Joe Venuti

Joe Venuti made his first records in 1924 with the Jean Goldkette Orchestra. Twenty years old, he’s fully formed as an improviser; here is a new and distinctive instrumental voice in music. On It’s The Blues (No. 14 Blues), inside his 12-bar solo, the violinist takes a two-bar, double-time, double-stop break of hot licks and funky slurs that signaled a new day for the violin in jazz.

Settling in New York City in the autumn of 1926, over seven years, he made stacks of records with the leading orchestras (Paul Whiteman, Roger Wolfe Kahn, Jean Goldkette, Fred Rich), singers (Bing Crosby, Red McKenzie, the Boswell Sisters), instrumentalists (Bix Beiderbecke, Frank Trumbauer, Jimmy Dorsey, Adrian Rollini, Tommy Dorsey), and scores of innocuous performers. He rubbed shoulders with some of the leading composers of the day (George Gershwin, Harold Arlen, Johnny Mercer, Rube Bloom, Hoagy Carmichael, and Victor Young). 

Joe Venuti would be the first to point out that his performances and recordings in the company of his boyhood friend, his best companion, and musical partner, guitarist Eddie Lang, were his favorite and by far his most significant work (1926-1933). (3)

After Eddie Lang died in 1933, Venuti achieved some initial success in the mid-thirties leading an orchestra, along with a brief overseas tour of England and Sweden (in 1934 with guitarist Frank Victor), a radio deal with NBC, and overall good box office receipts for his dance band. These successes were essentially a result of his longtime friend and former OKeh Records recording manager Tom (Tommy) Rockwell and Rockwell’s booking agency, Rockwell-O’Keefe.

As his orchestra continued making its way back and forth across America in the late 1930s and early 40s, Venuti's lack of discipline and inability to create an identity for this large group hampered its chances of competing in the big band arena. When peers and known taskmasters like Miller, Goodman, Shaw, and T. Dorsey came into their own (1937-1939), Venuti's band, comprised often of young, underpaid, often second-rate musicians, were no match against these well-oiled Swing machines. With no recording contract, no presence on network radio, and a severe lack of funds, the seams started to fall apart for the Joe Venuti Orchestra. Even though he was instrumental in bringing the Andrews Sisters and singer Kay Starr to the forefront, Joe Venuti found life in the "swing" lane exhausting, costly, and frustrating. By the end of the thirties, he was hiring and firing one band after another. Impenetrable, he tried vainly to continue the grueling task of one-night stands but to no avail. Reviews of the band often garnered better notice for his stage impersonations of Mussolini than for the music itself. In 1946, he finally called his big band experiment quits, having paid the price: two failed marriages and all his dough.

Venuti ended up in California playing on film scores, record dates, and guest shots on Bing Crosby's radio shows. (14)

His volatile nature, easily ignited by booze and gambling losses (two vices Eddie Lang was able to help him keep a lid on), only further dimmed the violinists' hopes. He toiled on the West Coast in joints and restaurants (even Las Vegas), where customers showed little or no interest in his music. "I stopped drinking in 1957, and I finally left Las Vegas after dropping one-too-many bundles." (8) 

Venuti was “rediscovered” in the late 1960’s and returned to recording and gigging with pickup bands for his final lap. The 1970s saw the Maestro in top form with a busy schedule of concerts, club dates, television appearances, and recording sessions (a Venuti revival took place for his final octennial). On stage and in the studio, he paired with a variety of companions, including Zoot Sims, George Barnes, Dave McKenna, Lino Patruno, Stephane Grappelli, Earl Hines, Dutch College Swing Band, Leon Redbone, and Jethro Burns (of Homer & Jethro fame).

Here are three selections from the 1970’s that show the Maestro in good company and excellent form. Unlike many from his era, Joe lived three-quarters of a century, performing at the peak of his powers until he died in 1978.

When in Italy, a favorite Venuti collaborator was guitarist and singer Lino Patruno. Together, they recorded, concertized, and made television appearances. SWEET GEORGIA BROWN comes from an appearance on the Italian tube that shows off Venuti, Lino, and his band in a spirited performance. That’s Lino doing the scat singing!

The Dutch College Swing Band had been around for over twenty-five years before connecting with Joe Venuti. The result was the 1971 album Dutch Swing College Band Meets Joe Venuti. The band took this encounter seriously and prepared to make the most of the opportunity. The five selections on the LP featuring the violinist are well thought out, with solid arrangements that complement the fiddler, nowhere more so than on BODY AND SOUL. Here, the maestro delivers a heartbreaking performance; this is Joe Venuti at his ballad best!

The original recording of TAP ROOM BLUES comes from a 1935 Decca recording session, and it featured the last edition of the “classic” Joe Venuti Blue Four (though there were five men with him on the date, but who’s counting). Venuti often revisited selections from his past, but it appears he didn’t dip into his back catalog and pull out TAP ROOM much, if at all (this version does not include the word BLUES in the song title). With Lou Stein on piano (another Philadelphia boy and a favorite of Venuti’s), TAP ROOM gets a new lease on life via the quartet.

Schwalbach, Paul J. Weinstein