Guy Lombardo & His Royal Canadians: Classic or Dud?

Any Jazz Age poptimists here?

I was going to make this a Defend the Indefensible thread but Lombardo is clearly very defensible, albeit not by me so far. I really want to like him because i) Canadian legend ii) so important in popular music history iii) Louis Armstrong loved him iv) his and his band's musicianship seem unimpeachable v) contrarianism. I want to pass out (or listen to Ellington) every time I try, though.

Then celebrate him for his sports work instead:

Lombardo was also an important figure in hydroplane speedboat racing, winning the Gold Cup in 1946 in his record-breaking speedboat, Tempo VI, designed and built by the legendary John L. Hacker. He then went on to win the Ford Memorial competition in 1948 and the President's Cup and the Silver Cup in 1952. From 1946 to 1949, he was the reigning US national champion. Before his retirement from the sport in the late 1950s, he had won every trophy in the field. In 1959 Lombardo was attempting a run on the absolute water speed record with the jet engine powered Tempo Alcoa when it was destroyed on a radio controlled test run doing over 250 miles per hour (400 km/h). After the destruction of the Tempo Alcoa, Lombardo retired from hydroplane racing. In 2002 he was inducted into the Canadian Motorsport Hall of Fame for his accomplishments.

Well yeah vi) seems like an all-around awesome dead bro

Lester Lanin wuz robbed

Nice orchestration on "By the Light of the Silvery Moon".

Well, if nothing else, this thread has me on Spotify listening to as many versions of "Enjoy Yourself (It's Later Than You Think)" as I can find. Louis Prima's is not as good as I had hoped it would be.