Going through our jazz history calendars, as we sometimes do when researching for Have You Heard, we will look for the birth dates of artists to which we are currently listening. Sometimes those jazz dates just happen to be pretty darn close, and close enough that a radio show can be birthed from that happenstance.

This is exactly what happened for these two shows. There we were, looking up the birth date of Ralph Burns and Manny Albam for separate unrelated reasons, and BAMN! We see that Ralph Burns and Manny Albam were born a few days apart (June 29th and June 24th respectively) in the year 1922!

Then, we happened to mention this fact to our friend Jim Pugh and not only did he KNOW both of these composers/arrangers, he WORKED with them extensively in NYC and beyond! What a great coincidence! We invited Jim on the show to tell stories and play some of his favorite music from both Ralph Burns and Manny Albam.

Happenstance + Coincidence = TWO great shows for you!

Ralph Burns 100th Birthday (feat. Jim Pugh)

Jim Pugh was gracious enough to spend some time with us talking about Ralph and Manny. Jim was on the road at the time we recorded these shows in an undisclosed location…somewhere. We’re always amazed at Jim’s depth of career and even though we know him well, we love learning more about him and his storied experiences.

If you liked what you heard and want to learn more about Ralph Burns and Manny Albam check out these links:

Manny Albam Website

Manny Albam Discography

Ralph Burns Wikipedia

Ralph Burns IMDb