EDDIE LANG

UNMASKED

Selections featuring Eddie Lang as an accompanist with

VOCALS REMOVED!

Eddie Lang with the Paul Whiteman Orchestra, 1929-1930

Eddie Lang with Paul Whiteman and His Orchestra on the set of The King of Jazz, 1929-1920.

A BENCH IN THE PARK

March 21, 1930

Paul Whiteman and His Orchestra, Brox Sisters, The Rhythm Boys

Recorded at Columbia Phonograph Co., Los Angeles, CA

A BENCH IN THE PARK, richly scored, demonstrates Chet Hazlett’s “subtone” clarinet technique and Lang floating over a vocal chorus invloving both the Brox Sisters and the Rhythm Boys. (Dick Sudhalter, The Classic Columbia and OKeh Joe Venuti and Eddie Lang sessions, mosaicrecords.com)

NOTE: Discographies show different dates for this (session). However, the Columbia file card reveals March 21st.)

AFTER YOU’VE GONE

Paul Whiteman and His Orchestra, Vocal Refrain (Bing Crosby)

NYC, October 18, 1929

If William Grant Still’s arrangement remains earthbound, Bing seems gloriously at ease, voice warm and full. Joe and Eddie win top honors, with an impeccably executed Venuti double-time break at the halfway mark. (Dick Sudhalter, The Classic Columbia and OKeh Joe Venuti and Eddie Lang sessions, mosaicrecords.com)

NOTE: Joe Venuti’s Blue Four recording of Runnin’ Ragged (Bamboozlin’ The Bassoon) and Apple Blossoms were also recorded on this day with Whiteman orchestra members Frank Trumbauer (c-mel, bassoon) and Lennie Hayton (piano).

HAPPY FEET

Paul Whiteman and His Orchestra, Vocal Refrain by The Rhythm Boys

February 10, 1930

Recorded at Columbia Phonograph Co., Los Angeles, CA

Using Columbia’s Los Angeles studio, the band promptly recorded some tunes from the film: regrettably, the only HAPPY FEET evoked by Ferde Grofe’s overly busy arrangement seems to be those of an elderly dowager, petticoats held high as she flees a mouse, but there’s at least room for a jivey Rhythm Boys vocal backed strongly by Lang, and short solo appearances for (Izzy) Friedman (on tenor), (Andy) Secrest (on cornet) and an especially jubilant Venuti. (Dick Sudhalter, The Classic Columbia and OKeh Joe Venuti and Eddie Lang sessions, mosaicrecords.com)

I LIKE TO DO THINGS FOR YOU

March 23, 1930

Paul Whiteman and His Orchestra, Vocal refrain by The Rhythm Boys

Recorded at Columbia Phonograph Co., Los Angeles, CA

IF I HAD A TALKING PICTURE OF YOU

Paul Whiteman and His Orchestra, Vocal Refrain (Bing Crosby)

NYC, October 16, 1929

IF I HAD A TALKING PICTURE OF YOU, a superior De Sylva-Brown-Henderson effort from Hollywood’s Sunny Side Up, finds Lang effortlessly lofting a cheery Bing Crosby vocal, then digging in for half a chorus behind Venuti. (Dick Sudhalter, The Classic Columbia and OKeh Joe Venuti and Eddie Lang sessions, mosaicrecords.com)

CITATIONS

  • Recordings courtesy of Mosaic Records; The Classic Columbia and OKeh Joe Venuti and Eddie Lang sessions, mosaicrecords.com

  • Image courtesy of venutilang.com

  • KING OF JAZZ, Paul Whiteman’s Technicolor Revue, James Layton, David Pierce, Media History Press, 2016.