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| Thread ID: 45412 | 2004-05-21 11:18:00 | Off Topic: HTOTW#18, The Roger Wolfe Kahn Orchestra | Terry Porritt (14) | Press F1 |
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| 238316 | 2004-05-21 11:18:00 | HTOTW=Hot Tunes Of The Week. Real Audio Player or an alternative capable of playing real media files is required to listen to the streaming audio of the sites hosting the 1920s/30s music of a golden era of hot bands and orchestras. This week we are going to listen to some of the recordings of Roger Wolfe Kahn and his Orchestra. This orchestra was one of the top American orchestras/dance bands of the 1920s and early 30s. It was led and owned by a young man whose father, Otto Kahn, was a millionaire banker. Roger Wolfe Kahn was a bit of a musical genius from a very young age, and at age 16 in 1923 persuaded his father to buy him an orchestra, the Arthur Lange Orchestra. Eventually this became known as Roger Wolfe Kahn and his Orchestra. Being wealthy, Roger Kahn was able to hire top musicians of the day for recording sessions and special events with such names as the Dorsey brothers, Eddie Lang and Joe Venuti, Jack Teagarden, Red Nichols, Gene Krupa, Nat Shilkret, Artie Shaw, Miff Mole. In 1932, losing interest in the orchestra he disbanded it and took up flying, becoming a test pilot for Grumman during the war. After the war he returned to conducting and composing. He died in 1962. Fortunately for us he left a legacy of recordings from those hot tempo years. First, from 1926, a tune that George and Ira Gershwin aficionados may recognise as being a Gershwin tune just from its style, Clap Yo' Hands (www.redhotjazz.com). A real toe-tapper. In 1928 a Broadway musical, "Here's Howe" opened on the Ist of May at the Broadhurst Theatre. The music for the show was composed by Roger Wolfe Kahn and Joseph Meyer, Kahn was 21. Gosh they were talented in those days. Here is the Roger Wolfe Kahn Orchestra playing a number from that show, Crazy Rhythm (www.redhotjazz.com). Moving onto 1929, another George and Ira Gershwin number with Gus Kahn (no relation to Roger as far as I know)Do What You Do (www.redhotjazz.com), vocalist is Tom Stacks, a singer we have already heard in another HTOTW singing the novelty Pump Song, said to have a voice with a grin in it! Going back to 1927, and another Broadway musical "Hit The Deck" with music by Vincent Youmans, remade as a film in 1955 with Jane Powell,Debbie Reynolds, Tony Martin,and many other well know names, Sometimes I'm Happy (www.redhotjazz.com). The vocalist is a typical affected falsetto of the 1920s :), but the band is great. A favourite of mine from 1930 When a Woman Loves a Man (www.redhotjazz.com)with Libby Holman vocal. Ah, they dont make tunes like that any more. Now to end, a Duke Ellington/Irving Mills tune recorded in September 1932 by the Roger Wolfe Kahn Orchestra, must have been one of their last recordings, It Don't Mean a Thing (www.redhotjazz.com) (if it ain't got that swing). To hear more just go to the Roger Wolfe Kahn page of The Red Hot Jazz (www.redhotjazz.com) site. |
Terry Porritt (14) | ||
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