Allan Reuss - Complete (?) Recordings Listing

[leodbil]

Having been a bassist for 30 odd years I now find myself in love with the guitar styles of the first half of the last century. I've been teaching myself and doing a lot of listening to Eddie Lang, Carl kress , dick McDonough etc. I've read a bit about Allan Reuss but haven't (as far as I know) heard any of his playing. So I 'd just like to say a big thank you to you for all your hard work. This looks like a super resource to learn that style of rhythm guitar.

I've been searching for a month or so for a download blog that deals mostly with guitar styles and players of that era. The one place I found went private a couple of weeks ago and I haven't been able to get an invite. Does anyone know a good resource of this type that they can point me too? I'd really appreciate it.

Thanks again for all your hard work and loving' that rhythm guitar

Bill

[TonVanBergeijk]

Thanks to SHW for his spreadsheet with a wealth of info on Allan Reuss. A lot of post-war/post-Patrillo as well as info about A.R. personally. Also the covers of the Allan Reuss Guitar Solo Folio. Anyone got the complete folio and wants to scan & share?
Here's the link to SHW's stuff: https://rapidshare.com/files/344940630/AR-SHW-info.zip . It will take quite some time to incorporate all that info into one spreadsheet, sift out recordings, upload them, so do have some patience: apart from guitar-ing for a living I also have a wife who wants to see me every now & then.
TvB

[TonVanBergeijk]

Latest updates on my excel list are to be found on: https://rapidshare.com/files/9452615...ss-120111.xlsx
My next project will be comparing the Sinatra Columbias with SHW's spreadsheet (see above post: it's well worth & a joy having a look into). I do have a load of the stuff he mentioned in his excel list, just didn't know A.R. was on it: the guy must have slept in the studios.

[JoLa]

A necessary supplement to the list of recordings feat. Allan Reuss with Benny Goodman has to include live-recordings, radio broadcasts etc., but it seems to be a major task to list everything recorded, further much of this material besides the Carnegie Hall concert Jan. '38 is hard to find available for the average Goodman fan - collectors' stuff, of course. However, I have tried to dig out a couple of available sources. - Goodman's orchestra had its breakthrough with performance at the Palomar Ballroom, LA, August 1935, one of the first performances was aired and saved to disc, the show from 22 Aug '35. This specific live-on-the-air show is a historical document just as important as the 51 recordings in a day by the Rhythm Makers orchestra from June '35 - or the mentioned Carnegie Hall concert. The Palomar-recording has been 'lost' for years and searched after by Goodman collectors,
finally it was found and made available on a cd by Jazz Unlimited in 2003 (Jazz Unlimited 201 2087). The cd is titled Benny Goodman On The Air, 1935-36-38 Broadcasts and has two more live-on-the air recordings, a November 1936 broadcast from Hotel Pensylvania, NYC, and a Camel Caravan show from January 1938, recorded in NYC a couple of weeks after the famous Carnegie Hall concert. The Palomar Ballroom recording from August 1935 has the only documented live-recording of Bunny Berigan with the Goodman orchestra, he is featured soloist on the band's performance of Basin Street Blues. Allan Reuss is featured guitarist on all three live-sessions on the mentioned cd. - The Camel Caravan shows aired on CBS Network and the broadcasts from the Madhattan Room at Hotel Pensylvania, NYC, are crucial
documents of the Goodman orchestra's live performances, however, only a small part of this material has been released on cd. A website devoted to old time radio broadcasts, however, has listed some of these live-recordings from 1937 and made them available as legal downloadable mp3 files, to be found here: Benny Goodman - Old Time Radio Shows - OTR - The routine of many of these broadcasts was to feature a vocalist or a member of the orchestra as soloist during the show (- I have listened to a Camel Caravan from late 1938 featuring Ben Heller, who replaced Reuss, as soloist on Lady Be Good - quite in the McDonough/Kress style). I wonder, if Reuss has been a featured soloist in one of the shows, at least it would be a great supplement to a list of recordings where he actually is soloing, right?
Jo

[miariod]

Hi Ton
These two doen't seem to be in your collection. Reuss is quite inaudible, fior now is the only contribute I can offer to your research.
MEGAUPLOAD - The leading online storage and file delivery service
Gene Krupa and his Chicagoans:
- Nate Kazebier tpt
- Joe Harris tmb
- Benny Goodman clt
- Dick Clark tnr sax
- Jess Stacy pno
- Allan Reuss gtr
- Israel Crosby bs
- Gene Krupa dms

