Rare, unissued LIVE performances of Paul Whiteman and his Orchestra recorded by HMV at a concert given by the band at the Royal Albert Hall, London in 1926.
PAUL WHITEMAN AND HIS ORCHESTRA
Henry Buss
...
e, Walter Holzhaus, Teddy Bartell (t); Boyce Cullen, Wilbur Hall (tb); Harold McLean (as, bassoon); Chester Hazlett (as, bassoon); Charles Strickfaden (ts); Eddie Sharpe (as); Kurt Dieterle, Mario Perry, Matty Malneck (vn); Harry Perrella (p); Ray Turner (p, celeste); Mike Pingitore (bj); John Sperzel (bb); George Marsh (d). Recorded by HMV at the Royal Albert Hall, London, April 11th, 1926.
HMV CR-273-1 Linger Awhile (unissued)
HMV BR-271-1 Nola (unissued)
(NOTE: As these are "live" recordings, I decided to link the two performances, with "Linger Awhile" first. The original recording of "Nola" is in the collection of the noted bandleader Vince Giordano).
The Royal Albert Hall concert of April 11th, 1926 was one of the most important performances that Paul Whiteman and his Orchestra gave during its second European tour. The concert was sold out and the 8,000-seat hall was packed to capacity; 5,000 people had to be turned away! No previous orchestral concert had managed to fill the venue to capacity.
The entire concert was recorded by HMV engineers on ten 12 inch masters and four 10 inch masters using portable electrical recording equipment set-up under the stage, linked to several condenser microphones strategically situated near the band. It was a technological triumph, but for some reason HMV decided not to issue the results. It has been suggested that the sides were rejected because of the audience's applause, but as HMV must have been aware that the audience would signal their appreciation in-between (and sometimes during) numbers this seems illogical. Whatever the reason, the recordings remained unissued, save for complete sets of the 14 sides given to each member of the Whiteman band as a memento. In addition, at least one set was retained by HMV, though so far I have been unable to establish if any of the sides still exist within the EMI archives.
In addition to these two performances, the HMV engineers also recorded "Oh! Lady Be Good", "St Louis Blues", "Tiger Rag" (said to include a fantastic hot trumpet solo by Teddy Bartell), Ferde Grofe's "Mississippi Suite" and, most importantly, George Gershwin's "Rhapsody In Blue", as well as several other numbers.
