bands. Wilson (trumpet, mellophone and violin), is well-known in New Zealand, and has also played extensively in Australia, having spent a year in Brisbane under Bill O’Smith. Blundell (trombone), is an 18-year-old and the junior in the combination. Percussion and Strings: Johnny Madden and Ian ("Nin") Pitcaithley. Madden (drums and vocal), is well-known to many listeners already, and has a band of his own in Auckland. Pitcaithley, equally well-known in Wellington and ~ Auckland, is responsiblé for bass and tar. The girl vocalist associated with the orchestra is Betty Spiro, who this year won the Walter Impett Vocal Scholarship. : -----