The Harry James Orchestra continues to perform as a living legacy to the legendary trumpeter, directed by Fred Radke, who played lead trumpet with Harry James himself. Radke became the bandleader after James's death, and the modern-day Harry James Orchestra maintains the original sound of the band, performing hits from the Big Band Era.

HARRY JAMES

Harry Haag James was born in 1916 in Albany, Georgia, in the United States.  He learned the trumpet from his father, a circus bandleader.  James decided to pursue a professional career in music after winning a state high-school trumpet competition.

Harry began to perform with several dance bands, including that of Ben Pollack's popular group.  The flawless, technically outstanding trumpeter played for several years with the Benny Goodman Band before forming his own band in 1939 with a gifted but little known vocalist, Frank Sinatra.

During the golden era of the big bands, Harry recorded a number of hits, including "I've Heard That Song Before," from the motion picture Youth on Parade (1942), "You Made Me Love You" (1941), the number-one instrumental hit "Sleepy Lagoon" (1942), "I Had the Craziest Dream" (1943), "You'll Never Know" and his theme song, "Ciribiribin."    His band helped launch the careers of many pop music stars of the World War II era, including Frank Sinatra and Helen Forrest.

FRED RADKE

Born in Oakland, California, Fred started playing trumpet at age seven and soon joined musical organization, the Weldonians. He turned professional at the age of fifteen and performed with the Sal Carson and Dick Stewart big bands . Over the next three years, Fred led the band of a steamship line during ocean crossings of the Pacific and gained additional experience by working with Marlene Dietrich (with Burt Bacharach conducting), and Johnny Mathis. He furthered his education by attending the College of San Mateo and was featured as guest trumpet soloist and musical director of "The Lancers".

Perhaps the most important musical influence in Fred's early career was that of legendary jazz trumpet player Harry James.  In what can only be described as a dream come true for Fred, he joined the Harry James Orchestra as lead trumpet player and toured with his mentor. Fred cherished his time with Harry and considered it a great compliment when other musicians, including Harry himself, would remark as to the similarity of Fred's sound and musical style to that of his mentor.