 | This article needs additional citations for verification .(June 2018) |
Joseph Samuels was an American musician and bandleader, who is today virtually only known through his recordings.
| | This article needs additional citations for verification .(June 2018) |
Joseph Samuels was an American musician and bandleader, who is today virtually only known through his recordings.
Practically nothing seems to be known about Joseph Samuels as a person, and the dates of his birth and death have long remained unknown to jazz historians. An article published in the May 1919 issue of The Tatler indicates he was born in Tennessee, studied under Campanari at the College of Music of Cincinnati, and was concert master for Henry W. Savage. [1] His name indicates that he, as well as many other musicians of the New York City scene at the time, may have been of Jewish origin. He was mainly a reed player (playing clarinet, alto saxophone, and bass saxophone), but also played violin and made records as a soloist on the latter instrument accompanied by pianist Frank Banta. Joseph Wilson Samuels was born on March 5, 1881, in Jackson, TN, the seventh child of Julian Samuels (Germany) and Jennette Eileu (Germany). His studies with Leandro Campanari (violin) at the Cincinnati College of Music must have taken place between 1890 and 1896. He married Belle Wolf on 12 Dec 1909 in New York City. The 1910, 1920, 1930, and 1940 census list Joseph and Belle living in Brooklyn, NY. His occupations are "musician in vaudeville" (1910), "theatrical musical director" (1917/18 draft card), "musician" (1920), "musician in an orchestra" (1930), and employee of the Kollsman Instrument Co. in New York (1942 draft card). In 1940, Joseph and Belle were living with Belle's sister, Carrie Messinger, in Flatbush. The 1940 census also adds that in 1935 Joseph lived in Texarkana, Texas(!), and that Joseph once completed two years of college. Joseph Wilson Samuels died on 19 July 1953 in Brooklyn, Kings County, New York. All documentation can be found on Ancestry.com.
What is known beyond doubt about Samuels is that he was an extremely prolific musician during the years 1919 to 1925, at least on records. In his work The American Dance Band Discography 1917-1942 noted discographer Brian Rust devotes 19 pages to the nearly 400 recordings made by Samuels and his dance orchestra.
Samuels' recording debut seems to have been with Pathé in January 1919. After this he went on to record for several other companies, beginning with Emerson, Grey Gull, and Arto in 1920, continuing with Edison in 1921 and with Gennett, Federal, and Banner in 1922.
From 1923 onwards, the last of these labels - as well as associated labels such as Regal, Oriole and Domino - became the dominating recipient of Samuels' services. As usually on these low-budget labels, the recordings were issued under an array of bewildering pseudonyms such as "Majestic Dance Orchestra", "Hollywood Dance Orchestra" and "Missouri Jazz Band".
Apart from these hundreds of peppy dance music recordings, Samuels also lead smaller recording groups playing in a more outright jazz idiom. Most of these latter sides were made under the names of Synco Jazz Band (49 recordings during 1919–1922, mainly for Pathé but also for Columbia and Grey Gull), Joseph Samuels' Jazz Band (40 recordings during 1920–23, mainly for Okeh but also for Paramount) and Tampa Blue Jazz Band (31 recordings for Okeh during 1921–1923). To these might be added some further seven sides waxed for Columbia in 1924 as Columbia Novelty Orchestra. The earliest of these small band recordings were very much in the style of the Original Dixieland Jazz Band, but over time got a sound and style of their own. The band's recording for Okeh of The Fives in March 1923 is considered the first orchestral recording of boogie-woogie. [2]
In particular, for Okeh, these small jazz-oriented Samuels groups also accompanied several black singers, male as well as female ones, including names such as Lucille Hegamin, Mamie Smith and Clarence Williams. These accompaniments are among the earliest examples of racially mixed jazz recordings in the United States.
For his dance band as well as his jazz group recordings, Samuels seems to have relied mainly on the same nucleus of fellow musicians, many of them nearly as little known as their leader.
On trumpet Samuels generally had Jules Levy Jr. (1889-1924). He was the son of a British-born cornet virtuoso of the same name. Like his father, Levy Jr. also performed and recorded as a soloist in concert and military style. [3] He is reported to later have led a band of his own in Hollywood. When a second trumpet appears in Samuel's recordings it is generally Hymie Farberman.
On trombone was Ephraim Hannaford, who had earlier been a member of the religious community called "House of David" and had worked in the various well-known musical aggregations within that group.
On piano Samuels had Laurie T. "Larry" Briers (born 1891), [4] of whom extremely little is known. He is however credited as co-composer on at least one of the tunes recorded by Samuels and also published other songs both during and after the recording career of the Samuels bands ended. His best known work is probably Brother Low Down, written with singer Al Bernard and recorded by Bert Williams among others.
At least Levy, Farberman and Hannaford also took part in recordings with other well-known bandleaders of the 1920s such as Sam Lanin, Ben Selvin, Arthur Lange, Harry Reser and Fred Rich. Samuels himself on the other hand seems to have recorded for no other leader than himself.
