Abe Holzmann (1874-1939) was a German/American composer, who is most famous today for his march Blaze-Away! Abraham Holzmann was born in New York City in August 1874. He studied at the New York Conservatory of Music. He was an early member (1923) of the American Society of Composers Authors and Publishers ( ASCAP). He earned his living as composer/arranger for Tin Pan Alley publishers, including Leo Feist. He later was advertising manager for the American Federation of Musicians publication International Musician. He was a Mason, and member of the Elks and Knights of Pythias, all in New York. Holzmann died in East Orange New Jersey in January 1939.

Eric Coates (August 27, 1886 – December 21, 1957) was an English composer of light music and a viola player. He was born in Hucknall in Nottinghamshire, the son of a doctor, and studied music at the Royal Academy of Music in London from 1906, receiving viola lessons from Lionel Tertis. From 1910 he played in the Queen's Hall Orchestra under Henry Wood, becoming principal violist in 1912. By the end of the 1910s he was concentrating entirely on composition, having been forced to give up the viola for medical reasons. Amongst his early champions was Sir Edward Elgar. "By The Sleepy Lagoon" became a hit and was later adopted by the BBC as the signature tune for their popular programme "Desert Island Discs" which has run for more than 50 years.

David Warren Brubeck (born December 6, 1920 in Concord, California), better known as Dave Brubeck, is a US jazz pianist. Regarded as a genius in his field, he has written a number of jazz standards, including "It's a Raggy Waltz". Brubeck's style ranges from refined to bombastic, reflecting his mother's attempts at classical training, and his improvisational skills. Much of his music employs unusual time signatures.

Neal Hefti (born October 29, 1922 in Hastings, Nebraska) is an American jazz trumpeter, composer, tune writer, and arranger. He was considered one of the greatest in the field. He began arranging professionally in his teens, when he wrote charts for Nat Towles. He became a prominent composer and arranger while playing trumpet for Woody Herman. While working for Herman he provided new arrangements for "Woodchopper's Ball" and "Blowin' Up a Storm" and composed "The Good Earth" and "Wild Root." After leaving Herman's band in 1946, Hefti concentrated on arranging and composing, although he occasionally led his own bands. He is especially known for his charts for Count Basie such as "Li'l Darlin'" and "Cute".

Phil Coulter (born 19 February 1942) is an Irish songwriter, performer and music producer. With his writing partner Bill Martin he penned numerous hit songs for a variety of popular singers in the 1960s and 70s, probably the best known being Sandie Shaw's Eurovision Song Contest winning entry "Puppet on a String" (1967) which went on to become an international hit with more than 100 cover versions. In the 1980s Phil scored major successes performing his own material. He continues to be a popular performer in his native country and around the world. "Home Away From Home" is taken from a suite called "Winter's Crossing". This inspiring collection of seasonal music tells the tale of the men and women who braved a rough ocean crossing to come to America from Northern Ireland, full of hope and strength. It includes a wide range of music from spirited jigs to touching melodies. The most popular version of this piece features Sir James Galway on flute.

George Blackmore FRCO, one of Britain's most popular and most versatile organists, was born in Chatham in 1921. He first played the cinema organ at the Regent, and later at the Palace in Chatham. At 18 he was appointed organist to the Majestic in Rochester, a nearby town and gave his first broadcast from there in 1941. Upon being discharged from his Service years in the RAF he was appointed to the Gaumont Birmingham, and broadcast regularly for the BBC. From 1950 George spent seven years (frequently on air) playing the Compton organs in the Capitol and Astoria Theatres. In 1957 he joined Associated British Cinemas (ABC) and toured their theatres also. He frequently toured Australia and the United States, endearing himself to the ATOS at their 1975 convention in San Francisco. Unfortunately George passed away on February 21 1994. I include this composition as a tribute to him. (Astute listeners might detect the beginning of the famous Trumpet Voluntary in the opening pedal notes of this piece. George once told me this was a complete coincidence. I wonder?)

Jerry Allen was brought up in Margate, the son of a church organist, and was educated at Chatham House Ramsgate. At the age of 14 he was tragically struck down with polio. While recovering he appeared at the Regal Cinema Margate, where he was discovered by the comedian Tommy Trinder, who put him on tour where he leant the business, playing parts in sketches and singing etc. His first big break came with the West End show "Strike a New Note". Many radio and theatre shows followed which eventually led to Jerry's marathon association with ATV's "Lunchbox" which ran five days a week for exactly eight years. Jerry's arrangements of the well known classics, pop, swing and the coolest jazz are known to this day amongst organ enthusiasts: his style utterly unique and all his own. He was a fine composer and arranger. From the Hammond of the 1940s to the later Lowrey, Jerry made the organ sound all his own. Sadly Jerry died in the mid 1980s just before his 60th birthday. I include this composition, named after his daughter Mandy, as a tribute to him.

