Similar Albums:
- Artist: Joe Venuti & Eddie Lang
- Rating:
- Release Date: May 22, 2001
- Type: Compilation (best of)
- Genre: Jazz
Review
Pioneers in the early development of the violin and guitar as jazz instruments, Joe Venuti & Eddie Lang made music that can best be described as friendly and inventive. This Living Era compilation presents a chronologically arranged series of their best recordings made between November 1926 and February 1933. As a sort of encore, the producers have added four tracks recorded in October of 1931 featuring Benny Goodman and the brothers Teagarden. Venuti/Lang's "Stringing the Blues" sets the stage for a satisfying procession of hot jazz performances made enjoyably remarkable by each player's ingenuity. The cast of characters includes Red Nichols and Miff Mole, tuba titan Joe Tarto, multi-instrumentalists Adrian Rollini, Jimmy Dorsey, and the brave Frankie Trumbauer, who conducts a facile experiment in hot bassoon improvisation. In addition to Jack Teagarden's smooth blue crooning, there is a sweet vocal by Harold Arlen and bursts of lively scat sung by pianist Rube Bloom can be heard. Anyone seeking the perfect example of Joe Venuti & Eddie Lang at their beatific best will find it in their delicate rendering of Frank Signorelli's lovely opus "I'll Never Be the Same." The only flaw in the entire package occurs in the liner notes, which erroneously state that Joe Venuti died in 1974. While his date of birth will never be firmly established, there is little doubt that Fiddler Joe passed away in August of 1978. ~ arwulf arwulf, All Music GuideTracks
| Track Title | Composers | Performers | Time |
| Stringin' the Blues | Joe Venuti, Eddie Lang | Joe Venuti, Eddie Lang | (2:38) |
| Bugle Call Rag | Elmer Schoebel, |
Red Nichols | (2:55) |
| Doin' Things | Joe Venuti, Eddie Lang | Joe Venuti, Eddie Lang | (2:52) |
| Goin' Places | Joe Venuti, Eddie Lang | Joe Venuti, Eddie Lang | (2:56) |
| Kickin' the Cat | Joe Venuti | (3:12) | |
| Beatin' the Dog | Joe Venuti | (2:42) | |
| A Mug of Ale | Eddie Lang, Joe Venuti | (3:03) | |
| Four String Joe | Joe Venuti, Eddie Lang | Joe Venuti, Eddie Lang | (2:58) |
| Dinah | Joe Young, Sam M. Lewis, Harry Akst | (2:51) | |
| The Wild Dog | Joe Venuti, Eddie Lang | (2:46) | |
| The Man from the South (With a Big Cigar in His Mouth) | Harry Woods, Rube Bloom | (2:59) | |
| Wild Cat | Joe Venuti, Eddie Lang | Joe Venuti, Eddie Lang | (2:31) |
| Running Ragged (Bamboozlin' the Bassoon) | Joe Venuti | (3:07) | |
| I've Found a New Baby | Bert Williams, Jack Palmer, Spencer Williams | (3:12) | |
| Little Girl | Joe Venuti, Eddie Lang | (3:02) | |
| I'll Never Be the Same (Little Buttercup) | Frank Signorelli, Gus Kahn, Matty Malneck | (3:11) | |
| To to Blues | Eddie Lang, Joe Venuti | (3:17) | |
| Raggin' the Scale | Ed Claypoole | Joe Venuti, Eddie Lang | (3:03) |
| Hey! Young Fella | Jimmy McHugh, Dorothy Fields | Eddie Lang, Joe Venuti | (3:09) |
| Jig Saw Puzzle Blues | Adrian Rollini, Joe Venuti | Joe Venuti, Eddie Lang | (3:27) |
| Pink Elephants | Harry Woods, Mort Dixon | Joe Venuti, Eddie Lang | (3:11) |
| Beale Street Blues | W.C. Handy | Joe Venuti, Eddie Lang | (3:23) |
| After You've Gone | Henry Creamer, Turner Layton | Eddie Lang, Joe Venuti | (3:03) |
| Someday Sweetheart | Eddie Lang, Joe Venuti | (3:14) | |
| Farewell Blues | Eddie Lang, Joe Venuti | (3:00) |
