Avalon (Al Jolson Song)

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Title page of the Avalon (1920)

Avalon is a jazz track from 1920 written by Al Jolson , Buddy DeSylva and Vincent Rose .

history

The first version of the song was recorded by Jolson in 1921. He had also used it in the musicals Sinbad (1918/19) and Bombo (1921/22). The song soon became a popular jazz standard . As early as October 1920, the German jazz pioneer Eric Borchard made a recording of it on a 30 cm gramophone record as Eric Concerto's Yankee Jazz Band at the Leipziger Polyphon . In December 1920, Dajos Béla followed Odeon as the “artist band Sándor Józsi”. In May 1921, the Marek Weber Jazz Band recorded the title for Parlophone in Berlin on a gramophone record.

In the US u. a. Benny Goodman , Cab Calloway (1934), Coleman Hawkins (1935) and Eddie Durham (1936) versions recorded. The Benny Goodman Quartet played the song in the famous Carnegie Hall concert in 1938 .

The melody at the beginning of the song is from the aria E lucevan le stelle from Giacomo Puccini's opera Tosca , and was only slightly modified by Rose. The Ricordi publishing house as agent of Puccini sued the composers for plagiarism ; Ricordi won the lawsuit and was awarded $ 25,000, as well as any future income from the title.

Versions

  • Red Nichols and His Five Pennies (February 27, 1928)
  • George Monkhouse and his Cambridge University Quinquaginta Ramblers (March 12, 1930)
  • Spike Hughes and his Dance Orchestra (May 23, 1930)
  • Joel Shaw and his Orchestra (August 1932)
  • Billy Cotton and his Band (July 21, 1933)
  • Casa Loma Orchestra (August 16, 1934)
  • Cab Calloway and his Orchestra (September 4, 1934)
  • Scott Wood and his Six Swingers (December 18, 1934; September 1, 1936)
  • Joe Venuti and his Orchestra (December 26, 1934)
  • KXYZ Novelty Band (January 29, 1935)
  • Coleman Hawkins (March 2, 1935)
  • Quintette du Hot Club de France (July 1935)
  • Jimmie Lunceford and his Orchestra (September 30, 1935)
  • Harry Roy and his Orchestra (November 8, 1935)
  • Val Rosing and his Swing Stars (November 18, 1935)
  • Ballyhooligans (July 7, 1936)
  • Benny Goodman Quartet (June 29, 1937; September 28, 1937; January 16, 1938)
  • Joe Daniels and his Hotshots (September 28, 1937)
  • Alix Combelle et son Orchester (October 4, 1937)
  • Harry James and his Orchestra (July 13, 1939; November 8, 1939)
  • Willie Lewis and his Negro Band (June 27, 1941)
  • Max Raabe on MTV Unplugged (2019)

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Description at JazzStandards.com (Engl.)
  2. ^ Ruhlmann, William (2004). Breaking Records: 100 Years of Hits . Routledge. ISBN 0415943051 . P. 42
  3. ↑ Kenrick, John (2003). Al Jolson: A Biography .
  4. ↑ Furia, Philip; Lasser, Michael L. (2006). America's Songs: The Stories Behind the Songs of Broadway, Hollywood, and Tin Pan Alley . CRC Press. P. 24. ISBN 0415972469 .
  5. ↑ Bloom Ken (2004). Broadway: Its History, People, and Places: An Encyclopedia . Taylor & Francis. P. 96. ISBN 0415937043 .
  6. ↑ Polyphon 50 203 (Matr. 160 av), cf. Horst J. Bergmeier, Rainer E. Lotz: Eric Borchard Story. Edition “Der Jazzfreund”, Menden 1988 (= Jazzfreund-Publication No. 35), p. 3; Horst H. Lange: The German “78er” discography of hot dance and jazz music 1903-1958. Colloquium Verlag Berlin 1966, 2nd expanded edition 1978, p. 148
  7. ↑ Odeon A 41 523 (xBe 2465), cf. Zwarg, ODEON Matrix Numbers - xBe 250 - 9999 (Berlin), PDF , p. 53
  8. ↑ on Parlophone P. 1182-II (Matr. 2-2891), cf. Zwarg, PARLOPHON Matrix Numbers - 2-250 to 2-2999: German, PDF , p. 367
  9. ^ Jasen, David A. (2002). A Century of American Popular Music: 2000 Best-Loved and Remembered Songs (1899-1999) . Taylor & Francis. P. 14. ISBN 0415937000 .
  10. ↑ Ken Bloom: The American Songbook - The Singers, the Songwriters, and the Songs - 100 Years of American Popular Music - The Stories of the Creators and Performers . New York City, Black Dog & Leventhal, 2005 ISBN 1-57912-448-8 ) p. 77.
  11. ↑ Crawford, Richard; Magee, Jeffrey (1992). Jazz Standards on Record, 1900-1942: A Core Repertory . Center for Black Music Rsrch. Pp. 6-7. ISBN 0929911032 .