"Tie A Yellow Ribbon Round The Ole Oak Tree" written by Irwin Levine and L Russell Brown. It was a massive worldwide hit in 1973 for Dawn featuring Tony Orlando, and reached number one in both the UK and US charts for four weeks in April that year. "Cheek to Cheek" written by Irving Berlin and first performed by Fred Astaire in the movie Top Hat (1935). It soon became a standard sung by many other artists including Bing Crosby, Louis Armstrong, Ella Fitzgerald, Eva Cassidy, Doris Day, Jane Monheit and Frank Sinatra.

"Tangerine" written by Johnny Mercer and Victor Schertzinger in 1941 and played by the Jimmy Dorsey Orchestra in 1942. "Once in a While" written by Michael Edwards and Bud Green, and published in 1937. The song is a much-recorded standard. One of the best known recordings was made by Patti Page in 1952. "I'm Confessin' that I Love You" written by Doc Daugherty, Al J Neiberg and Ellis Reynolds and published in 1930. It is a popular song which has been recorded many times, and was also a number one hit for Frank Ifield in the United Kingdom and Ireland in 1963.

Charles Camille Saint-Saëns (9 October 1835 – 16 December 1921) was a French composer, organist, conductor and pianist known especially for his orchestral works. Saint-Saëns was born in Paris to a government clerk who died three months after his son's birth. His mother Clémence sought the assistance of her aunt Charlotte Masson, who moved in and introduced Saint-Saëns to the piano. One of the most talented child prodigies of his time, he possessed perfect pitch and began piano lessons with his great-aunt at two years old. In 1886 Saint-Saëns completed Le Carnaval des Animaux which was first performed on 9 March. Despite the work's great popularity today, Saint-Saëns forbade complete performances of it shortly after its première; allowing only one movement Le Cygne (The Swan), a piece for cello and two pianos, to be published in his lifetime. Carnival was written as a musical jest and Saint-Saëns believed it would damage his reputation as a serious composer. In fact, since its posthumous publication this work's imagination and musical brilliance have impressed both ordinary listeners and music critics alike.

Jacob Gade (1869-1963)was the unknown creator of "Jealousy" (Jalousie). Jacob Thune Hansen Gade was born in Vlejel, Denmark. He belonged to a family of musicians. His grandfather and his father used to go around the nearby villages to play at all kinds of parties. And it was natural that, since early age, he as well began to play and became another member of this musical group. This is an arrangement by the late Jerry Allen, one of my earlier mentors. I include it here as a tribute to a wonderful, genuine, gifted person.

España Cañí (meaning "Gipsy Spain" in Spanish language) is a famous instrumental Spanish piece of pasodoble music by Pascual Marquina Narro (1873-1948). The song was written around 1925. It is also known as the Spanish Gypsy Dance. Its main refrain (eight bars of arpeggiated chords that go from E to F to G and back) is arguably the best known snippet of Spanish music ever, and is popular worldwide. Besides its traditional use as background music in bullfights in Spain and elsewhere, it is sometimes played (refrain only) to arouse local crowds in baseball matches in the United States!

"Amazing Grace" is a well-known Christian hymn. The words were written late in 1772 by Englishman John Newton. The melody most often used for this hymn was not original. As with other hymns of this period the words were sung to a number of tunes before and after they first became linked to the now familiar variant of the tune "New Britain", in William Walker's shape-note tunebook Southern Harmony 1835. There are several tunes to which these words have been sung. "New Britain" first appears in a shape note hymnal from 1829 called Columbian Harmony. The melody is believed to be Scottish or Irish in origin. It is pentatonic and suggests a bagpipe tune. The hymn is frequently performed on bagpipes and has become associated with that instrument. This tune seems to have been firmly established as the 'standard' for this hymn after an arrangement of it appeared in a series of popular hymnbooks in the early twentieth century. Probably the best known arrangement, particularly in UK, is an instrumental version by the Pipes and Drums and Military Band of the Royal Scots Dragoon Guards, from 1972.

Josef Franz Wagner (1856 – 1908) was an Austrian military bandmaster and composer. He is sometimes known by the soubriquet 'The Austrian March King'. He is best known for his 1902 march Unter dem Doppeladler or Under the Double Eagle, referring to the double eagle in the coat of arms of the Austro-Hungarian empire. The march became a favourite part of the repertoire of John Philip Sousa, who recorded it three times. The piece is now the official regimental march of the 1st Austrian Artillery Regiment Number 2.

Leroy Anderson (June 29 1908–May 18 1975) was an American composer of short light concert pieces, many of which were introduced by the Boston Pops Orchestra under the direction of Arthur Fiedler. John Williams described him as "one of the great American masters of light orchestral music." Born in Cambridge Massachusetts to Swedish parents, Leroy Anderson was given his first piano lessons by his mother who was an organist. He continued studying piano at the New England Conservatory of Music, and he also took double bass lessons in Boston. In 1926 Anderson entered Harvard University where he studied theory, counterpoint, harmony and composition. He graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1929 and Master of Arts in 1930.

The 12th Street Rag was composed in 1914 by Euday L. Bowman, a Ft. Worth, Texas native who was earning his living in Kansas City at that time. Bowman also composed the 11th Street Rag and the Petticoat Lane Rag, also named for streets in Kansas City. Bowman sold the rights to the 12th Street Rag to the Jenkins Music company for $100.

