Eddie Lang
The first jazz guitar virtuoso, Eddie Lang was everywhere in the late '20s; all of his fellow musicians knew that he was the best. A boyhood friend of Joe Venuti, Lang took violin lessons for 11 years but switched to guitar before he turned professional. In 1924, he debuted with the Mound City Blue Blowers and was soon in great demand for recording dates, both in the jazz world and in commercial settings. His sophisticated chord patterns made him a superior accompanist who uplifted everyone else's music, and he was also a fine single-note soloist. He often teamed up with violinist Venuti (including some classic duets) and played with Red Nichols' Five Pennies, Frankie Trumbauer, and Bix Beiderbecke (most memorably on "Singing the Blues"), the orchestras of Roger Wolfe Kahn, Jean Goldkette, and Paul Whiteman (appearing on one short number with Venuti in Whiteman's 1930 film The King of Jazz), and anyone else who could hire him. A measure of Lang's versatility and talents is that he mostly played the chordal parts on a series of duets with Lonnie Johnson (during which he used the pseudonym Blind Willie Dunn), yet on his two duets with Carl Kress (whose chord voicings were an advancement on Lang's), he played the single-note leads. Eddie Lang, who led some dates of his own during 1927-1929, worked regularly with Bing Crosby during the early '30s in addition to recording many sessions with Venuti. Tragically his premature death was caused by a botched operation on a tonsillectomy.
© Scott Yanow /TiVo
Similar artists
-
-
The Quintessential Eddie Lang 1925-1932
Jazz - Released by Timeless Records on 4 Jul 2008
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
The King of Jazz Story - All Original Recordings - Remastered
Jazz - Released by Silver Classics Jazz on 20 Aug 2013
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Joe Venuti and Eddie Lang Columbia and Okeh Sessions, Vol. 1
Jazz - Released by Legacy Recordings on 16 Nov 2018
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Joe Venuti and Eddie Lang Columbia and Okeh Sessions, Vol. 4
Jazz - Released by Legacy Recordings on 7 Dec 2018
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Pickin' My Way - The Best Of
Blues - Released by Master Classics Records on 1 Mar 2009
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Joe Venuti and Eddie Lang Columbia and Okeh Sessions, Vol. 3
Jazz - Released by Legacy Recordings on 30 Nov 2018
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
The Very Best Of
Jazz - Released by Brownbeats Records on 1 Feb 2009
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Joe Venuti & Eddie Lang 1928-31
Jazz - Released by Documents on 1 Sep 2009
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
The Best Classic Jazz, Eddie Lang & Lonnie Johnson
Jazz - Released by SendDigital on 21 Nov 2002
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
-
Complete Jazz Series 1927 - 1932
Jazz - Released by Complete Jazz Series on 30 Mar 2009
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
-
Early Jazz (Remastered)
Jazz - Released by Ornithology Rec. on 25 Apr 2013
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Eddie Lang's Souling
R&B - Released by Charly Records on 25 Jun 2006
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Venuti, Joe: Stringing the Blues (1926-1931)
Classical - Released by Naxos on 1 Jul 2002
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Joe Venuti and Eddie Lang Columbia and Okeh Sessions, Vol 2
Jazz - Released by Legacy Recordings on 23 Nov 2018
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Goog Enough to Keep
Charlie Christian, Joe Venuti, Eddie Lang
Jazz - Released by Documents on 1 Jan 1995
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Presenting Eddie Lang
Jazz - Released by Universal Digital Enterprises on 17 Mar 1927
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
-
Jazz From New York
Tommy Dorsey, Jimmy Dorsey, Eddie Lang
Jazz - Released by CoolNote on 1 Jan 2000
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo