The Mills Brothers sing Tiger Rag with a big band

From my collection of off-the-air recordings that I made on VHS cassettes, the Mills Brothers sing “Tiger Rag“, one of their biggest and earliest hits, accompanied by a big jazz band on a program called “Big Bands“. This performance, which I recorded off the air in 1987 (but most likely was taped in the mid 1970’s), was part of a PBS fundraiser, hosted by John Davidson. In a fantasy, Davidson demonstrates to a ghost of Thomas Edison some of the music recorded by big bands using Edison’s invention of the phonograph. I was toying with editing that bit out but decided to keep it in (for John Davidson fans.) The Brothers recorded this Original Dixieland “Jass“ Band tune in 1931. John Jr., the original fourth member of the group, imitated a bass instrument and played rhythm guitar. He died at the age of 25 and was replaced by John Sr. In 1956, John Sr. stopped touring with the group. If you’d like to see and hear how the original quartet performed “Tiger Rag&