01 Jazz me blues
02 The last round-up

Recorded: Chicago, 19th November 1935

[TonVanBergeijk]

Here are the latest uploads following the same procedure as in post#29: 793261353/AllanReuss-13.zip , 1887308893/AllanReuss-14.zip , 1562837192/AllanReuss-15.zip . These are the Benny Goodman Broadcasts as mentioned above, two Gene Krupa tracks and one of John Fahey's. There's an awful lot of the Goodman radio stuff in SHW's mail (link in post#38) but I don't know yet how to get that into mp3 and upload other than a lengthy & tedious AudioHijack procedure.
So thanks to SHW, JoLa & miariod for their contributions. Next week I might have some time to update the excel list with these contributions.
Cheers,
TvB

[leodbil]

Firefox has an add-on called 'Downloadhelper' that will download and convert streamed audio (or video) in one process. I find it very helpful for just this sort of thing.

[SHW]

See also Benny Goodman201-210of275 : Benny Goodman : Free Download & Streaming : Internet Archive. It's a messy site so you may have to search several ways to find all the BG related files.

Should also be looking for Harry James and Jimmy Dorsey to find Allan Reuss.

You realise you may be on an infinite quest. Have you heard this: Allan Reuss Zorba - YouTube?

[TonVanBergeijk]

I'm slowly beginning to realise that the title of this thread borders on overambitious ridicule and the question mark OD's on sarcasm.
We'll keep on trying to get as far as we can within our lifespan.
Thanks sofar for all your support. I'm not even at a third going through my Sinatra recordings. What did I start....
TvB

[SHW]

Hi Ton,

I found out about Allan Reuss from a Cumquat records collection called "Giants of the Acoustic Jazz Guitar". Cumquat was established by an Australian guitarist and music educator called Bruce Clarke, who died a couple of years ago in his eighties. I'm not sure his son is looking after the Cumquat site as effectively as his father did.

Their prices are too high for the material that is available elsewhere, but they have some exclusive stuff, like Joe Pass or Barney Kessel giving clinics at Bruce Clarke's guitar school. Their tune lists are a good reference for stuff to chase up elsewhere.

Bruce Clarke's 6 hour radio program "The Greatest Guitarists You've Never Heard Of" is an interesting survey, and put me onto some good stuff. Joe Negri did a shorter survey, which is also very interesting and should be available on the web somewhere.

When searching the Internet for Allan Reuss, alternative spellings such as "Ruess", "Allen", "Alan", and even "Reuess" and "Ruse" may find relevant results.

There was an LP by someone who allowed herself to be called "Easy Williams", on which Reuss was the arranger and the sole chordal instrument - sounds interesting, but you can check it for yourself before committing the high prices that Amazon sellers are asking. Go to aslongasitlasts<dot>blogspot<dot>com, and scroll down the right hand side. I wasn't too happy with it.

On the other had, the tune "I Never Knew", by a one-off collection of players calling themselves "Peck's Bad Boys" sounds great at classicjazzguitar.com. I can't seem to find the full track anywhere, but the Reuss solo might be the best of it.

I have more stuff to add to my spreadsheet, but it seems you're starting to become aware of the endlessness of it all.

And then there are the George van Eps, Marty Grosz . . .

Have fun.

Steve.

[monk]

The Peck's Bad Boys with Allan Reuss cut of I Never Knew appears on a compilation CD titled The Very Best of Swingin' Jive Guitarists on the P-Vine label from Japan.

The CD also features 25 cuts by the usual crew of acoustic archtop players: Bernard Addison, Ted Tinsley, Eddie Lang, Carl Kress, Dick McDonough, Ikey Robinson, Snoozer Quinn, Jimmy Shirley, Django Reinhardt, Al Casey as well as a Bill Broonzy band cut and an acoustic turn by Charlie Christian.

Rumor has it that Peck's Bad Boys cut four sides for Moses Asch, of which I Never Knew was the only release. I found a link to a website some time back that was reputed to have the other three cuts but by that time the site had closed. We can always hope they will turn up again.

[SHW]

Hi Monk,

Thanks for that. I should have bought that CD when I first saw it. The price has become ludicrous.

You mention Snoozer Quinn. Another fascinating byroad on the Jazz Guitar path. Some sources seem to imply that his work can be mistaken for that of Eddie Lang.

