Dreamers Cloth
Wayne King and His Orchestra
RCA Victor LPM-1186
1956
From the back cover: He (King) got his big chance at the Aragon Ballroom in Chicago. He had welded his orchestra around the principle that people wanted to dance, and dance to simple, easy, lovable waltzes. But it was in the 1920's – the Roaring Twenties – and it hardly seemed possible that a people bent on one wild spree after another would take to such a tame affair as the waltz. As he stood on the bandstand that first night, Wayne recalls that he was scared stiff and very much afraid that he and his band would go over with a dull thud.
"We gave them a taste of it that night," Wayne says, "– a waltz. Then a pair of them. Later I summoned up the courage to take my saxophone in hand and ad lib through a whole series of soft, sweet melodies. At first the crowd seemed puzzled. I saw a couples exchange glances: 'What's he trying to do?" But when the evening was over the jury was in." The crowd had gone for Wayne King and his waltz music. He had gone over with a bang. The proof? Wayne King and his orchestra stayed at the Aragon from 1927 to 1935.
Wayne was started on his musical career at the age of sixteen by his father, who gave him a clarinet and a self-instruction book, and told him to see what he could pick up himself. Wayne mastered the instrument quickly and to such an extent that he managed to earn the major share of his expenses when he attended Valparaiso University by playing in a nearby dance band. When he left college he tired various jobs, from insurance salesman to theater work, before organizing his own orchestra. Del Lampe, the famous orchestra leader, picked King and his band to play at the Aragon; and it was there, during his long stay, that he earned the nickname, "The Waltz King."
The Waltz You Save For Me
I Love You Truly
Three O'Clock In The Morning
Alice Blue Gown
Smoke Gets In Your Eyes
Intermezzo
Sweethearts
La Golondrina
I'm Forever Blowing Bubbles
Jeannine
Dreamer's Cloth
When You're In Love
