Bob Richardson & His Orchestra

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Information about Bob Richardson and His Orchestra is scarce - mainly because Bob Richardson was a pseudonym for Dick Robertson (1903-1979), an American singer who recorded prolifically during the 1920s and 1930s. Like others who were not among the era's biggest stars, he appeared on numerous labels, singing a wide range of material (sometimes under pseudonyms) with a variety of bands - including, on several occasions, the Duke Ellington Orchestra. He was also a popular live performer who appeared in London as a solo artist, accompanying himself on the piano, in 1927. Unlike many Jazz Age singers, he survived into the swing era, in the late 1930s fronting a band featuring some of the best white jazz players of the time and recording in New York for Decca. Later he branched out into songwriting and made his final recording in 1949.
== Links to Peel - Moonlight Saving Time ==
thumb|316px|right|(There Ought To Be A) Moonlight Saving Time The track by Bob Richardson and His Orchestra played by Peel in the Pig's Big 78 feature of his show was "(There Ought To Be A) Moonlight Saving Time", written by Irving Kahal and Harry Richman and described on the sheet music as a "fox trot song". After its publication in 1931 the song attracted recorded versions from many artists, including film star Maurice Chevalier, the bands of Gus Arnheim, Hal Kemp, and Guy Lombardo, female singers Ruth Etting and Annette Hanshaw, and male vocalists Harold "Scrappy" Lambert, Smith Ballew, Chick Bullock - and Dick Robertson. British versions included one by Jack Hylton and His Orchestra.
After its initial success the song was not revived until the post-World War Two era. Guy Lombardo, who later became an object of ridicule to the US rock generation because of his brand of "sweet music", re-recorded it in 1951. A version by jazz singer Blossom Dearie was released as a single in the UK in 1967. More recent recordings of the song, by younger American jazz and cabaret singers, owe something to the revival of interest in Annette Hanshaw, whose laid-back reading of the song (with a small group including the guitarist Eddie Lang) differs from the dance-band format of most 1931 versions.
Dick Robertson's recording of "Moonlight Saving Time" was issued in the USA on the Melotone label, but in Britain on the Mayfair label, whose releases often featured pseudonymous artists, as the tracks had previously been issued elsewhere (many thanks to John Wright of the Vintage Jazz and Dance Band Music website for this information) - hence the name-change to Bob Richardson.. With lively accompaniment from a band including future bandleaders Tommy and Jimmy Dorsey as well as the brilliant but wayward trumpeter Jack Purvis, it is certainly one of the better versions of the song. It became a favourite of Peel and Sheila and was included in the Trikont Records compilation The Pig's Big 78s: A Beginner's Guide.
== Festive Fifty Entries ==
*None
== Sessions ==
*None
== Other Shows Played ==
* 24 February 2004: Moonlight Saving Time (78) Mayfair (Pig's Big 78)
== External Links ==
* Dick Robertson discussed on The Vintage Bandstand blog (with video clips)
* Official site
* Other
Category:Artists