Sam Lanin's Orchestra - Broadway Melody, 1929

SAMUEL C. LANIN born in Russia, 1891. Soon afterward, his parents, Benjamin and Mary, moved to the United States and settled in Philadelphia. Lanin's family was a musical one. Sam was the third of ten children, which included six future bandleaders. In addition to Sam, brothers Joe, Jimmy, Howard, Willie and Lester all led bands professionally. As a child, Sam studied violin, but later began playing clarinet. As a clarinet player, Sam was employed by Victor Herbert and played with his orchestra for two years, beginning in 1911. In 1917 Lanin joined the Navy, where he was assigned leadership of one of its bands. When the WWI ended, he returned to Philadelphia, where he started his own orchestra. While there, he met Louis Brecker, who on New Year's Eve, 1919, opened the renowned Roseland Ballroom in New York City. As a bandleader at the Roseland (1919-1925), Lanin gained prominence in the music industry -- his band played opposite of some of the great bands of the jazz age, including A.J. Piron (1924) and the legendary Fletcher Henderson (1924-1925). It was also at the Roseland, that Lanin employed the young Dorsey brothers. About a year after starting at the Roseland, Sam Lanin was at Columbia's New York studio to make his first recordings (April 28, 1920). These sides were released under the name of Lanin's Roseland Orchestra. Over the next 11 years, Lanin returned to the recording studio more than 500 times, to make over 1800 recordings (there was probably no one more prolific in recording history, with the exception of Ben Selvin).
Sam Lanin himself is rarely heard, on any of his recordings. During several sessions, he did play drums, he also supplied vocals. In one photo of Bailey's Lucky Seven (ca. 1922), which was one of his bands, Lanin poses with a clarinet. Sam Lanin recorded under many different pseudonyms (some authors say about 172 names that Lanin used!). The best kown are, Bailey's Lucky Seven, Ladd's Black Aces, Lanin's Arcadians and Lanin's Red Hades. In 1925, when he made his first radio broadcast, he performed as the leader of Ipana Troubadours. Throughout the first year, the band was heard over WEAF, in New York. From 1926 until Lanin's last Ipana broadcast, in 1931, his band made weekly broadcasts over the NBC networks. Sam Lanin died in Hollywood, Florida in May, 1977.

Recording: The Broadway Melody (Nacio H. Brown) - Sam Lanin's Orchestra, voc. Jack Hart, Harmony 1929

Category:

Music

Tags:

• Roaring
• Twenties
• 1920s
• American
• hot
• dance
• band
• Jazz
• Age
• Broadway
• musical
• Nacio
• Herb
• Brown

[sunholme213]

The singer is actually Jack Parker, who sometimes used the pseudonym Jack Hart. He did a lot of work for Edison both as Jack Parker and J. Donald Parker.

[CrazyBoutThe20s]

i love this..its one of the definitive 20s songs!!!

[TrudieVessot427]

Get the audio from this vid at thetunify doht cohm.

[HarborGuy]

Too Great - thanks for the post!

[BaltoJoey]

I LOVE this very danceable arrangement of this song! Thanks for posting this!!

[augustomariante]

I love this naive picture! The japanese poster is a art deco masterpiece. Antonio Augusto from Brazil

[CoolMovesNow]

This song stays in my head sometimes. Well composed, love all versions of it.

[victortalkingmch]

this budget label (recording can be found on Harmony, Diva, VelvetTone, M-G-M & a few others (from Columbia) used the same Viva-tonal Western Electric process as its parent label. the flip side YOU WERE MEANT FOR ME on any other label would read 'Sam Lanin's Orchestra, with vocal refrain by Jack Hart.' instead hart is listed as main star.

[fuzzbear6240]

Kspm01, KEEN! ;-) A very different take than the standard- Charles King's. Very refreshing. Thanks. Regards, J.

[StukInTexAss]

Let's not forget Nacio Herb Brown and Alfred Freed..the composers, not to mention Irving Thalberg who brought it all together!.