Nov 9, 2020
Tomorrow is Veteran's Day here in America, and I can think of no better way to honor men and women who served their country in uniform that helping to shine the light on some music made by servicemen almost 75 years ago.
Jason Burt always knew his grandfather, Ralph Burt had served in the Pacific in World War II, and that he had helped develop is craft as a musician while overseas as part of the 746th Far East Air Force Band. However Jason did not know of the collection of recordings made in the field by his grandfather, many of them made just hundreds of yards from military conflict and danger.
Those recordings, having been mastered and digitized by four-time Grammy-award-winning sound engineer Gavin Lurssen and Japanese sound engineer Hiroyuki Sanada. are now available as Sentimental Journey and are available for purchase on the Apple iTunes store starting Nov. 11, on Amazon, or the band’s website, https://746thfeaf.com/music.
There is substantial surface noise, as the recordings were made on wire in the field, and then transferred to 78 RPM recordings after the war. However, the enthusiastic sounds shine through, and it would be easy to forget that these tunes are being played by young men in a battle zone, thousands of miles from home.
Jason talks with me for Podcast 774, and tells the story of the project, and you'll get a chance to hear the title track, "Sentimental Journey," and a track featuring Ralph Burt, Jason's grandfather at his finest, "Trumpet Rhapsody."