Swing Music Trivia Questions and Answers

This page is just for fun!

Updated February 1, 2012.

 

Each week we'll post a trivia question, each with its own deadline. 

If you e-mail the correct answer to any question before its deadline has passed, your name will be entered into a drawing for a FREE CD. E-mails should be addressed to swing@bigband-era.com. ,

Please, no more than one entry per trivia question.
You may
submit answers to more than one question in the same e-mail message

Once you're declared a winner, you'll be ineligible to win again for three months. (New relaxed rule!)

NOTICE THE SMALL NUMBER OF CORRECT ANSWERS TO PAST QUESTIONS. IF YOU KNOW THE ANSWER, CHANCES ARE VERY GOOD THAT YOU'LL WIN A PRIZE.


Our monthly winners will receive a CD of any episode of "Swingin' Down The Lane" that's listed in the music store.  


Questions for February 2012
Question # Trivia Questions Deadline
1538 Composer Walter Donaldson wrote at least four songs with the name of a girl in the title. Just name one. 2/7
1539 Stan Kenton was a pianist, bandleader and arranger, though as he became more successful he tuned many arranging assignments over to others. Name three people besides Kenton who arranged for the band. 2/14
 1540  What was the name of the boat they were waiting for down on the levee back in 1912?  2/21
1541 I'll name five band theme songs, you identify the leader. You ought to get one right, anyway:
1. Lean Baby
2. Adios
3. South
4. Jazznocracy
5. Moonlight Serenade
2/28

Answers for February 2012

Question # # of 
Correct Entries
1538   2
1539   2
1540   1
1541   1

Questions for January 2012

It pains me to report that we have no winners this month since all who entered have rendered themselves ineligible by winning recently.

Question # Trivia Questions Deadline
1533 True or false: If Stan Kenton were alive, he will celebrate his 100th birthday in 2012. 1/3
1534 Stan Kenton utilized several outstanding female vocalists, one of whom he married. Name her. 1/10
1535 Ray Noble recorded Irving Berlin's Remember using an arrangement by a young man who would later co-lead a band. Name him. 1/17
1536 Name an instrumental that was recorded by both Charlie Barnet and Jimmy Dorsey in 1941. 1/24
1537 Composer Burton Lane wrote a song called Melinda. Name five other songs that mention in their titles a female whose first name begins with the letter M. 1/31

Answers for January 2012

Question # # of 
Correct Entries
1533 This one tripped me up. One source said he was born in early 1912 but it turns out his actual birth date was in December, 1911. 2
1534 Her name was Ann Richards. 2
1535 No, it wasn't Glenn Miller. It was Eddie Sauter, who would later form one-half the leadership of the Sauter-Finegan Orchestra. 0
1536 Charleston Alley. 1
1537 Those that readily come to mind are Marie, Minnie the Moocher, Maria, Maria Elena, Michelle, Mary's a grand old name, Thoroughly Modern Millie and, of course, Mame. There are lots more. 2

Questions for December 2011

Winner for December is Debbie Dunbar. She really knows her Beantown!
Question # Trivia Questions Deadline
1529 A World War II song makes reference to a sky pilot. Two-part question: What was the name of the song and what's a sky pilot? 12/6
1530 A Broadway show that opened in 1946 referred to service personnel returning from duty in World War II. What was the title of the show? 12/13
 1531 A member of Spike Jones' band left to form his own musical group, the Natural Seven. Identify him. 12/20
1532 Artie Shaw paid tribute to an American city with his instrumental, Back Bay Shuffle. Name the city. 12/27

Answers for December 2011

Question # # of 
Correct Entries
1529 Praise the Lord and Pass the Ammunition. Sky pilot was a nickname for a chaplain. 2
1530 "This is the Army," posted here on December 22, was NOT the correct answer, as Gene Lasinski kindly pointed out. The correct answer is "Call Me Mister." For his vigilance I'm sending him a CD of Program #1530. 2
1531 Red Ingle. He and Jo Stafford teamed up to record a terrible interpretation of Temptation (Tim-Tay-Shun). 2
1532 Boston, popularly known as Beantown. 4

Questions for November 2011

Winner this month is Eddie Cecchino of Clinton, Massachusetts.

Question # Trivia Questions Deadline
1524 Identify these Joneses:
1. Real first name: Lindley
2. Actor and singer who was father of singer Jack Jones
3. bandleader-composer who hired Woody Herman as his vocalist
11/15
1525 A song written in 1942 was entitled We Did It Before. We did what before? 11/15
  1526 What was the original title of Duke Ellington's Don't Get Around Much Anymore? 11/22
1527 True or false: On many recordings, maestro Sammy Kaye sang the title to a song at the very beginning. 11/29
1528 Frank Sinatra sang a World War II song called Buy a Piece of the Peace. What was he referring to? 11/29

Answers for November 2011

Question # # of 
Correct Entries
1524 Spike, Allan and Isham. 4
1525 Won a war, World War I 4
1526 Never No Lament. 4
1527 No, Sammy didn't sing. His male vocalist (Tommy Ryan etc.) sang the song title. After a chorus, Sammy stepped to the microphone to announce the vocalist. Like this: "These romantic words are interpreted by Nancy Norman." 0
1528 War bonds, a device used with remarkable success by the Treasury Department to ward off inflation. 2

Questions for October 2011

Just six correct answers this month. Tells me I've got to promote the site more aggressively. Meanwhile I'm sending a CD to all
who had at least one correct answer.

