Ben Bernie - All The Hits And More 1923-1940 (2024)

Ben Bernie was an American jazz violinist, bandleader and radio personality, who started his career in vaudeville and founded an orchestra in the early 1920s which became the resident band at the Hotel Roosevelt in New York, and was hugely popular through the 1920s and ‘30s on radio, which Bernie being marketed under the nickname “The Old Maestro”. He was famous as one of the co-writers of the classic standard “Sweet Georgia Brown”. Between 1923 and 1936 he had 44 records which are listed as hits in Joel Whitburn’s respected book “Pop Memories 1890-54”, and all those hits are included in this 73-track 3-CD collection. The anthology comprises selected A & B sides of his releases on the Vocalion, Brunswick, Columbia, Decca and Okeh labels from this era, prior to his sudden death in 1943, including releases as Ben Bernie & His Hotel Roosevelt Orchestra and Ben Bernie And All The Lads. It features his No. 1 hits with “Sweet Georgia Brown”, “Sleepy Time Gal”, “Ain’t She Sweet”, and big hits with the original versions of other enduring gems from the Great American Songbook such as “Swinging Down the Lane”, “Tea For Two”, “Makin’ Whoopee”, “What Is This Thing Called Love” and more. With performances by a number of featured vocalists, including Scrappy Lambert, Irving Kaufman, Dick Robertson, Vaughn De Leath and others, it’s an entertaining showcase for a highly successful orchestra, which very much captures the spirit of the times.