About a
Roger Wolfe Kahn recording session.
Thanks a
lot to Vito Ciccone, Norman Field and Frank van Nus for their help in gathering
information.
Otto Kahn was a very rich
banker. He was also Chairman of the Board of the Metropolitan Opera and, in
1923, he financially supported his son’s buying out of Arthur Lange’s band: the
boy, Roger Wolfe Kahn, was only 16, and he became the youngest leader of a
high-quality dance orchestra.
The band was based at the Hotel
Biltmore. It recorded for Victor, from March 1925 to February 1929, then for
Brunswick (May 1929 – May 1930), and for Columbia in 1932. It broke up shortly
after its last recording – with the only exception of a 4-week final engagement
in New Orleans in the spring of 1933.
Roger Wolfe Kahn became involved
in “test and research flying”, and he was a test pilot during World War II. He
died in New York in July 1962.
His band cut more than 100
titles between 1925 and 1932, among which Brian Rust has selected for his “jazz
discography” twenty-eight which “feature solos likely to interest the hot dance
music enthusiast.” With few discrepancies, Brian Rust’s selection overlaps the
25 tracks of the Jazz-Oracle CD BDW8013: “Roger Wolfe Kahn – Recorded in New
York 1925-1932” (booklet by Ross Wilby).
With the help of his father’s
money, Roger Wolfe Kahn contracted the best New York talents, building up a
“Million Dollar Band.” He secured in January 1926 full time services of Miff
Mole and Joe Venuti. Joined by Eddie Lang, Venuti was featured as a soloist on
many sides recorded before the end of 1928.
Other musicians, who were close
to Bix Beiderbecke at a time, were members of this band: Alfie Evans – who
shared with Bix in a New York hotel room in September 1924; Babe Russin – Bix’s
partner in 1931; Arthur Schutt, Jimmy Dorsey, Joe Tarto, drummers Vic Berton
and Chauncey Morehouse…
Until the end of the Victor
contract (February 1929), trumpet players in the Kahn’s orchestra were Tommy
Gott (survivor from Arthur Lange’s band), Earl Oliver, Leo McConville (Bix’s
partner on the Camel Hour in 1930), and Mannie Klein. Switching to Brunswick
brought two new trumpet players: Tony Gianelli and John Egan, whose first
recording session with the band took place on May 15, 1929.
Tony Gianelli appeared on the
New York scene in 1924, playing at the Rosebud Ballroom in pianist Chauncey
Gray’s “The Way Down East Orchestra.” He recorded with Bill Moore and Fred van
Eps in the “California Ramblers” (1927-1929), with Ted Wallace Orchestra
(1928-1930); he made one Sam Lanin session (July 1930) and a Joe Venuti
recording on October 28, 1935 – which is the last time his name appears in Tom
Lord’s discography. (According to
violinist Sal Dentici, Tony Gianelli recorded with Bill Moore, accompanying
Annette Hanshaw as a member of “The University Six,” on September 3, 1928).
John Egan played with Paul
Specht, was featured at New York Arcadia Ballroom in January 1925 in Frank
Wine-Gar’s band, and the recording made with Roger Wolfe Khan on May 1929 was
his first one. He then recorded with Red Nichols between August and October…
the last session he is listed on being with Kahn’s orchestra in May 1930.
Tony Gianelli and John Egan are
listed on 21 titles recorded by Kahn’s band, only four of which being included on
the Jazz-Oracle CD.
A hot, Bix-inspired, trumpet soloist can be heard on all four sides:
- on “Pretty Little Things” (May 15, 1929), he plays muted behind Dick
Robertson’s vocal [ 1:18 – 1:43 ],
- on “Do What You Do” (July 30, 1929), he plays a solo with an open horn
on [ 2:14 – 2:37 ],
- on “Cooking Breakfast for the One I Love” (January 22, 1930), you can
hear the muted hot trumpeter at
[ 2:08 – 2:29 ] and the second
one at [ 1:45 – 1:50 & 1:55 – 2:02 ],
- and on “When a Woman Loves a Man” (same date), a 16-bar muted solo can be
heard on [ 2:23 – 2:45 ].
Here are links to trumpet work
and solos on the first three sides above:
Trumpet behind vocal on ‘Pretty Little Thing’.
Trumpet solo on ‘Do What You Do’.
Trumpet solo on ‘Cooking Breakast For The One I Love’.