So many things we'll never know.

At 56 I have realised that I probably don't have enough sparee time left to list these things, let alone listen to them. I have to rely on recommendation from others who have checked them out before - and maybe leave some help for anyone following this path in future.

Maybe the next generation of kids will realise that rap and similar stuff is not all there is, and big band swing guitar will be the next huge craze. . .


nah, maybe not.

Steve.

[monk]

Snoozer Quinn, a native of New Orleans, has been described as the missing link between the early blues/ragtime guitarists and the later swing players. Kind of like a cross between Big Bill Broonzy or Blind Blake and George Van Eps.

A fascinating guy. He was very highly regarded by all the musicians who worked with him.

Here's links to some audio and an overdubbed piece of film.

The Legendary Snoozer Quinn

Eddie "Snoozer" Quinn - YouTube

Frank Federico on Snoozer Quinn - YouTube

[TonVanBergeijk]

Snoozer Quinn sounded very much like Eddie Lang but had a completely different chordal aproach. I was fooled for years thinking it was Lang on the 1929 session of Bing Crosby with Matt Malneck & Roy Bargy (My Kinda Love & Till We Meet, the last one an absolutely beautiful song and not recorded by anyone else to my knowledge). A good friend gave me his hospital recordings a couple of weeks before he (Quinn) died. It was taped by a befriended cornet player. Unfortunately the brass-boy wanted to play as well on a few tunes, but Quinn's playing was still superb (the usual prefix to: 375285816/SnoozerQuinn.zip). His solos in that session reminded me of a cross between Teddy Bunn and Oscar Aleman. Geez, there'r just so many good guys to steal from.... I love being side tracked...
TvB

[miariod]

Regarding Snoozer Quinn, visit this:

LOUISiana Digital Library : Search Results

in case of problems with link just check out at louisiana digital library. There are some alternate of the Wiggs lp. Thanks anyway for the link Ton, I'll get it just the same

[miariod]

This is interesting too. I did see the footage but can't absolutely remember at which url

News : Project Snoozer: Searching for the lost recordings of a Bogalusa musician : The Daily News, Bogalusa, LA

[miariod]

Well, not so hard to find:

Eddie "Snoozer" Quinn - YouTube

the original video has no sound, so it's been overdubbed

[SHW]

Hi All,

Thanks for the Snoozer Quinn links. Interesting.

Steve.

[TonVanBergeijk]

Unexpectedly very busy, little time for at least a week. Sorry. TvB

[TonVanBergeijk]

Things are getting more hectic than I planned. Loads of stuff to cram into the next two weeks before I'm off with the band to tour Ohrstralya till half March. Guess I'll have to put this project in the fridge till I get back. Sorry.

[TonVanBergeijk]

A quick message here: I just received a scan from Tony Marcus of a wonderful signed picture. I've tried to attach it to this message, but failed miserably, I've uploaded it: https://rapidshare.com/files/6208250...Reuss_Epi.jpeg . So he did advertisements for Epiphone while actually playing Gibson all the time (according to the spreadsheet of Steve SHW, see above, he had a guitar built in 1937: Gibson L-5 s/n 95122, Factory Order Number 672 C-2). In all orchestra pictures with Allan Reuss I've always seen him with a Gibson. I know McDonough and Kress did the reverse and did adverts for Gibson while sticking to Epi in reality.
When I hold my computer screen at an angle I can just about read his message and it looks like he wrote "Allen" with an "e"! With signing sessions some letters tend to go their own way after a fair amount of signatures though, so we can't draw any conclusions from that.

[TonVanBergeijk]

B.t.w. the Epi Emperor he's holding has an asymetric headstock which was manifactured between '35 and '39.

[Eddie Lang]

Great ad, thanks for that Ton. Thanks also to Tony. I am a huge fan of his and I listen to his music a lot. What a great player who'd deserve more recognition, at the very least from other guitarists...

(Back to the ad) It's a great pic. Any idea of the year?

I wonder if Marty Grosz learned how to dress from A.R....

[SHW]

Hi,

Nice photo. I've also never seen him with an Epiphone.

The info on that particular L-5 is from The Mandolin Archive: 1937 Gibson L5 Guitar #95122, where there are lots of photos.

