Van & His Hotel Half Moon Orchestra - My Blue Ridge Mountain Home
  • 13 years ago
This appears to be a Peter van Steeden pseudonym. Very little is known about this Dutch-born American conductor, bandleader and composer (1904-1990). He wrote a few film scores and appeared in a 1937 short subject "Peter van Steeden and His Orchestra in Special Arrangements" (1937). He also left several outstanding records he made with his own orchestra. This is one of his jazzy recordings, offering a remarkable jazz version of a hillbilly song made famous by Vernon Dalhart. However, this vocal on this 1928 record is sung by Jerry White. Other great jazzmen played in this outfit were among others Sylvester Ahola and Red Rehrig, t; Norman Birseck and Freddy Cusick, cl-as. It should be noted this disc was poorly recorded and very damaged. I tried my very best to restore sound but inevitably some frequencies got muffled. Nevertheless I considered this performance largely interesting enough to share it.
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