Frank van Nus commented about
this Oracle-CD on the Bix-Forum on November 18, 2002, indicating that he heard
“the same trumpet soloist” on all four sides. Based only on these four
CD-tracks, I would have hesitated to say anything different… even if the solo
played on “When a Woman Loves a Man”
has something different which calls
attention…
… and I’m coming to the point.
The Oracle-CD gives for these Brunswick sessions the personnel listed in Brian
Rust’s discography, which is:
Roger
Wolfe Kahn (dir); Tony Gianelli, John O. Egan (t); Charlie Butterfield (tb);
Dudley Fosdick (mel); Fred Morrow, Jimmy Dorsey (cl, as); Babe Russin (ts); Joe
Venuti, Henry Whiteman (vln); Jack Russin (p); Eddie Lang (g); Joe Tarto (bb);
Chauncey Morehouse (d);
Frank
Munn (voc) on “Pretty Little Things”;
Venuti
replaced by unknown (vln) and Dick Robertson (voc) on “Do What You Do”;
Libby
Holman (voc) on “Cooking Breakfast for
the One I Love” and “When a Woman
Loves a Man.”
We can leave Eddie Lang out of
these sessions (on which he can’t be heard…): he was very busy recording in New
York on May 15, and Lang and Venuti were in Los Angeles, for the movie “The
King of Jazz”, on both July 1929 and January 1930. Tom Lord lists Tony Colucci
on banjo for all these Brunswick sessions, which makes more sense. He agrees
with Brian Rust with the number of recording takes:
New York, c. January
21-22, 1930
E31960 “Cooking
Breakfast for the One I Love” (lh vcl)
Br 4699
E31961 “Cooking
Breakfast for the One I Love”
(unissued)
E31962 “When
a Woman Loves a Man”
(lh, voc) Br 4699
E31963 “When
a Woman Loves a Man” (unissued)
For Brian Rust, the second take
of “Cooking…” and of “When a Woman…” are listed as “E31961-G”
and “E31963-G”, which means they would have been issued as “German Brunswick.”
These two sides should have no vocal part.
Now, this Roger Wolfe Kahn’s
side, “When a Woman Loves a Man”, had
been played some years ago by Rich Conaty, on radio station WFUV, in a weekly
program called “The Big Broadcast.” It was presented as a Bix item. This
question was raised on the Bix-Forum on November 2002 – “Another Bix possibility?” by Hans Eekhoff – and it was negatively
answered by Albert Haim.
That was not enough to stop me…J and, thanks to Vito Ciccone – who is a strong believer of Bix’s
presence of this side – I was able to get a copied tape of the radio-broadcast…
and I had a big surprise:
→ the take that opens the program has a vocal by Libby
Holman (as frightening as the one we knew…), but it is a different take from
the known “E31962” issued on Br 4699: the 16-bar muted trumpet/cornet solo is
still there, but it offers an improved quality, and its construction is totally
distinct from the take issued on the Oracle-CD.
Here you can listen to
RealPlayer audio files of:
- E31962 – Br 4699, as featured on the Oracle-CD,
- E3196?
(issued?) as played on Conaty’s
radio broadcast,
- the 16-bar solo of the first recording (take 31962),
- the 16-bar solo of the second one (unknown take “U”).
Both solos are highly Bixian…
there’s no doubt. The “sound” is there, the level of musical inspiration is
quite acceptable, the way the soloist “plays with the beat” is significantly
different from the Gianelli/Egan hot solos on the 3 other sides… and if the two
takes have elements in common, they follow a very distinct path. The “downward
cascade”, for instance, is played in bar 14 on take “U”, while it is played on
bar 7 of take E31962. Also the last measures of the solo on take E31962 seem to
be somehow “fooling around”, while the solo on take “U” is very well
constructed.
Question: can one name a trumpet
player who, in January 1930, was able to play a “highly bixian” solo, and to
record in a row two completely distinct takes? Proposals are welcome.
Last point: where was Bix in January 1930?
We know (“The Leon Bix Beiderbecke Story” by Phil and Linda Evans) that Bix
played in January 1930 with Jimmy Hicks’ orchestra, and that the band was
advertised in the Davenport “Daily Times” for the week-end of January 4 and 5,
1930, as :
“Jimmy Hicks at Danceland, featuring Bix Beiderbecke, hottest trumpet
player in the country!”
For the week-end of January 18
and 19, the same newspaper published a new ‘ad’ with “Hear America’s hottest trumpet player!”
