Casper Reardon, harpist, unreleased studio recording, 1937

Recorded on disk, this selection by Casper Reardon is a previously unreleased, segment from a Hollywood studio recording session. Two songs, Ain't Misbehavin' (Fats Waller, Harvey Brooks, Andy Razaf) and St. Louis Blues (WC Handy) are heard in the released print of this feature film, starring Alice Faye, George Murphy, Ken Murray, Andy Devine and Oswald (Tony Labriola). The first song, Junk Man (by Joseph Meyer and Frank Loesser) was cut from the released print, but the audio survives on this playback disk dated October 9, 1937. Stills have been inserted into this video clip where film footage does not survive. The film, directed by David Butler, was released December 26, 1937. The voice of the conductor, Charles Previn (the cousin of André Previns father) is heard counting off the selection. Note: The condition of this film is below acceptability. It is posted here in the interest of history and rarity. When a better print comes along, we shall celebrate. Although Casper Reardon's harp is heard in some movies (notably dubbing for Harpo Marx in Go West), he is only seen in one feature, and here it is. You can find details about him on Internet Movie Database. In the 1930s and early 1940s Casper Reardon (1907-1941) was the most sought-after harpist in popular music. A classically trained son of vaudeville artists, he studied with legendary Carlos Salzedo at the Curtis Institute in Philadelphia. Reardon gained stature in the 1920s when he became first harpist of the ...

EVENSONG (Dana Suesse) Casper Reardon, Harp

EVENSONG (Ireland, 1300 AD) The second movement of the suite Young Man With A Harp (Dana Suesse) Played by Casper Reardon, accompanied by the composer, April 23, 1940. In the 1930s and early 1940s Casper Reardon (1907-1941) was the most sought-after harpist in popular music. A classically trained son of vaudeville artists, he studied with legendary Carlos Salzedo at the Curtis Institute in Philadelphia. Reardon gained stature in the 1920s when he became first harpist of the Cinncinati Orchestra under Fritz Reiner for five years, and head of the harp department at the Cincinnati Conservatory. Some of his pupils persuaded him to explore jazz music, and he quickly fell in love with the music of WC Handy, Fats Waller, Duke Ellington and many more. Jazz on the harp was a previously undeveloped field, but his skill at rendering percussive harp landed him a job on WLW radio in Cincinnati until he moved to New York City in 1931. In Manhattan he became busy with radio broadcasts, phonograph recording, vaudeville and cabarets. At first his name did not appear on records (even though he was the star of the 1934 Jack Teagarden record of Junk Man). By 1936 his name appeared on the connoisseur label of Liberty Music Shop, and later the Schirmer label. He was widely known as the swing harpist. In 1939 Reardon had an engagement scheduled with the Philadelphia Symphony. At the suggestion of his record producer (Gus Schirmer, Jr.) Reardon asked contemporary composer Dana Suesse to write ...

Adele Girard Trio - "Harp Boogie" - original "video" (soundie)

A "pop video" from the late Forties - made on film cartridges, these inhabited the Forties equivalent of today's video juke boxes. Classically-trained harpy... sorry, HARPIST Adele Girard appeared with her husband, Joe Marsala and his band, on a number of these - but here she plays with just a trio (and a sexy dancer, thrown in for the juke box crowd). She had a low-key but long career, finally leaving us in 1993. Viva Adele!

Dorothy Ashby - You'd Be So Nice to Come Home To

Dorothy Ashby - In A Minor Groove Year: 1958 Label: Prestige Harp: Dorothy Ashby Flute: Frank Wess Bass: Herman Wright Drums: Art Taylor and Roy Haynes While not the first male or female jazz harp player (Casper Reardon of Jack Teagarden's bands, Adele Girard performing with her husband Joe Marsala, or Corky Hale set precedents), Dorothy Ashby was the very best and most swinging performer on the multi-stringed instrument associated with the gates of heaven. Here on Earth, Ashby adeptly plucked and strummed the harp like nobody else, as evidenced on this single CD reissue containing her two best LPs for the Prestige and Prestige/New Jazz labels from 1958 -- Hip Harp and In a Minor Groove. Alongside her prior efforts for the Savoy label, they collectively represent a small but substantive discography for the Detroit native in small group settings. With the exceptional flute sounds produced by Frank Wess, the combo plays music that is oriented via a unique sonic palate, further enhanced by the principals in the standards and originals they have chosen. Fellow Detroiter Herman Wright is here on bass, with duties split between legendary drummers Art Taylor and Roy Haynes, who place particular emphasis on subtle brushwork. Of course, the watchword of Ashby's sound is elegance, as she and Wess weave magical threads of gold and silver through standards like the circular and pristine "Moonlight in Vermont," the dramatic, slow "Yesterdays," or the sad "Alone Together." In a more ...

