House Culture: Eddy Duchin plays Cole Porter - Rosalie, c.1940 Videos

Added: Nov 19, 2008

From: 240252

Duration: 2:39

Eddy Duchin Plays Cole Porter: Rosalie (from „Rosalie", 1937) (Cole Porter) -- Eddy Duchin, Piano with Rhythm Accompaniament, Columbia, ca 1940----------------------------------Eddy DUCHIN (b.Cambridge Massachusetts, 1910 -- d. NYC 1951) was one of the most famous American pianists and bandleaders of the 1930s' and 40's. His mother, Marjorie Oelrichs was a famous society beauty, whose ancestors were a major shipping family (the American agents for North German Lloyd) in the 19th century in New York. A great-aunt, Blanche Oelrichs, wrote plays under the name of Michael Strange and was married to John Barrymore with whom she had a daughter, the famously infamous Diana Barrymore. He first became a pharmacist before turning full-time to music and beginning his new career with Leo Reisman's orchestra at the Central Park Casino in New York, an elegant nightclub where he became hugely popular in his own right and eventually became the Reisman orchestra's leader by 1932. He became widely popular thanks to regular radio broadcasts that boosted his record sales, and he was one of the earliest pianists to lead a commercially successful large band. Duchin had no formal music training -- which was said to frustrate his musicians at times -- but he developed a style rooted in classical music. Playing what later came to be called "sweet" music rather than jazz, Duchin's success opened a new gate for similarly styled, piano-playing sweet bandleaders such as Henry King, Joe Reichman, Little Jack Little, Carmen Cavallaro to compete with the large jazz bands for radio time and record sales. He was a pleasing stage presence whose favourite technique was to play his piano cross-handed, using only one finger on the lower hand, and he was respectful to his audiences and to his classical influence.Duchin entered the Navy during World War II, serving as a combat officer. After discharge, he was unable to reclaim his former stardom in spite of a brave stab at a new radio show in 1949. He died two years later, at age 40 or 41, of leukemia.

Channel: Music

Tags: 78rpm  age  american  bandleader  fourties  jazz  pianist  swing  thirties  white 

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