Helen Forrest sings her greatest big-band hits from her years with Artie Shaw, Benny Goodman and Harry James, in a long medley featuring the special matieral number, "I Had to Sing With a Band" in this rare TV appearance from 1978.
I try not to become a nostalgic old fogey when listening to this ... but it's hard not to get lost in reminiscences when you listen to this clip and realize how great was the music of the Big Band era, and how marvelous Helen Forrest was. The Big Band era: a brief but wonderful time when a galaxy of musicians and entertainers created popular-music magic. I don't know if Helen Forrest was the greatest ... but, for sure, that there was no one better.
A bit of perspective... Ms. Forrest appearing here at the Cafe Rouge of the Hotel Pennsylvania in 1978... It was the same room in the same venue some 39 years before this where she was singing with Artie Shaw's band, where at one point on one night Artie finally decided enough was enough and walked out. End of band. In a matter of minutes Artie's original "Begin the Beguine" band went from being the hottest ticket in the country to history and the great Shaw band of 1937-1939 that put both Artie and Helen on the map came to an abrupt end. Benny Goodman wasted no time hiring Helen to sing with his band, and Artie got in his car and drove off to Mexico for a much needed vacation. But as famous as both of them were then, both Shaw's and Helen Forrest's greatest successes were still yet to happen as the 1930s gave way to the 1940s....
Gold dust! The amazing Helen was a mere 61yo at the time so we shouldn't be _too_ surprised that she could still muster some power. Indeed, she was still around for 21 more years after this. She was certainly a great live act, that's for sure.
Fantastic Peformance of Helen Forrest from "Big Band Bash", Big Band Bash first ever aired as part of the Festival '78 28-hour National Marathon of Non-Stop Entertainment for the conclusion PBS' Festival '78 Pledge Drive Between Saturday March 18th, 1978 and Sunday March 19th, 1978 for many PBS stations around the country (including my local station: KPBS San Diego)...Join The Celebration on Public TV!!
Swinging band; Helen's voice with her still spunky, bubbly personality, nothing better. To me this music is now, what I listen to, not singers sounding like they're trying to drive the crows away from the corn; or bands that may have graduated from a high classed music school that robbed them of their innate talent.
