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Joe Venuti & Eddie Lang: Stringing The Blues - Their 52 Finest 1926-1933
£10.99
In stock
Catalogue Number
RTS4386
Joe Venuti (1903-1978) and Salvatore Massaro, otherwise Eddie Lang (1902-1933) formed the most famous violin-guitar duo in jazz – a decade prior to Stéphane Grappelli and Django Reinhardt. Both Americans of Italian origin, each became a supreme master, Venuti as violinist, Lang as the first pioneer of the guitar as a solo voice in jazz as opposed to being simply a rhythm instrument. As a musical partnership they produced a whole string of jazz classics. Stringing The Blues brings together 52 of these, by now, great jazz standards from 1926-1933. Five are duo performances, such as the title track. Their small group format was as Joe Venuti’s Blue Four or Blue Five, when they joined by Adrian Rollini, Jimmy Dorsey and others (Dinah, I’ll Never Be The Same, Raggin’ The Scale). Four of these tracks stem from Eddie Lang’s last session before he died after undergoing a tonsillectomy at the age of just 30. The double CD set also offers three Eddie Lang solos (Eddie’s Twister) and four amazing duets as “Blind Willie Dunn” with Lonnie Johnson (Two-Tone Stomp) and Carl Kress (Pickin’ My Way), plus a couple with his own orchestra (Freeze And Melt). The programme is rounded off by a post-Lang session by Joe Venuti’s Blue Six, featuring Benny Goodman.
Manufacturer: Wyastone Estate Limited, Wyastone Leys, Monmouth, NP25 3SR
Email: sales@wyastone.co.uk
Reviews:
“The Retrospective label tags this two-disc release Their 52 finest 1926-1933. That’s a good summation of the material and calibre of musician Joe Venuti and Eddie Lang were working with during the period. In a little over six years the celebrated string duo recorded with some of the famous names of the day - Bix Beiderbecke, Hoagy Carmichael, Bing Crosby, Jimmy Dorsey, Tommy Dorsey, Bud Freeman, Benny Goodman, Lonnie Johnson, Carl Kress, Dick McDonough, Miff Mole, King Oliver, Adrian Rollini, Jack Teagarden, Frankie Trumbauer, Clarence Williams - and such was their standing in the world of popular music much of the material was issued with Venuti and Lang as bandleaders, principally their Blue Four and Blue Five outfits. The earliest recording – Black and Blue Bottom - dates from September 1926, a few weeks later they cut Stringing the Blues, the title of this most welcome package. The classically trained Venuti and Lang were more than a match for anyone around at the time and their virtuosity shines through in the hottest company. Adrian Rollini’s bass saxophone can be heard a mile away (the listing of Rollini’s ‘goofus & hot fountain pen’ always raises a smile), Jimmy Dorsey’s contributions on alto sax, baritone sax and clarinet are required listening and an undoubted highlight is Bing Crosby singing Some of These Days. In his sleeve notes, Steve Voce writes, ‘Bing’s fine performance here on Some of These Days is the last example of what a fine jazz singer he was before his record company dictated that jazz was out.’ It’s a sobering thought that the Blue Five’s February 1933 Columbia recording of Pink Elephants is the ill-fated Lang’s final contribution to this Retrospective album. Less than one month later, at the age of thirty, Lang died in hospital in California. If Venuti and Lang are underrepresented in your record collection, Stringing the Blues would be a worthy addition.” The Jazz Rag
"As ever, the Retrospective label has put together an excellent compilation, with tracks selected by Ray Crick, good sound restoration and remastering (by Martin Haskell), full personnel details and a perceptive and informative booklet essay by (in this case) Steve Voce. This is a splendid survey of the lost world of Venuti and Lang: you could describe it as Scott Fitzgerald set to music..." Just Jazz