Benny Meroff Benny Meroff Benny Meroff (1899-1973) was an American dance bandleader active in the swing jazz era. He also played violin, clarinet, and saxophone. Meroff started his career in vaudeville, and put together his own ensemble in the middle of the 1920s. His sidemen included Wild Bill Davison, Al King, Vernon Brown, Frank Teschemacher, and Santo Pecora. He was principally active in Chicago in the late 1920s and early 1930s, and also played in New York into the 1940s. Meroff was noted for his showmanship as a bandleader; big band historian Leo Walker described Meroff as "a capable emcee, equally at
Benny Kalama program prior to bombing of Pearl Harbor. From 1952 onward, Kalama was musical director and arranger for "Hawaiʻi Calls". Until before his death, Kalama played at the Halekulani's House Without a Key nightclub with Alan Akaka and Walter Moʻokini's "Islanders", and also as part of the stage band for the annual Steel Guitar Hoʻolauleʻa. The Hawai'i Academy of Recording Arts awarded Kalama the 1993 Na Hoku Hanohano Lifetime Achievement Award for his substantial contributions to the entertainment industry in Hawaii. Benny Kalama Benny Kalama (June 29, 1916 – September 21, 1999), born Benjamin Kapena Kalama in Kohala on the Big