Woody Herman
Desert Island Discs
BBC
4.4 • 13.7K Ratings
🗓️ 18 February 1984
⏱️ 33 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Woody Herman played saxophone and clarinet with various bands until 1936, when the Isham Jones Band in which he was working broke up and he organised a group of his own with the key players. Since then he has led many bands, most of which have been called 'herds'. In conversation with Roy Plomley, he chooses the eight records he would take to the mythical island, but he does not include his most famous, Woodchopper's Ball.
[Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs]
Favourite track: Moonlight In Vermont by The Johnny Smith Quintet Book: Music is My Mistress by Duke Ellington Luxury: Jaguar XJ6
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hello I'm Kirstie Young and this is a podcast from the Desert Island Discs archive. |
| 0:05.0 | For Wright's reasons, we've had to shorten the music. |
| 0:08.0 | The program was originally broadcast in 1984 and the presenter was Roy Plumlee. On our Desert Island this week is the American band leader, Woody Herman. |
| 0:35.0 | Woody, you've been traveling most of your life. |
| 0:37.5 | What's the nearest you ever been to a Desert Island? |
| 0:40.0 | I'm afraid I haven't been near a Desert Island. I have been all over the world at one point or another |
| 0:45.8 | and I've spent a lot of time on the desert in places like Las Vegas, but no islands were in sight. |
| 0:51.8 | Could you adjust yourself to loneliness? |
| 0:54.0 | Well, I'm a kind of a loner to begin with, |
| 0:57.0 | so it wouldn't probably be a big adjustment. |
| 1:00.0 | I spent a great deal of time by myself and I rather enjoy it. |
| 1:04.0 | You have just eight discs with you. |
| 1:06.4 | Did you have any kind of plan? |
| 1:07.8 | Are you choosing the voices of friends or personal memories or what? |
| 1:11.7 | These particular records, most of them are records I've listened to and listened to more than once, |
| 1:17.0 | over a long period of years, and so I find that if I had to be all by myself with only this music, it would be okay with me. |
| 1:25.0 | What's the first one you've chosen? |
| 1:27.0 | First one is a Duke Ellington piece called Warm Valley. |
| 1:30.0 | What's special about this one? |
| 1:32.0 | Well, it features, for instance, Johnny Hodges on Alto Saxophone, and he's been a great source of lovely |
| 1:39.5 | music as far as I am concerned. When I play the alto saxophone, I sort of emulate Johnny, not nearly as well, but that's what I do. Oh, the Oh, Took Ellington's Warm Valley recorded in 1940. |
| 2:45.0 | Woodrow Charles Herman, Woody, where about in the United States were you born? |
... |
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