Roy Fox and Russ Columbo in the same video? Amazing! Didn't know they were connected and had to look back at Roy's biography to double check and make sure I wasn't seeing things.
Fantastic old music film! Recorded with the Vitaphone System, I belive was 331/3 rpm records played in sync with the picture. Amazingly good sync here. Just look at the xylophonist! But I miss that Gus Arnheim didn´t introduced the tunes speaking to the camera. Just bowing.
When Bing Crosby left the Arnheim orchestra, he recommended Russ Columbo as his replacement. In a very short time, Columbo’s handsomeness, musicianship and lyric baritone voice made him a national star on radio. To promote him, a so-called “Battle of the Baritones” between Crosby and Columbo was invented by a radio sponsor. In reality, the two were good friends. Crosby was a pallbearer at Columbo’s funeral at the Forest Lawn Memorial Park on Saturday afternoon, September 8, 1934.
The string bass player have a very peculiar style! String bass was very rare in these orchestras (or these recording sessions) at the time. But he obviously also plays the tuba!
The problem with trying to find out what styles this old music is called is that this was all “pop” music. So I guess that would’ve been called popular harmony back then. The closest thing to it that has a name is “barbershop harmony.” For more 1920s harmony, I recommend the Revelers, who were all accomplished solo singers performing together. There is a vitaphone short of them on RU-vid also.
What’s sad about this is that there were so man y many band working all having 10 , 12, 16 musicians working constantly. Now if you have a trio or quartet it can be hard to find steady work at decent pay.
Crosby preceded Columbo with the Arnheim band, and suggested to Gus A. that he choose Columbo as his new soloist. Crosby and Columbo were very good friends, and the so-called “Battle of the Baritones” was a network-radio press agent’s invention.
@@jimdrake3436 yes, the rivalry seemed a bit pointless. They had different singing styles. Crosby was, in my opinion, better -an innovator and more inventive, but Columbo was much better looking. Room for both. So sad RC died early.
Don't forget Fred McMurray who played also sax and clarinet. He even sang. Here he is: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-DaEgxVODgC4.html
This band is wonderful in itself , but it's obvious that they copied Whiteman , The trio vocalists , the Rhythm Boys , the guitar , Eddie Lang , the string bass , Steve Brown , the violin , Joe Venti , the saxophone Frank Trumbauer , and the cornetist , Bix .
