Sam Donahue Collection 1940-48

There are scores of swing era big bands whose recorded histories are well worth exploring. Once one has heard the highlights of the obvious greats (Duke Ellington, Count Basie, Benny Goodman, Tommy Dorsey, Artie Shaw, Harry James, Glenn Miller and others), there are still plenty of lesser-known orchestras to discover. Sam Donahue (1918-74), a fine tenor-saxophonist influenced a bit by Lester Young, led his first big band as a teenager during 1933-38. He played with the early Gene Krupa Orchestra (1938-40) and briefly with Harry James. Donahue led his own orchestra during 1940-42, joined the Navy, took over the Artie Shaw service band, had some success with the group during 1943-45 (recording V-Discs), and led another civilian band (1946-48) before going back to being a sideman. In his later years he worked with other big bands (including with Dorsey, James, Billy May, and most notably Stan Kenton), led some commercial records, and headed the Tommy Dorsey ghost orchestra during 1961-65. The two-CD set Sam Donahue Collection 1940-48 has many of the recorded highlights of his band leading days. While the liner note writer emphasizes the fact that Donahue had 11 records that made the charts during 1946-48 and those successes certainly helped his band survive for a time, none were long-lasting hits or established any of the tunes as standards. Does anyone remember the Sam Donahue version