Abe Lyman

Abe Lyman , full name Abraham Simon Lymon , (born August 4, 1897 in Chicago , † October 23, 1957 in Beverly Hills ) was an American band leader , drummer and composer .

Lyman started out as a drummer. At the age of fourteen he played regularly in a café in Chicago and then in theaters and cinemas , but then moved to California around 1919 . In Los Angeles , he played in his brother Mike's nightclub, which was also popular with film celebrities, until the studio bosses forbade visits. His film contacts, for example with Gloria Swanson, paid off. From 1922 he successfully led a band in the Cocoanut Grove nightclub of the famous Ambassador Hotel on Wilshire Boulevard in Los Angeles, where they played until 1926. The band included the Hot trumpeter Ray Lopez from New Orleans and the pianist Gus Arnheim , who later founded his own band. Lyman also made early recordings (1923) with his dance orchestra for Brunswick . In 1925, Charlie Chaplin recorded with the band. They also played film music in early sound films around 1930 (including for the Warner Brothers' Merrie Melodies cartoons ). In 1929 they toured Europe and performed in London at the Kit Cat Club and Palladium and in Paris at the Moulin Rouge . The band's signature tune was California Here I Come . In 1933 he moved to New York City , where he played with his orchestra on popular radio shows such as Waltz Time on NBC , Accordiana and later Your Hit Parade on CBS.

In 1937 and 1938 he won the Down Beat Poll as a drummer in the Sweet Music division (ironically called corn in the jazz magazine at the time ).

Besides Brunswick, he recorded for Decca and most recently for Bluebird . Around 1947 he moved with his wife Rose Blane (who used to sing in his band) from light music to insurance and later the restaurant industry.

Web links

• Biography of Ate Van Delden
• Abe Lyman at Redhotjazz
• Lyman on IMDB with biography
• Abe Lyman at Discogs (English)