Thursday 4 April 2019

Eddy Duchin born 4 April 1909


Edwin Frank Duchin (April 1, 1909 – February 9, 1951) was an American jazz pianist and bandleader during the 1930s and 1940s.

Duchin was born on April 1, 1909 in Cambridge, Massachusetts, to Bessarabian Jewish immigrants Tillie and Frank Duchin.

He was originally a pharmacist before turning full-time to music and beginning his new career with Leo Reisman's orchestra at the Central Park Casino in New York, an elegant nightclub where he became hugely popular in his own right and eventually became the Reisman orchestra's leader by 1932. He became widely popular thanks to regular radio broadcasts that boosted his record sales, and he was one of the earliest pianists to lead a commercially successful large band.

Playing what later came to be called "sweet" music rather than jazz, Duchin opened a new gate for similarly styled, piano-playing sweet bandleaders such as Henry King, Joe Reichman, Nat Brandwynne, Dick Gasparre, Little Jack Little, and particularly Carmen Cavallaro (who acknowledged Duchin's influence) to compete with the large jazz bands for radio time and record sales.

Duchin had no formal music training—which was said to frustrate his musicians at times—but he developed a style rooted in classical music that some saw as the forerunner of Liberace's ornate, gaudy approach. Still, there were understatements in Duchin's music. By no means was Duchin a perfect pianist, but he was easy to listen to without being rote or entirely predictable. He was a pleasing stage presence whose favourite technique was to play his piano cross-handed, using only one finger on the lower hand, and he was respectful to his audiences and to his classical influences.


Duchin would often use beautiful, soft-voiced singers such as Durelle Alexander and Lew Sherwood to accommodate his sweet and romantic songs, giving them extra appeal and making them more interesting.Members of Duchin's band included, at different times, Charlie Trotta, trumpet; Andy Wiswell or Moe Zudecoff (aka "Buddy Morrow"), trombones; Johnny McAfee, saxophone; and Buddy Clark or The DeMarco Sisters, vocals.

Between 1932 and 1950, Duchin recorded for, variously, the Columbia, Brunswick, and Victor labels and was credited for introducing to the public the songs Stormy Weather.  Other popular discs by his band included Did You Ever See a Dream Walking?, Let's Fall in Love, I Won't Dance, Lovely to Look At, You Are My Lucky Star, Moon Over Miami, Lights Out, Take My Heart, It's De-Lovely, and I'll Sing You a Thousand Love Songs, each of which was reported as a #1 record.  


                              

Duchin's 1938 release of the Louis Armstrong song "Ol' Man Mose" (Brunswick Records 8155) with vocal by Patricia Norman caused a minor scandal at the time with the lyric "bucket." Some listeners thought the singer slipped in a very naughty word when 
she was singing about Mose’s ‘bucket’. Whether it was true or just a trick of the ear didn’t seem to matter. The "scandalous" lyrics caused the record to zoom to #2 on the Billboard charts, resulting in sales of 170,000 copies when sales of 20,000 were considered a blockbuster. The song was banned after its release in Great Britain.

Duchin entered the U.S. Navy during World War II, serving as a combat officer in a destroyer squadron in the Mediterranean and Pacific.He attained the rank of lieutenant commander (O4). Duchin's military awards included the Navy Commendation ribbon with Combat "V", Combat Action ribbon, American Area Campaign medal, the European-Africa-Middle Eastern Area 
Campaign medal, the Asiatic-Pacific Area Campaign medal, and the World War II Victory medal. After his discharge from the military, Duchin was unable to reclaim his former stardom in spite of a stab at a new radio show in 1949.

He underwent several months' treatment for leukemia beginning in late 1950 but sadly died February 9, 1951, at the age of  41 at Memorial Hospital in Manhattan.  He was cremated, and his ashes were scattered in the Atlantic Ocean.



