Vincent Lopez

Vincent Lopez (born December 30, 1895 in Brooklyn , † September 20, 1975 in Miami Beach ) was an American jazz pianist and band leader of the big band era .

Live and act

Vincent Lopez and his orchestra in the early 1920s

Vincent Lopez was born to Portuguese immigrants in Brooklyn. He attended a seminary for a few years, but broke off this training in order to pursue a career as a musician. He ran his own dance band around 1917, with which he played in New York City . In the beginning he followed the usual practice at the time of performing with various formations, such as Vincent Lopez 'Red Caps , Vincent Lopez' Cadets or the Vincent Lopez 'Debutants . He also tried to have Guy Lombardo's orchestra when it came to New York from Canada as a Lopez orchestra .

From 1921, his appearances were also broadcast on radio, the then new medium for entertainment. Lopez was one of the pioneers in making targeted use of the radio; this quickly made the Vincent Lopez Orchestra one of the most popular bands in the New York area and soon in the whole of the United States; a success that lasted into the 1940s.

Lopez started his radio programs from the Pennsylvania Hotel with the announcement: Lopez speaking! ; his signature tune was the song "Nola", Felix Arndt's Novelty Ragtime title from 1915, with which Lopez was so identified that he later made fun of it on occasion; so in the short music film they produced for Vitaphone ( Vincent Lopez and his Orchestra ) the song with the lines "Down with Nola" appeared. Lopez rivaled Paul Whiteman and George Olsen for the best musicians in New York City; when Whiteman gave his much heralded George Gershwin Concerto ( Rhapsody in Blue ) at the Aeolian Hall in early 1924 , Lopez responded that same year with a symphonic concert at New York's Metropolitan Opera .

In 1924 Lopez went on a European tour with his orchestra; in London they performed at the Capitol Theater , the Kit Kat Club and the Hippodrome . At the end of 1925 he opened a supper club under the name Casa Lopez , which he held until March 1928; However, he lost a lot of money in this project due to a fire.

After that he had a four-year engagement at the St. Regis Hotel ; then he went to Chicago, played in the Congress Hotel and at the World's Fair. He then returned to the St. Regis , but spent the following years mostly outside of New York and played a. a. in Miami, Los Angeles, Cincinnati, Cleveland, San Francisco and Los Angeles. Lopez also appeared in the music film The Big Broadcast (1932) and was one of the first band leaders to work with the Soundies , the short music films, around 1940 . Many later known musicians played in his bands, including a. Vic Berton , Artie Shaw , Xavier Cugat , Jimmy Dorsey , Tommy Dorsey , Mike Mosiello and Glenn Miller . His band singers included u. a. Sunny Skylar , the Keller Sisters and Lynch , Betty Hutton and Marion Hutton . Lopez's longtime drummer was Mike Riley , who had success with the hit "The Music Goes Round and Round". When his arrangers worked u. a. John Carisi and Joe Mooney .

In 1940 Lopez appeared at the World's Fair in New York; In 1941, the Lopez Orchestra began an engagement at the Taft Hotel in Manhattan , which would last for twenty years. In the early 1950s, Vincent Lopez had a joint radio program with singer Gloria Parker , which was broadcast from the Taft Hotel under the title Shake the Maracas . In the mid-1960s, Lopez had to give up the big band for health reasons, but continued to work briefly with a smaller ensemble. Vincent Lopez died in Miami Beach , Florida .

Vincent Lopez recorded numerous records with his orchestra for the Paramount , Okeh , Brunswick , The Hit of the Day and Bluebird Records labels ; Gloria Parker's successful titles Early In The Morning , Here Comes That Mood , In Santiago by the Sea , I Learned To Rumba , My Dream Christmas , Shake The Maracas and When Our Country Was Born , which Lopez recorded for Columbia Records .

Lopez's flamboyant piano style later influenced musicians like Eddy Duchin and Liberace . He is immortalized with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame .

swell

• Leo Walker: The Big Band Almanac . Ward Ritchie Press, Pasadena. 1978

Web links

• Information at portuguesefoundation.org
• Biography in the Bigband Library