Joe Venuti
Although renowned as one of the world's great practical jokers (he once called a couple dozen bass players with an alleged gig and asked them to show up with their instruments at a busy street corner just so he could view the resulting chaos), Joe Venuti's real importance to jazz is as improvised music's first great violinist. He was a boyhood friend of Eddie Lang (jazz's first great guitarist) and the duo teamed up in a countless number of settings during the second half of the 1920s, including recording influential duets. Venuti moved to New York in 1925, and immediately he and Lang were greatly in demand for jazz recordings, studio work, and club appearances. Venuti seemed to play with every top white jazz musician during the segregated era and, in 1929, he and Lang joined Paul Whiteman's Orchestra, appearing in the film The King of Jazz.
Lang's premature death in 1933 was a major blow to Venuti, who gradually faded away from the spotlight. In 1935, after visiting Europe, the violinist formed a big band and, although it survived quite awhile and helped introduce both singer Kay Starr and drummer Barrett Deems, it was a minor-league orchestra that only recorded four songs (which Venuti characteristically titled "Flip," "Flop," "Something," and "Nothing"). His brief stint in the military during World War II ended the big band, and when he was discharged, Venuti stuck to studio work in Los Angeles. He was regularly featured on Bing Crosby's early-'50s radio show, but in reality the 1936-1966 period was the Dark Ages for Venuti as he drifted into alcoholism and was largely forgotten by the jazz world.
However, in 1967 Joe Venuti began a major comeback, playing at the peak of his powers at Dick Gibson's Colorado Jazz Party. His long-interrupted recording career resumed with many fine sessions (matching his violin with the likes of Zoot Sims, Earl Hines, Marian McPartland, George Barnes, Dave McKenna, and Bucky Pizzarelli, among others) and, despite his increasingly bad health, Venuti's final decade was a triumph.
© Scott Yanow /TiVo
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Take a Coffee Break
Jazz - Released by moreeguale on 25 May 2014
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
From the big band to the all stars
Jazz - Released by EPM on 3 Sep 2002
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Complete Jazz Series 1933
Jazz - Released by Complete Jazz Series on 29 Jun 2009
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Vintage Jazz Nº22 - EPs Collectors "Melodías Inolvidables"
Joe Venuti, Paul Whiteman And His Orchestra
Lounge - Released by Vintage Music on 6 Feb 1958
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Vintage Jazz Nº 37 - EPs Collectors, "Swing" Violín
Jazz - Released by Vintage Music on 9 May 1957
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Joe Venuti's Wild Cat
Jazz - Released by Charly Records on 25 Jun 2006
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
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Electric Joe
Jazz - Released by MUSICA.IT - APM Music on 21 Sep 2016
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
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Classic Recordings
Jazz - Released by Firefly Entertainment on 5 May 2008
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The Wolf Wobble
Jazz - Released by Jazz League Music on 17 Jul 2016
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
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The Wild Dog
Jazz - Released by Jazz League Music on 14 Jun 2016
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
I'll Never Be the Same
Jazz - Released by Supreme Media on 1 Feb 2013
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
I'll Never Be the Same
Jazz - Released by Lumi Entertainment on 1 Feb 2013
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Joe Venuti and Eddie Lang Selected Favorites
Jazz - Released by Charly Records on 21 Mar 2011
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Joe Venuti and Eddie Lang Selected Favorites
Jazz - Released by Charly Records on 21 Mar 2011
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Cool Breeze
Jazz - Released by Nagel heyer records on 30 Jun 2017
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo