“My Old Love – Tango”
Max Dolin’s Orchestra
(Victor 19076-B) November 13, 1922
Here is a recording that I stumbled across online while researching a different record. I thought the song was very charming – and to my pleasant surprise, I was able to find a copy in my collection.
Unfortunately, my copy has some condition issues that proved to be a bit time-consuming for my software to clean up. But that’s the way it goes with vintage records – you might or might not eventually come across another copy in better condition. I was happy to discover I even had a copy at all, despite its condition.
“My Old Love” (“Mi viejo Amor“) was written by the prominent Mexican composer Alfonso Esparza Oteo. You can read more about him at this link (in Spanish) or in English at this link via Google Translate.
Born in what is now Odesa, Ukraine, Max Dolin was an accomplished violinist and prominent conductor in San Francisco. He is best remembered as the West Coast music director for the NBC radio network.
Victor’s recording ledgers indicate that the conductor for this New York City recording session was their in-house conductor, Nathaniel Shilkret, not Max Dolin. There is no mention of whether Dolin himself was present or whether the musicians were members of Dolin’s orchestra or in-house studio musicians. At the time, it was not uncommon for in-house staff to fill in for conductors or even entire bands who, for various reasons, might not have been able to attend a recording session.