jimmy durante, pianist

[alocispepraluger102]

to my great surprise this complete ladd's black aces(1921-1924) recording lists jimmy durante playing piano.

can anyone fill in the blanks?

Edited August 11, 2011 by alocispepraluger102

[medjuck]

"Cabaret Echoes--New Orleans Jazzers at Work" contains 6 numbers by The Original New Orleans Jazz Band which was led by Durante even though he wasn't from NO. (Most of the rest of the band was.)

[alocispepraluger102]

"Cabaret Echoes--New Orleans Jazzers at Work" contains 6 numbers by The Original New Orleans Jazz Band which was led by Durante even though he wasn't from NO. (Most of the rest of the band was.)

that's very early 20s???

thx.

[jazzbo]

Red Hot Jazz is a great resource. Here's what it says about Durante:

http://www.redhotjazz.com/jdurante.html

Before Jimmy Durante became one of the most famous and lovable entertainers of the Twentieth Century, he was a hot piano player and bandleader. Durante was greatly influenced by Scott Joplin and had his first success in show business as a Ragtime piano player starting around 1911. He was billed as "Ragtime Jimmy" and played in New York City and Coney Island. Durante was part of the same wild crowd of early White jazz musicians as the Original Dixieland Jazz Band and Johnny Stein. When the New Orleans Jazz style swept New York by storm in 1917 with the arrival of the Original Dixieland Jazz Band Durante was part of the audience at Reisenweber's on Columbus Circle. Durante was very impressed with the band and invited them to play at a club called the Alamo in Harlem where Jimmy played piano. The band was soon the hottest thing in show business and Durante had his friend Johnny Stein assemble a group of like-minded New Orleans musicians to accompany his act at the Alamo. They billed themselves as "Durante's Jazz and Novelty Band". In late 1918 they recorded two sides for Okeh under the name of the New Orleans Jazz Band, they re-did the same two numbers a couple of months later for Gennett under the name of Original New Orleans Jazz Band, and in 1920 the same group recorded again for Gennett as Jimmy Durante's Jazz Band. In 1921, Durante collaborated with an African-American songwriter by the name of Chris Smith on the songs "Let's Agree To Disagree" and "Daddy, Your Mama Is Lonesome For You" which were recorded by Mamie Smith. Durante went on to record with several White Jazz bands in the early 1920s including The Original Memphis Five, Ladd's Black Aces, Bailey's Lucky Seven and Lanin's Southern Serenaders. Jimmy was a solid Ragtime and Jazz piano player, but soon gravitated towards vaudeville as the 1920s wore on. He became part of a comedy music team called "Clayton, Jackson and Durante". By the end of the decade the team was very popular on Broadway and Durante got a role in a play called "Jumbo" which made him a star. In the early 1930s he started to get roles in movies, and became popular on radio and eventually became one of the most popular entertainers in America. On his radio show he joked that he was working on a symphony, but he wouldn't call it "Rhapsody In Blue" or anything like that. He would call it "Inka Dinka Do". In 1934 he recorded a novelty song with this title and it became his signature tune. Jimmy's popularity never really faded and he became one of the first stars of television. In his later years he was often cast as a lovable relic of the Roaring 20s, but few remembered him as one of the first Jazz recording artists.

