jay barack says :

I am looking for information regarding The Battle Of The Bands held at The Bowl in
the 1960's. I believe these concerts were promoted by the Hollywood Parks and
Recreations Dept.
I would like to know when they were held. Who won, and what the winners would
receive.

Thank you for your help.

Jay

greg amerind says :

Hi Jay - I can tell you something about that. I was a winner at the final BOTB concert in 1977 in the vocal soloist division. I was given a trophy (which I still have) by jazz critic Leonard Feather who was one of the celeb judges. I used to participate in it every year, and won on my third try as a soloist. I also went with my high school jazz band several times, but we never made it into the finals. My songs were arranged by a noted composer/arranger and the emcee was a trumpet player named Pete Rugolo who had done a lot of composing for tv and movies. The major act that was discovered at one of these was earlier, in the late 60's. The Carpenters won in the group category and Herb Albert was in the audience and signed them to a deal shortly thereafter. It was a great event and I think they had to stop because the Parks and Rec funding ran out. Good times.