"Louisville Lou" played by "Lannin and his Orchestra"

Louisville Lou (Yellen – Ager)
Lannin [sic] and his Orchestra
Grey Gull 1173(a)
(78 rpm record)

For anyone who’s listening to this type of music for the first time, Sam Lanin was a prolific band leader – making approximately TEN TRILLION records in the 1920s and 1930s under 75,000,000 pseudonyms. Okay, I’m exaggerating a bit. But it surely numbered in the hundreds, at least.

According to Johnson & Shirley (American Dance Bands on Record and Film 1915 – 1942) Lanin was in the U.S. Navy and promoted to bandmaster, after which, he ran a 25-piece orchestra at the Roseland Ballroom in New York from February 1920 onwards. Further, that in a 1933 “Melody Maker” interview, he claimed to have made over 5,000 titles before retiring.

J&S state that the personnel is as follows:

SAM LANIN’S ROSELAND ORCHESTRA

Phil Napoleon, Jules Levy, Jr. (trumpet); possibly the following – Miff Mole (trombone); Larry Abbott, Arnold Brillhart (clarinet, alto sax); Jack Lube (violin); Harry Perrela (piano); Tony Colluci (banjo, guitar); Irving Short (brass bass); Irving Farberman (drums). Recorded New York, c. May 10, 1923 (not too long after this song was published).

Image from discogs.com. Noise reduction by using Vinyl Studio software.