Swing outfit led by clarinettist Jerry Wald and launched at Child's Spanish Garden in New York City in 1941. Between 1942 and 1943, the band enjoyed a lengthy tenure at the Lincoln Hotel and at the Panther Room of the Hotel Sherman. The main focus was on Wald's clarinet solos which were played in the style of his idol
Artie Shaw . Wald also hired several Shaw alumni to emulate the sound of the Shaw Orchestra: trumpet player Bernie Privin, saxophonist
Les Robinson, bass player
Sid Weiss, vocalist
Anita Boyer and arrangers
Ray Conniff,
Bill Challis and
Jerry Gray. Other band members variously included saxists
Larry Elgart and
Bobby Dukoff, trombonist Ray Sims, guitarists Billy Bauer and Art Ryerson,
Irv Cottler on drums, vocalist
Ginny Powell and arranger
Manny Albam. Wald's theme song was "Call of the Wild". The band had recording contracts with Decca, Majestic and Columbia and was sponsored on radio by the Robert Q. Lewis Show. By adopting a more progressive style of swing in the mid-40s, Wald's heyday extended to the end of the decade by which time he relocated to Hollywood, leading another big band at the Studio Club. In 1952, he returned to New York where he made several Decca recordings featuring
Chris Connor .