Les Brown

• Genre: Big Band

About

A mainstay of the Swing scene, Les Brown led a dance band that was highly successful and had strong jazz musicians on its roster. Brown's Band of Renown enjoyed even more popularity when a talented young canary named Doris Day came on board in the mid-‘40s. He kept his band together well into the rock era by backing up Bob Hope. Ken Burns brought Brown's "Joltin' Joe Dimaggio" out of mothballs for his baseball documentary, and along with Simon and Garfunkel's "Mrs. Robinson," the song was later played on radios and televisions to eulogize the Yankee Clipper when he passed away in March 1999.

- Nick Dedina