Joe Haymes' Orchestra - If I Had A Million Dollars

Haymes (1907-1964) was an American jazz bandleader and arranger. As a youth he learned the piano. Entering Drury College in 1926, he played locally with his own dance band before being hired as arranger by Ted Weems in 1928 and leaving school. Haymes struck out on his own again in 1930, leading a band in Tulsa, Oklahoma, and relocating to New York City by 1932. That year the Haymes orchestra was one of the country's hottest dance bands. Haymes toured as an arranger with Les Brown in 1938, and then found work writing and arranging anonymously for radio. He was briefly inducted into the U.S. Army in 1942, where he served as a medical orderly. On his return, he continued arranging for Hollywood studios from the 1940s into the late 1950s. This excellent record was made in 1934. Vocal by Gene Traxler.