Question # Trivia Questions Deadline
1520 Several bands featured sidemen who came to the microphone to sing novelty songs. Glenn Miller had Tex Beneke, Glen Gray had Pee Wee Hunt, Artie Shaw had Tony Pastor. What Vaughn Monroe sideman fit that category? October 4
1521 (Note new rule: You are eligible to win after only three months rather than six!) Benny Goodman recorded Buckle Down, Winsocki twice, once with a vocal by Tommy Dix. Who did the vocal on the other recording? October 11
1522 According to a song from the 1940s, in what foreign city do they sell "bargain" items that you can buy cheaper at Saks? October 18
1523 What actors played the parts of Bert Kalmar and Harry Ruby in the movie about their lives as songwriters? October 25

Answers for October 2011

Question # # of 
Correct Entries
1520 Ziggy Talent 3
1521 Actually, two other vocalists, Tommy Taylor and Benny Goodman himself. 1
1522 Tampico, on the Gulf of Mexico. 2
1523 Fred Astaire was Bert and Red Skelton played Harry. 1

Questions for September 2011

Winner for September is Gene Lasinski from North Carolina.

Question # Trivia Questions Deadline
1516 Name five female vocalists who recorded duets with Bing Crosby. September 6
1517 Vocalist Paula Kelly was married to Hal Dickinson, lead singer of the Modernaires. With what band did she record In the Mood? September 13
1518 Who wrote these clever lyrics? "Warm like the month of May it was and I'll say it was grand" and "You for me, me for me, I'll give you plenty of nothing." September 20
1519 What bandleader used Pagliacci as his theme song? September 27

Answers for September 2011

Question # # of 
Correct Entries
1516 Fifteen would be more like it. People like his first wife, Dixie Lee Crosby. Connee Boswell. Mary Martin. Dinah Shore. Ethel Merman. Rosemary Clooney. Kate Smith. Peggy Lee. Someone said the Andrews Sisters but wait a minute, doesn't duet mean TWO? 3
1517 She recorded In the Mood with the Al Donahue band a couple of months before her future boss, Glenn Miller, recorded the famous instrumental version of this piece. 2
1518 Lorenz Hart 3
1519 Joe Reichman, known as "the Pagliacci of the piano." 2

Questions for August 2011

Winner of a free CD is Deb Dunbar.

Question # Trivia Questions Deadline
1511 A song from World War I has the vocalist saying "Hello Central." Who or what was "Central"? August 2
1512 Identify the bandleaders who used these theme songs: Swing Out, Listen to My Music, I'll Love You in My Dreams. August 9
1513 Identify the one-word song title that's a tree species. August 16.
1514 Name a singing group that shares a name with an NFL team. August 23
1515 What's the origin of the song title, Apurksody? August 30

Answers for August 2011

Question # # of 
Correct Entries
1511 Back in the old days, if you wanted to place a call, you contacted the telephone company's central office where an operator was available to connect you to your party. 4
1512 In order: Erskine Hawkins, Ted Heath, Horace Heidt -- the three H's. 2
1513 I was thinking of Poinciana, but two clever contestants came up with an equally correct answer, Cherry. 3
1514 I thought there was only one, the Buffalo Bills, a barbershop quartet who sang Lida Rose in "The Music Man." But you came up with the Singing Lions, the Crew Chiefs and the Browns. O. K., I shoulda said the city and team name had to match the vocal group, but I gave credit for them all. 3
1515 Krupa spelled backwards plus the last two syllables of Rhapsody. 4

Questions for July 2011

Bernie Petitjean is this month's winner.

Question # Trivia Questions Deadline
1507 Danny Davis was leader of the Nashville Brass. Who was leader of the Tijuana Brass? July 5
1508 What was the original title of Bob Haggart's What's New? What vocalist revived it in the 1980s, backed by Nelson Riddle's orchestra? July 12
1509 The title of the song Cheek To Cheek starts and ends with the same word. Name two other song titles, three or more words long, that begin and end with the same word. July 19
1510 A 1958 recording by Anita O'Day identifies one of the songs as Interlude. By what title is this composition better known? July 26

Answers for July 2011

Question # # of 
Correct Entries
1507 Herb Alpert. 5
1508 Haggart called his instrumental composition I'm Free. It acquired a new title when Johnny Burke added lyrics. Linda Ronstadt recorded it in 1983. 4
1509 People were so inventive! I'm impressed. Here are just some of the entries: All Or Nothing At All; Side By Side; Sing, Sing, Sing; Day By Day; Chinatown, My Chinatown; Swing, Brother, Swing; Over And Over; Oh, Johnny, Oh Johnny, Oh; Back To Back; Jingle, Jangle, Jingle; Heart Of My Heart. 4
1510 A Night in Tunisia. 4



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