Irving Mills and his Hotsy Totsy Gang - My Lit'l Honey And Me (1929)

Irving Mills (Jan.16,1894 - April 21,1985) was a jazz music publisher, also known by the name of "Joe Primrose." Mills was born to Jewish parents in the Lower East Side of Manhattan in New York City. He founded Mills Music with his brother Jack in 1919. Between 1919 and 1965, when they sold Mills Music, Inc., they built and became the largest independent music publisher in the world. He died in 1985 in Palm Springs, California. Irving and Jack discovered a number of great songwriters, among them Sammy Fain, Harry Barris, Gene Austin, Hoagy Carmichael, Jimmy McHugh, and Dorothy Fields. He either discovered or greatly advanced the careers of Cab Calloway, Duke Ellington, Ben Pollack, Jack Teagarden, Benny Goodman, Will Hudson, Raymond Scott and many others. Although not a musician himself (he did sing, however), Irving decided to put together his own studio recording group. In Irving Mills and his Hotsy Totsy Gang he had for sidemen: Tommy Dorsey, Jimmy Dorsey, Joe Venuti, Eddie Lang, Arnold Brillhardt, Arthur Schutt, and Manny Klein. Other variations of his bands featured Glenn Miller, Benny Goodman, and Red Nichols (Irving gave Red Nichols the tag "and his Five Pennies.") One of his innovations was the "band within a band," recording small groups (he started this in 1928 by arranging for members of Ben Pollack's band to record hot small group sides for the various dime store labels, out of the main orchestra and printing "small orchestrations" transcribed off the record ...

Edward Heyman & Dana Suesse, also Gertrude Niesen, 1933

New York songwriters were utilized frequently by the studios, especially when the films were shot around New York (Paramount and Universal maintained important studios in Astoria, Long Island). Dana Suesse and lyricist Edward Heyman were scheduled to appear in a film short, produced as part of a series by director Fred Waller for Paramount Pictorial. At nine o'clock on the morning of February 9, Eddie and Dana arrived at the studio and began the tedious process of filmmaking. Make-up, hair, light, endless sound checks, rehearsal, Etc. Dana reminisced 40 years later, "I wore glasses in those days. The makeup man put false eyelashes on me, this makeup, changed my whole face, and when he finally got through, I was walking down to the sound stage...in the morning. I didn't have my glasses on. I was walking down this long, long corridor all by myself. At the end of the corridor I see a figure coming. With my limited vision I guessed that the figure was female, because it had a skirt on. I kept walking and kept wondering, when is she going to move over? She's walking straight in my path, so what the hell is she doing? Does she want the whole corridor to herself? Then I banged right into a mirror at the end of the corridor." Unaccustomed to publicly performing, Heyman (whose numerous lyrics included Body and Soul, Out of Nowhere and Through The Years) was directed to stand by the keyboard behind an enormous canister shaped microphone and sing songs he had written, accompanied by ...

Junk Man - Jack Teagarden and His Orchestra

The reverse of Tram's "In A Mist" recording. Classic Big T here!

Ain't Misbehavin'- Fats Waller on the lever harp

www.beautifulharpmusic.com Linda Umstead original arrangement I based my interpretation on the Hank Williams Jr. version.

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Jonge harpspeelster ~ Junge Harfenspielerin ~ Young harp player

Museum Tiroler Bauernhöfe (Tirools Boerderijmuseum) in Kramsach (Oostenrijk), juli 2007. Geen vlekkeloos spel, maar dit meisje liet zich overhalen om op een veel te grote harp voor volwassenen te spelen (kijk hoe ze helemaal om het instrument heen moet draaien om bij de bassen te kunnen). Knap toch? Voor mij heeft ze daarmee haar verschijning op YouTube verdiend. ~ Esta menina estava a ver a senhora de azul tocar harpa, então ela deixou que a convencessem a tocar num instrumento que é demasiado grande para ela (vejam como mal alcança as cordas do baixo). Para mim, isto merece ser carregado no YouTube. Foto de Julho de 2007 no Museum Tiroler Bauernhöfe (Museu Camponês do Tirol) em Kramsach, Tirol. Im Museum Tiroler Bauernhöfe (Kramsach) findet alljährlich ein Tag der Volksmusik statt. Das Mädchen hatte beim Harfenspiel zuerst zugeschaut, ließ sich dann aber überreden, selbst ihr Können zu zeigen obwohl die Harfe eine Nummer zu groß für sie war. Mit dieser Bravour hat sie sich eine Hochladung verdient. This little girl had been watchting the lady in blue play the harp, then let herself be cajoled into perform on an instrument which is way too big for her (watch her reach down for the bass strings). To me this earns her an upload to YouTube. Taken July 2007 at the Museum Tiroler Bauernhöfe (Tyrolean Farm Museum) at Kramsach, Tyrol ~