In 2009, I am sure it could be truthfully said that few, if any, local citizens ever heard of Charles “Bud” Dant, yet seldom does one see a true success story of a local small town person make it to the bright lights of Hollywood. Such was the case for Charles G. Dant, affectionately known as “Bud” to his friends, family and acquaintances.

For the younger groups who enjoy the hip hop artists “Snoop Dog” and “P Diddy” and others, it is safe to say you will find this article anything but interesting and will without doubt not waste your time reading further. However, there are those of us who will remember when there was melody to the music, the lyrics didn’t necessarily have to rhyme, be vulgar, and it didn’t have to be loud to be good, and yes, you could even hum along if you forgot the lyrics.

In the 1930s and 40s the big bands and orchestras were the rage. Radio and movies totally dominated the entertainment industry since television was non-existent at that time. In reading this article, what one needs to appreciate is the fact of what was achieved by Bud Dant during his working years was quite remarkable. Many of the names of the bands and personalities may be unfamiliar unless you are at least 50 years old, but in the 1930s and 40s they represented the “who’s who” in the entertainment industry. They were as important in the 30s and 40s as the Beatles were in the 60s and 70s.

Whether you are old enough to remember the names and the times or not isn’t actually as important as being appreciative of the pinnacle of success achieved by Dant.

Bud Dant was born June 21, 1907, in Washington to Charles Edward Dant and Catherine Keifer. He was one of three children born to the couple.

Bud still has distant relatives here in Washington.

Bud’s musical talent came from the Keifer side of the family for around the turn of the century the Keifer name was quite popular locally in musical circles. The Keifer band participated in numerous contests and nearly always won first or second prize.

Bud attended grade school here and was also home-schooled. For whatever reason, most of his high school years were spent at Manual High School in Indianapolis. Upon graduation from high school, he was awarded a fellowship scholarship to Indiana University Conservatory of Music. He was truly a gifted musician and played lead trumpet in the dance band which he organized while at IU. The band became an immediate success throughout the state. They played several summers at various northern Indiana lake resorts, including Lake Shaffer and Lake James, as well as numerous college fraternity and sorority engagements. After graduating from IU with honors in 1932, he struck out on his own taking his band to Cleveland, Ohio, naming it “the Golden Pheasants” and was given a contract with WTAM Radio.

In 1933, Dant’s fraternity brother, “Hoagy” Carmichael, was in the process of organizing a new orchestra and persuaded Bud to dissolve his own band and join the Carmichael Band. In addition to playing with the orchestra, Bud did all of the arrangements for the Hoagy Carmichael Orchestra, including the immortal classic “Stardust,” which has remained a jazz classic through the years and dominated the charts for more than a year at that time.

Hoagy Carmichael first wrote “Stardust” in 1927 and while recognized as one of the most recorded songs in history, it was not an instant success. The song was, according to Hoagy Carmichael himself, actually inspired by an old girlfriend while he was in college and was written and initially recorded in ragtime and the tempo upbeat, which was the musical style in that period of time.

The initial recording was done in Richmond at the old Star Piano Factory in what would be considered today as a primitive studio and was released under the Gennett Label and performed by a bunch of college kids.

In planning for the trip to Richmond, Ind., a few miles north of Bloomington, Hoagy was able to recruit an Indianapolis band leader named Emil Seidel, along with seven of his own band members for the recording session. Harold Soule, a Gennett recording engineer, told of receiving a 3 a.m. telephone call from Carmichael saying, “We’ve got a band over here for you to record,” So Soule said, “I got out of bed and went down and recorded them. I got the first tune cut at 5 a.m.” “Stardust” was recorded back to back with “One Night in Havana.” Bud Dant and Wad Allen, both Washington boys, had gone with Hoagy that night and participated in that recording session. Dant played trumpet and Wad played saxophone.

Bud Dant later remarked that he had never sat in on a recording session and, “We never really thought much about cutting a record, but just thought it was exciting to be asked to go to Richmond with Hoagy. It sounded like it would be a lot of fun.” But when he got into the recording studio, he was impressed with the technical equipment. It really did turn out to be a lot of fun.

Carmichael became affiliated with Mills Music Company in 1928 and the owner, Irving Mills, hired lyricist Mitchael Parrish to provide the “Stardust” lyrics. Two years later it was getting played occasionally as a part of the repertoire at the famous Cotton Club in Harlem and with a change in tempo it became a ballad. It was later arranged for the Isham Jones Orchestra by Bud Dant, and suddenly they had a hit on their hands.

College days at IU were responsible for developing lifelong friendships between Dant and Allen of the Carmichael band and both had personal and family ties with Washington. Bud Dant and Wad Allen were also fraternity brothers and lifelong friends with Carmichael.