“I Never Knew What The Moonlight Could Do”
George Olsen And His Music; Bob Borger, Fran Frey, Bob Rice, vocal
(Victor 20337-A) November 12, 1926
“I Don’t Mind Being All Alone”
Art Landry And His Orchestra; Al Marineau, vocal
(Victor 20337-B) November 1, 1926
Here is a record from the Edward Mitchell collection featuring two dance bands that are largely forgotten today but were quite popular and made a lot of records during the 1920s.
I think both of these recordings are pleasant. The arrangement of “I Don’t Mind Being All Alone” takes a sudden shift in direction about 2:15 into the recording, which I think makes it interesting. It also includes a sudden, brief “hot” passage that pops up from out of nowhere.
Art Landry’s band made its last records in 1927.
George Olsen’s band was, by far, the most successful of the two. It remained popular and made records throughout the early 1930s thanks to prominent radio broadcasts.
In 1936, bandleader Orville Knapp was killed in a plane crash. Knapp’s band played “sweet” music with odd, though sometimes pleasant, arrangements and musical gimmicks. Though only recently formed, the band was attracting public notice and making records for Decca. Knapp had previously been a member of Olsen’s band, and Olsen was a fan of the Knapp band’s arrangements.
With the help of Knapp’s widow, Olsen took over the band, kept its unusual style, and eventually branded it as “George Olsen and his Music of Tomorrow.” He kept that band going until 1951, but it never achieved the level of success of his 1920s band.
After Olsen retired from the music business, he operated his own restaurant in Parmaus, New Jersey for many years where his recordings from the 1920s and 1930s were played as the background music. I don’t know what the food was like, but it certainly would have been fun to visit.