Ashokan Farewell is piece of music composed by Jay Ungar in 1982. It was later used as the title theme of the television mini-series The Civil War, which aired in 1990. The piece is a waltz in the style of a Scottish lament or Irish air. The most famous arrangement of the piece begins with a solo violin, later accompanied by guitar.

Leon Jessel (1871-1942) was born in the eastern German city of Stettin (now Szczecin, Poland) and mainly worked as a bandmaster and theater conductor. He is primarily remembered as a composer of lighter orchestral pieces, salon music and marches. He also achieved considerable success during his lifetime with a series of operettas which brought him considerable acclaim, though none of these have survived into the modern repertory. In fact the only piece of music through which Jessel's name is still perpetuated is a delightful march for orchestra (originally for military band) entitled "De Parade der Zinnsoldaten", or "Parade of the Tin Soldiers" which became especially well known in the UK in the late 1940's being used for almost two decades as the theme tune for the Toytown series, broadcast on what was then the BBC Home Service's Children's Hour. The Parade became a favorite for children -- and adults -- through this medium, but was seldom heard after the BBC axed this popular show.

John Walter Bratton (1867 - 1947) was an American composer and theatrical producer. He wrote over 250 songs, but is best remembered for his 1907 composition "Teddy Bears' Picnic" the only one of his songs to be a lasting hit. Although most of his compositions had lyrics, he left Teddy Bears'Picnic as an instrumental. Perhaps because it sold so well as sheet music he never felt the need to do anything else with it, except feature it in some silent movie hits of the twenties. Some 25 years later lyricist Jimmy Kennedy (then relatively unknown) was working in London's Tin Pan Alley, employed by Music Publisher Bert Feldman, and was asked by his boss to write words to the instrumental for a pantomime. Henry Hall of the BBC Dance Orchestra became aware that the instrumental now had lyrics, so he broadcast the song in the kiddies' section of his popular radio show the very next day before it had been officially published.
Bratton died in Brooklyn, New York, aged 80.

Nacio Herb Brown (1896 - 1964) was an American writer of popular songs, movie scores and Broadway theatre music from the 1920's to the early 1950's. In 1928 he was hired to work in Hollywood by MGM and write movie music for the then new medium of sound film. He often collaborated with lyricist Arthur Freed. This partnership produced Wedding of the Painted Doll and also Singin' in the Rain. Along with L Wolfe Gilbert, Nacio wrote the music for the popular children's Television Western Hopalong Cassidy, which first aired in 1949 on NBC. He was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1970. Nacio Herb Brown died in San Francisco California, aged 68.

This was written by Johann Strauss II (1825 – 1899) in 1858 after a successful tour of Russia where he performed at the summer concert season at Pavlovsk near St. Petersburg. The title may be interpreted as "Chit-Chat" and may refer to the Viennese passion for gossip, although Strauss's reference may be alluded to the one-Act burlesque 'Der Tritsch-tratsch' by the famous Austrian dramatist and actor Johann Nepomuk Nestroy, which was premiered in 1833 and was still in the stage repertoire at the same time the polka was written. The mood of the piece is jaunty and high-spirited, as were many of Strauss' polkas, and many point out that the title may also have referred to his first wife's (Henrietta Treffz) poodle, also named Tritsch-tratsch; but this remains unsubstantiated.

Hora staccato (1906) is a virtuoso violin showpiece by Grigoras Dinicu. It is a short, fast work in a Romanian dance style, and has become a favorite encore of violinists, especially in the 1932 arrangement by Jascha Heifetz. The piece requires an exceptional command of both upbow and downbow staccato. The character of the piece also demands the notes be articulated in a crisp and clear manner so that the vibrancy of music comes out. Dinicu wrote it for his graduation in 1906 from the Bucharest Conservatory, and performed it at the ceremony. Subsequently it has been arranged for other combinations of instruments, notably trumpet, piano, and now organ!

Baron Jean-Baptiste Frédéric Isidor "Toots" Thielemans (born Brussels April 29 1922) is a Belgian jazz artist well known for his guitar and harmonica playing: also for his highly accomplished professional whistling. He is often credited by jazz afficionados and jazz critics alike as being one of the greatest jazz harmonica players. He moved to the US in 1952 where he was a member of Charlie Parker's All-Stars. A jazz standard by Toots Thielemans is "Bluesette" where he used whistling and guitar in unison. Bluesette became a major 1962 world-wide hit for him, and this still much loved and requested piece has been re-recorded by him (plus many others!) and commercially released on records/CDs many times over both in various studio versions and live on-stage performances performed in several different countries.

I am indebted to Alan Ashton, well known musical broadcaster and writer, for furnishing me with the title of this piece of music which, while familiar to many people, seems to be a bit of a mystery! It was composed by a Dutch pianist and composer D Arendo, who was born in 1918 as Arend Honhoff. It appears to have been popularised in a recording made by Cyril Stapleton and his Orchestra in the 1950's, but I also seem to remember it being played as an accordion solo in the dim and distant past. Although it has been rattling around in my head for many years, only recently have I been able to find out it's name. Like many of the tunes I know, I play it by ear as I have never seen any sheet music for it!