Steve

[SHW]

there's a candid Reuss shot on Big Band Library: Image Gallery: "The Victory Parade of Spotlight Bands," Armory, Springfield, MA, Sept. 29, 1943 which amused me. Somewhat less formal than most.

I've also recently received Amazon.com: Complete Benny Carter on Keynote: Benny Carter: Music and am listening to determine how different the Reuss solos on the 3 versions of "Bye Bye Blues" and the 3 versions of "The Moon Is Low" are. So far I can tell that Reuss sounds much more up front in the rhythm playing after his solo on the first "... Blues". On the more common version he's further back.

The second session has the guitarist listed as "unknown", and it is electric, so haven't checked it out yet.

Thanks to those who recommended it.

Steve.

[SHW]

I have found 49 Benny Goodman broadcasts readily available, not all of them complete.

Of those, 30 date from the time Allan Reuss was with the band before March 1938.

So far I have examined 9.

The shows dated 351223, 360106, 360113, 360120, 360203, 360210, and 360217, are available on the 3-CD series "The NBC Broadcasts From Chicago's Congress Hotel, 1935-1936" (Amazon.com: The NBC Broadcasts From Chicago's Congress Hotel, 1935-1936 Volume One: Benny Goodman and His Orchestra: Music).
Of those 7, the final 2 (360210, and 360217) sounded slightly clearer to me.
The tune "Rosetta" including very brief AR solos, is on both 360106, and 360207.
There is a guitar modulation in "Alone" on 360210.
A guitar fill is audible in "Stardust" on 360203.


I have also checked some readily available sections of the Harry James D-Day Broadcast. (Amazon.com: Harry James - Greatest Hits: Harry James: Music)

Of those the first one, "Program Introduction and Untitled Tune" includes an electric guitar introduction on "Untitled Tune", presumably played by Allan Reuss.
The other tunes I have heard from this broadcast are:
Too Much In Love
It Could Happen to You
On the Alamo
I'll Remember April (Truncated)
I'll Walk Alone
You Send Me
Take It Easy
Back Beat Boogie

The final 4 tracks on the CD are not from the D-Day Broadcast, and I have not heard them.
(441203 Just You, Just Me
441203 I'm Confessin'
441203 I Cover the Waterfront
451200 Opus Number One)

Allan Reuss is also on some of the sessions for the soundrack of "The Benny Goodman Story". These were recorded under the leadership of Jess Stacy on April 15th, 1954, and may be found on "The Chronological Classics, Jess Stacy 1951-1956" (Amazon.com: 1951-1956: Jess Stacy: Music).
That CD and its companion, "The Chronological Classics, Jess Stacy 1944-1950" (Amazon.com: Jess Stacy 1944-1950: Jess Stacy: Music) are more interesting for the 19 small group tracks including George van Eps, on most of which he has very good solos.

The "Benny Goodman's Swing School" recordings seem to be less dance music and more "variety". The first one I listened to included Benny singing, and guest artists making jokes which may have been new at the time.

More listening ahead.

Steve

[monk]

Finally snagged a copy of the Complete Benny Carter on Keynote. It's great to hear Reuss on multiple takes and audible in the mix. After hearing only the Cumquat CD, this is a real treat.

[SHW]

Hi Monk.

Yes, it's valuable stuff, isn't it.

What do you think about the second session? The guitarist is not listed. To me it doesn't sound as individual as Allan Reuss, and could be a number of players (Irving Ashby, perhaps), but what's your opinion?

Thanks,

Steve

[SHW]

Just realised I HAVE seen references to Reuss with an Epiphone before.

On Jonathan Stout's excellent swing guitar blog Jonathan Stout and his Campus Five, featuring in Hilary Alexander - Swing Guitar Blog he included a video clip, which can also be found at Benny Goodman Orchestra "Bugle Call Rag" 1936 - YouTube of the Goodman Band doing "Bugle Call Rag".

A previous version of Jonathan's blog is at Swing Guitar: MOVING!. I've found all of it to be worthwhile.

You may already have seen it all, but it was new to me.

Steve

[monk]

Originally Posted by SHW

Hi Monk.
Yes, it's valuable stuff, isn't it.
What do you think about the second session? The guitarist is not listed. To me it doesn't sound as individual as Allan Reuss, and could be a number of players (Irving Ashby, perhaps), but what's your opinion?
Thanks,
Steve

Steve,
I've only listened to the CD once. I'll give it a closer listen and see what I come up with.
Regards,
monk