Vincent Lopez (1926 "Light Ray" recordings)

[beaumonde]

Here are a few late '20s Brunswicks of Vincent Lopez and His Casa Lopez Orchestra, freshly transferred.

Honeybunch (Br 3148; NY, 4/28/26) (trumpet solo by Bob Effros; violin solo possibly by Xavier Cugat)

Adorable (Br 3148; NY, 4/28/26)(v. Franklyn Bauer)

Scatter Your Smiles(Br 3339; NY, 9/4/26)

Lay Me Down To Sleep In Carolina (Br 3339; NY, 9/4/26) (yes, vocals in the last two by Irving Kaufman!)

[EdisonSquirrel]

Four superb songs, Adam! Thank you for posting these excellent Lopez sides.



Rocky

[Paal1994]

Adam,

Fantastic selections by the fantastic Vincent Lopez Orchestra.
I liked the way he announced the records. I wish every dance band leader could have done that!

Paal.

[Michael Biel]

Lopez announced the records to simulate how he did it in his broadcasts. He also did it to keep radio stations from pretending they were doing a live broadcast of his band. Other band leaders did this occasionally, such as George Olson, Rudy Vallee, and singer Kate Smith. This was a few years later, around 1930 and they mentioned the record company in the announcement to make sure that stations couldn't use them as live.

[Lenoirstreetguy]

Lopez was one of the few big name bands who never went "exclusive" to one label, I understand. Consequently he was the big name on some of the budget labels. Most of the other name bands tied themselves up with one company...at least under their real name...and they then moonlighted on the other labels under a pseudonym.
Speaking of Lopez...I have an autographed letter of his that I must dig out and copy. Stay tuned.

Jim

[Lenoirstreetguy]

Found it! Sometimes I am more organized than I think I am. This quite charming letter would seem to be in response to one from one of his younger fans.
I photographed this rather than scanning it, but I SWEAR I've got a new scanner on order!
Jim
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[richardh]

Scatter your smiles is my favouirte from this selection. It does however demonstrate the limitations of the recording technology nicely though - but that makes it all the more interesting to me though.

Thanks for posting these Adam.

RJ

[bart1927]

Hi Adam, once again great selections and great transfers. I'm a big fan of Vincent Lopez' early work. I never thought of it that the announcements were a means to prevent radio stations from playing his records and claiming they were live. It also makes me wonder why he didn't do the spoken introduction on all his recordings. Furthermore, couldn't a DJ (or what were they called back then) just start the record right after the introduction? The only George Olsen record I know with a spoken introduction is "Out Where The Little Moonbeams Are Born". Are there any more? In this particular case, the music is already playing during the introduction, making it harder for a dishonest DJ to simply start or fade in after the intro.