Sam Donahue

musical arranger. He performed with Gene Krupa, Tommy Dorsey, Benny Goodman, Billy May, Woody Herman, and Stan Kenton.^[2]

US Navy band of Artie Shaw. Marc Myers of JazzWax stated that “Donahue's Navy Band was easily one of the most swinging bands of the war.”^[4][5] After the war, he assembled and led a group that recorded “extensively” for Capitol Records.^[5][6] Trumpeters Harry Gozzard and Doc Severinsen, Wayne Herdell, arranger Leo Reisman and vocalists Frances Wayne and Jo Stafford were some of the members included in the new band. It dissolved in 1951 when Donahue re-enlisted in the Navy to serve in the Korean War.^{[7][unreliable source?}

UPROXX article that Frank Sinatra Jr. was a vocalist for Donahue.^[8] According to a DownBeat article, “he began performing in his mid-teens for the Sam Donahue band.”^[9] Sinatra later mentioned that the majority of what he learned about singing was learned through the time he spent with Donahue and the other musicians in the band.^[10] Sinatra Jr. was kidnapped in Lake Tahoe while on tour with Donahue. His father Frank Sinatra paid the $240,000 ransom which ultimately led to his son’s release from the kidnappers.^[11][12]

Patricia Donahue, was the father of one-time Fairport Convention member guitarist Jerry Donahue who played on the album, Fotheringay 2.^[13]

78 rpm single. Andy Blaine was the sole vocalist. The song is featured in The Sam Donahue Collection 1940-48^[14][15] on Acrobat Records. Marketing and distribution for the album was handled by Arista Records.^[16] An article in Jazz Journal featured that reissue album; which has a majority of Donahue’s songs from the 1940s.^[17] Online music database AllMusic also highlighted that album on their website.^[18][19] Trapeze Music & Entertainment Limited, an independent label and distributor with a loyal customer base in the UK, US and throughout mainland Europe, highlighted a quote in their reviews (borrowed from Jazzviews March 2021) by Derek Ansell, a regular contributor to Jazz Journal, stating, “Although these pieces vary tremendously from track to track the music is all well played and shines a spotlight on a musician who really deserved to be much better known than he was.”^[20] In an article in The Syncopated Times, Scott Yanow, who has written for DownBeat, JazzTimes, AllMusic, Cadence, Coda and the Los Angeles Times, stated, regarding the collection of Donahue’s songs, that “it is a pity that it could not have been a three-CD set that included everything” that he recorded during 1940-48. Yanow also voiced his opinion in that article regarding the musical skills of Donahue and his band members, stating that “the musicianship is consistently excellent.”^[21] The songs from that album are listed in the Spotify and Apple Music listening databases.^[22]