New Orleans Jazz Band Jimmy Durante's Jazz Band

Original New Orleans Jazz Band Whiteway Jazz Band

Clayton, Jackson, and Durante The Syncopating Skeeters

Title Recording Date Recording Location Company

Inka Dinka Do

(Ben Ryan / Jimmy Durante) 2-13-1934 New York, New York Brunswick

6774

Hot Patatta

(Jimmy Durante) 2-13-1934 New York, New York Brunswick

6774

Title Director Year

Roadhouse Nights Hobart Henley 1930

The New Adventures of Get-Rich-Quick Wallingford Sam Wood 1931

Cuban Love Song W.S. Van Dyke 1931

The Christmas Party Charles Reisner 1931

Wet Parade Vicctor Fleming 1932

Speak Easily Edward Sedgwick 1932

Le Plombier amoureux Claude Autant-Lara and Edward Sedgwick 1932

The Phantom President Norman Taurog 1932

The Passionate Plumber Edward Sedgwick 1932

Blondie of the Follies Edmund Goulding 1932

What! No Beer? Edward Sedgwick 1933

Meet the Baron Walter Lang 1933

Hell Below Jack Conway 1933

Broadway to Hollywood Willard Mack 1933

Student Tour Charles Reisner 1934

Strictly Dynamite Elliott Nugent 1934

Palooka Benjamin Stoloff 1934

George White's Scandals 1934

Hollywood Party 1934

Carnival Walter Lang 1935

Land Without Music Walter Forde 1936

Little Miss Broadway Irving Cummings 1938

Start Cheering Albert S. Rogell 1938

Sally, Irene and Mary William A. Seiter 1938

Melody Ranch Joseph Santley 1940

You're in the Army Now Lewis Seiler 1941

The Man Who Came to Dinner William Keighley 1941

Two Girls and a Sailor Richard Thorpe 1944

Music for Millions Henry Koster 1944

Two Sisters from Boston Henry Koster 1946

It Happened in Brooklyn Richard Whorf 1947

This Time for Keeps Richard Thorpe 1947

On an Island with You Richard Thorpe 1948

The Milkman Charles Barton 1950

The Great Rupert Irving Pichel 1950

Beau James Melville Shavelson 1957

Pepe George Sidney 1960

Il Giudizio universale Vittorio De Sica 1962

Billy Rose's Jumbo Charles Walters 1962

It's a Mad Mad Mad Mad World Stanley Kramer 1963

Jimmy Durante; His Show Business Career by David Bakish, McFarland & Company, Inc., 1995

Schnozzola; The Story of Jimmy Durante by Gene Fowler, The Viking Press, 1951

[AllenLowe]

the Original New Orleans Jazz Band is early and significant - they have some mention in Devilin Tune, which has some cuts (rough sound; at the time I had trouble finding decent sources). There's also a John R T Davies CD out there with much better sonics (not sure if it's the CD Joe mentions).

[johnlitweiler]

According to my old 1969 edition of Rust:

The Original New Orleans Jazz Band, with Durante and Achille Baquet, recorded six sides as early as 1918-9. The same band recorded one song, Why Cry Blues, as Jimmy Durante's Jazz Band in 1920. Durante played with various combinations of Sam Lanin Band musicians on records. Rust lists 2 dates with Bailey's Lucky 7 (1921), 4 dates with Ladd's Black Aces, and 8 sessions with Lanin's Southern Serenaders (1921-2) (2 sides were reissued on Black Swan, surprisingly enough, under the name Henderson's Dance Orchestra - Black Swan claimed all their records were by African-Americans).

[miles65]

The New Orleans Jazz Band is featured on the CD's:

Pioneer Recording Artists Retrieval RTR 79043

Sound restoration by John R.T. Davies notes by Mark Berresford.

New Orleans Jazz Band c. November 1918 Okeh

477-B Ole Miss

478-B Ja-Da Intro: You'll Find Old Dixieland In France

Original New Orleans Jazz Band c. January 1919 Gennett

6026 He's Had No Lovin' For A long long Time

6027 Ja-Da Medley

Jimmy Durante's Jazz Band c. May 1920 Gennett

7246 Why Cry Blues

Cabaret Echoes Off The Record ARCH OTR MM 10-C1

Has the above plus:

Original New Orleans Jazz Band c. March 1919 Gennett

6091 Ja-Da Medley

6091-A Ja-Da Medley

6092 He's Had No Lovin' For A long long Time

Sound restoration: Doug Benson notes by David Sager

Edited August 11, 2011 by Stompy Jones

[Ted O'Reilly]

He had amazing late-life success in the '60s, with truly soulful and sentimental-yet-not-sappy records. Lots of examples on Youtube.

Here, from 1955, he plays a bit at the start:

[jeffcrom]

The thing I've always liked best about those early Durante New Orleans Jazz Band recordings is the presence of Creole clarinetist Achille Baquet - these sides represent his major appearance on records. He was the brother of the more famous clarinetist George Baquet, who recorded with Jelly Roll Morton. It's an amusing comment on racial identity that of these two brothers, both of mixed African and European heritage, Achille decided to be white and George decided to be black. On at least one occasion, Durante felt compelled to defend himself against "accusations" that his clarinet player was black.

[AllenLowe]

interesting; the guy who turned me on to this group was Larry Gushee, who made the dubs I used on Devilin Tune (the sound is pretty bad on these and, as I mentioned, they hadn't been reissued yet). In many ways I like them better than the ODJB.