By the mid-1950s, Columbia Pictures, having enjoyed success with musical biographies, mounted a feature film based on the bandleader's life. The Eddy Duchin Story (1956) is a fictionalized tearjerker, with Tyrone Power in the title role. The film did well in theatres.   (Edited from Wikipedia)

1 comment:

boppinbob said...

For “Eddy Duchin & His Orchestra - Talk of the Town” go here:

https://www.upload.ee/files/9787570/Eddy_DUCHIN.rar.html

Disc One
1 SNUGGLED ON YOUR SHOULDER
2 SOFT LIGHTS AND SWEET MUSIC
3 NOW YOU'VE GOT ME WORRYIN' FOR YOU (v.Francis Langford)
4 BY THE FIRESIDE
5 THE CLOUDS WILL SOON ROLL BY (v. The Hamilton Sisters)
6 THE NIGHT WHEN LOVE WAS BORN
7 NIGHT AND DAY
8 AFTER YOU, WHO?
9 TRY A LITTLE TENDERNESS
10 I COVER THE WATERFRONT
11 ISN'T IT HEAVENLY?
12 IT'S THE TALK OF THE TOWN
13 CLOSE YOUR EYES
14 LA CUMPARSITA
15 A HUNDRED YEARS FROM TODAY
16 I JUST COULDN'T TAKE IT, BABY
17 DID YOU EVER SEE A DREAM WALKING?
18 AS LONG AS I LIVE (v. Harold Arlen)
19 MAY I ?
20 WHEN A WOMAN LOVES A MAN (v. The De Marco Sisters)
21 RIPTIDE (v. The De Marco Sisters)
22 EASY COME, EASY GO (v. The De Marco Sisters)
23 DAMES
24 HANDS ACROSS THE TABLE

Disc Two
1 HERE IS MY HEART
2 AFTER ALL
3 LOVELY TO LOOK AT
4 I WON'T DANCE
5 ISN'T THIS A LOVELY DAY
6 CHEEK TO CHEEK
7 YOU ARE MY LUCKY STAR
8 I'VE GOT A FEELIN' YOU'RE FOOLIN'
9 HOW DO I RATE WITH YOU?
10 I NEARLY LET LOVE GO SLIPPING THROUGH MY FINGERS
11 A RENDEZVOUS WITH A DREAM
12 TAKE MY HEART (v. Jerry Cooper)
13 PENNIES FROM HEAVEN
14 A STAR FELL OUT OF HEAVEN
15 I'LL SING YOU A THOUSAND LOVE SONGS (v.Jimmy Newell)
16 IT'S DELOVELY (v. Jerry Cooper)
17 LOVE IS GOOD FOR ANYTHING THAT AILS YOU
18 LET'S CALL THE WHOLE THING OFF (v. Jerry Cooper)
19 HEAVEN HELP THIS HEART OF MINE (v. Buddy Clark)
20 OL' MAN MOSE (v. Patricia Norman)
21 BETWEEN THE DEVIL AND THE DEEP BLUE SEA (v. Patricia Norman)
22 FROM NOW ON (v. Stanley Worth)
23 SEPTEMBER SONG
24 STORMY WEATHER
25 STARDUST
26 YOU CAN'T BRUSH ME OFF

The most famous of the piano showmen, Eddy Duchin began his career in 1928 with Leo Reisman's orchestra at New York's Central Park Casino, the most elegant society nightspot in the city. In 1931 he took over Reisman's place as leader at the Casino. His 10-piece orchestra played seven nights a week to packed houses. Regular radio broadcasts from the Casino helped spread Duchin's popularity across the USA. His orchestra began to tour and appear on popular radio programmes until World War II. After the war, Duchin formed a new orchestra, considered by many critics to be his most musical. In the late '40s, however, he was forced to cut back on activities as his leukemia began to worsen. He died in 1951. Here are 50 of his most popular recordings, most featuring Lew Sherwood on vocals! Meticulously compiled and annotated by Geoff Milne. (Jasmine notes)