The Hicks orchestra continued after
that date, but Bix’s name wasn’t mentioned any more… according to Esten
Spurrier, this was because Bix did not want any more to be used for the band’s
promotion. Phil Evans tells us that Bix left for Chicago on February 5, spent
two days in the Windy City, made a short trip to New York, was back in Chicago,
and returned to Davenport by mid-February… Due to lack of other sources, this
is the schedule I’ve kept for my French “Bix” biography. Now, why has Phil
Evans decided that Bix left Davenport on February 5, 1930… I don’t know. As I
found some other points in Bix’s life where I thought I had to differ from Phil
Evans’ version… this may very well be another one.
Can’t we imagine that Bix’s name
did not appear any more in the “Daily Times” after January 19, because he had left Davenport? He could have
taken a train to Chicago on Monday, January 20, 1930. He would have arrived in
New York, at Grand Central Station, in the morning of January 21. Brunswick
Studios were at 799 Seventh Avenue, at 52nd Street… quite close to
the station and to the 44th Street Hotel. A meeting with Jimmy
Dorsey or Chauncey Morehouse… the need to make quickly some easy dollars… and
that was it.
For those who believe that it is
Bix on “Cradle of Love” (recorded for
Brunswick in Chicago on January 24, 1929), as suggested by Brad Kay on the
Timeless “Ray Miller” CD, this story will sound very similar: same label, one
year later, same discrepancy with “official” Bix’s schedule and – in my opinion
– same, if not stronger, aural evidence.
But Bix’s presence on this side
is of course, at this stage, only a possibility. It might be reinforced – or
invalidated – by the “Brunswick E31963-G” take: is it available? Or by other
“Bixian” recordings by Tony Gianelli or John Egan, with takes offering
different solos… are they any? (I have only two “California Ramblers” sides
with Tony Gianelli… on Timeless : they say nothing).
Comments are clearly welcome.
Jean Pierre Lion
November 23, 2004.
Email Jean-Pierre at: jp.lion@sef-france.com
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Addendum : another session of interest…
Two
other titles recorded by the Roger Wolfe Kahn Orchestra are also worth a few comments.
They were made in New York on March 14, 1928:
Roger Wolfe Kahn & his Orchestra: Tommy Gott, Manny Klein (tp); Miff
Mole, Jack Teagarden (tb); Arnold Brilhart (cl, as, fl, oboe); Alfie Evans (cl,
as,bar); Max Farley? (ts); Joe Venuti, Joe Raymond (vln); Arthur Schutt (p);
Tony Colucci (bj); Eddie Lang (g); Arthur Campbell (bb, sb); Vic Berton (dm);
Franklin Baur (voc):
Victor 43358-1
“She’s a Great, Great Girl”
43358-2 “She’s a Great, Great Girl”
43359-1 “Give Me the Sunshine”
(fb voc).
According
to the bandleader, Miff Mole did not show up for the first tune, and a 23-year
old trombone player was called at the very last minute to “step right in and cut
the stuff.” He was Jack Teagarden. The miracle was that he was not only able to
fit in the band “on the spot”, but that he could also record on this side a
32-bar solo that, when published, made “quite an impression...” Actually, it’s
a gem. The Oracle-CD has, interestingly, selected the alternate take (2), while
the master (1) has been used on other releases. The significant difference
between the two recorded solos confirm that Jack Teagarden was, like Bix, one
of the few musicians for whom “improvisation” meant “instant creation”.
About
the second title, on which Miff Mole seemed to have participated, Howard J.
Waters wrote in “Jack Teagarden’s Music” (1960) :
“The
second title features the second trumpeter prominently: his identity is not
positively established, but is neither Leo McConville nor Mannie Klein, both of
whom had recorded frequently with Kahn, nor does the author believes it was Ray
Lodwig, as has been proposed. The author feels that it is very likely the same
man as on ‘I’m More than Satisfied’ by The All Star Orchestra (Victor 21605);
this trumpeter has not been satisfactorily identified in any of the standard
discographical references.
The
trombone-like straight melody solo which opens the last chorus of ‘Give me the
Sunshine’ was, in fact, played by Tommy Gott on trumpet.”
Trumpeters
on “I’m More than satisfied” were
Jimmy McPartland, Ray Lodwig and Fuzzy Farrar... but Tom Lord has a different
name for the second trumpet on Kahn’s sessions recorded between March 1928 and
February 1929: Mike Mosiello. Interesting?
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Email Jean-Pierre at: jp.lion@sef-france.com
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Page created 29th November 2004.
Revised 1st December 2004.