The Original Dixieland Jass Band (ODJB) was a Dixieland jazz band that made the first jazz recordings in early 1917. Their "Livery Stable Blues" became the first jazz record ever issued. The group composed and recorded many jazz standards, the most famous being "Tiger Rag". In late 1917, the spelling of the band's name was changed to Original Dixieland Jazz Band.
James Francis Dorsey was an American jazz clarinetist, saxophonist, composer and big band leader. He recorded and composed the jazz and pop standards "I'm Glad There Is You " and "It's The Dreamer In Me". His other major recordings were "Tailspin", "John Silver", "So Many Times", "Amapola", "Brazil ", "Pennies from Heaven" with Bing Crosby, Louis Armstrong, and Frances Langford, "Grand Central Getaway", and "So Rare". He played clarinet on the seminal jazz standards "Singin' the Blues" in 1927 and the original 1930 recording of "Georgia on My Mind", which were inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame.
OKeh Records is an American record label founded by the Otto Heinemann Phonograph Corporation, a phonograph supplier established in 1916, which branched out into phonograph records in 1918. The name was spelled "OkeH" from the initials of Otto K. E. Heinemann but later changed to "OKeh". In 1965, OKeh became a subsidiary of Epic Records, a subsidiary of Sony Music. OKeh has since become a jazz imprint, distributed by Sony Masterworks.
Frederick Charles Slack was an American swing and boogie-woogie pianist and bandleader.
Discography is the study and cataloging of published sound recordings, often by specified artists or within identified music genres. The exact information included varies depending on the type and scope of the discography, but a discography entry for a specific recording will often list such details as the names of the artists involved, the time and place of the recording, the title of the piece performed, release dates, chart positions, and sales figures.
Giuseppe "Joe" Venuti was an American jazz musician and pioneer jazz violinist.
Benjamin Bernard Selvin was an American musician, bandleader, and record producer. He was known as the Dean of Recorded Music.
Benjamin Moten was an American jazz pianist and band leader born and raised in Kansas City, Missouri, United States.
Gus Arnheim was an American pianist and an early popular band leader. He is noted for writing several songs with his first hit being "I Cried for You" from 1923. He was most popular in the 1920s and 1930s. He also had a few small acting roles.
Fred Hall was an American pianist, bandleader and composer. Hall was born in New York City and began his musical career working as a song-plugger for various music publishers. As a bandleader Hall and his men recorded prolifically for many labels from 1925 onwards. Many recordings featured vocalist Arthur Fields with whom Hall enjoyed a lengthy partnership, co-writing scores of songs, the better known ones including Eleven More Months And Ten More Days and I Got A Code In My Dose. Hall and Fields also appeared together on the NBC radio show The Sunday Driver.
Samuel Charles Lanin was an American jazz bandleader.
This is the discography of recordings by Duke Ellington, including those nominally led by his sidemen, and his later collaborations with musicians with whom Ellington had generally not previously recorded.
Anthony George "Andy" Sannella was an American musician and bandleader.
Earl Bunn Fuller was a pioneering American ragtime and early jazz bandleader, composer and instrumentalist. Fuller helped to initiate the popularity of jazz in New York City shortly before America's entry into World War I. He also had an ear for talent, and discovered Ted Lewis and Teddy Brown.
Ace Brigode & His Virginians were prominent in the early 1920s jazz scene, with their recordings spanning from 1923 to 1925, and a notable return in 1940 under the simplified name Ace Brigode and his Orchestra. Their initial releases in 1923 with Okeh Records included hits such as "You, Darling, You". By 1924, the group expanded to Ace Brigode & His Fourteen Virginians, producing an array of records that featured tunes like "Colorado-Waltz," among others, continuing their successful run across various record labels, including Columbia and Edison. In 1925, they maintained their momentum with tracks like "Alabamy Bound," showcasing a range from upbeat jazz numbers to sentimental ballads. Their recording activity in this period included "Normandy" and the whimsically titled "Why Aren't Yez Eatin' More Oranges?"
Irene Taylor (1906–1988) was an American singer best known for her recorded work with Paul Whiteman. She was married to singer and bandleader Seger Ellis.
Ray Miller (1896–1974) was an American bandleader who was popular during the 1920s. In 1924 his orchestra performed at the White House with Al Jolson, the first jazz band to do so.
The All-Star Trio or All Star Trio was a musical ensemble consisting of George Hamilton Green on the xylophone along with Frank Banta or Victor Arden on the piano and F. Wheeler Wadsworth on the saxophone. It was among the most popular musical outfits of the very early Jazz Age. Their music was promoted as "dance music".
Boyd Senter was a multi-instrumentalist and band leader, most commonly associated with his jazz-era clarinet playing. He helped start the careers of Glenn Miller and The Dorsey Brothers. As a vaudeville performer, he headlined with his jazz band and as a solo performer, having mastered several instruments. His later years involved non-musical employment, but he remained active in the local music scene.
Harry Roy Gozzard was a Canadian-American jazz trumpeter. He first performed with Sam Donahue. Other members of Donahue's band included the former The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson bandleader Doc Severinsen, 1946 Esquire Award winner for Best New Female Vocalist Frances Wayne, Grammy Award-winning vocalist and actress Jo Stafford and popular music arranger Leo Reisman.