[78-L] Rex Battle, or not?

[James Tennyson]

Did somebody respond to this already..if not you'll have to excuse my foggy 
mind. It was always my understanding that  Battle's name was used because of 
the publicity value his radio exposure.   He was broadcast from the hotel 
where he played ..I think...dinner music with a small group...  and I THINK 
I've been told that it wasn't really dance music at all, but rather a Salon 
Orchestra thingy.  It was an instrumental ensemble: piano, cello, 
violin...that kind of thing.   The publicity value of his name from radio 
was kind of like the  rationale behind the Rominelli Orchestra Edison's of 
1929,  which I understand aren't the Rominelli Orchestra at all.

Jim
Message: 6
Date: Thu, 04 Jun 2009 17:22:26 -0400
From: David Lennick <dlennick at sympatico.ca>
Subject: Re: [78-L] Rex Battle, or not?
To: 78-L Mail List <78-l at klickitat.78online.com>
Message-ID: <4A283B12.3030202 at sympatico.ca>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed

Just reiterating..Battle's name was used by Apex as a pseudonym for a number 
of
other orchestras. Why, since he was a legitimate orchestra leader and 
concert
performer, is beyond me, unless he was known to Herbert Berliner and had no
objections at the time. He made no commercial recordings with any dance
orchestra. Airchecks may exist, of course..don't forget, there was virtually 
no
Canadian recording industry in the 30s and no call for dance bands except 
for
The Skaters Band and George Wade's Cornhuskers. From the mid 30s on he was
leading a "concert" orchestra.

Hey..I know the author of this article! Old friend of my wife's.
http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.com/index.cfm?PgNm=TCE&Params=U1ARTU0000220

Per Rust, Battle's name covers the Bar Harbor Society Orchestra, Nathan 
Glantz
(Apex 8243, 8351), Adrian Schubert (Apex 8195), Joseph Samuels (Apex 8209, 
8297
with a Bar Harbor side backing it), Billy James (Apex 8278), Eddie Peabody
(Apex 8415 & Starr 10075).

dl

Taylor Bowie wrote:
> Hi Stephen,
>
> Thanks for the info...I'd never heard of this guy until now and there's no
> mention of him in my book about Canadian dance bands.
>
> The web page you linked says that he played at the Mount Royal from 1922
> through 1929,  so why wouldn't this be a legit record of that band?  The
> article goes on to say that in '34 he founded one of the earliest "jazz" 
> big
> bands,  but I didn't read that to mean he was  starting his "first band."
>
> While we're on the subject of Canadian dance orchestras,  I'm always
> interested in any information about Mart Kenney...his 1938 Bluebird of
> There's Honey on the Moon is one of my core faves.
>
>
> Taylor B
>
>
> ----- Original Message ----- 
> From: "Stephen Davies" <SDavies at mtroyal.ca>
> To: <78-l at klickitat.78online.com>
> Sent: Thursday, June 04, 2009 12:39 PM
> Subject: [78-L] Rex Battle, or not?
>
>
>> Folks,
>>        I have a disc which is attributed to Rex Battle & his dance
>> orchestra:
>>
>> Apex 8333-A (Mx 10000=A ?): The midnight waltz
>> Apex 8333-B (Mx 21051=A ?): I've found my sweetheart Sally (a.k.a. I 
>> found
>> my sweetheart Sally)
>>
>>        Is this the disc from which Battle, a classical musician,
>> distanced himself in later years?
>>
>> http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.com/index.cfm?PgNm=TCE&Params=U1ARTU0000220
>> <<<
>> His few 78s for Apex as a pianist (in Chopin and Liszt) and accompanist
>> (to Ernest-Gill Plamondon and Leon Kofman) are listed in _Roll Back The
>> Years_, as is an Apex 78 whose attribution to 'Rex Battle and His Mount
>> Royal Hotel Orchestra' has been disputed by Battle.
>>        If Battle really didn't wax this disc, whose tracks are on it? The
>> matrices are wildly far apart, and the songs were both very popular about
>> ten years before Battle started his band in 1934.
>>        Thanks in advance for any help.
>>
>> Labels are viewable at:
>> http://bigband-smallband.blogspot.com#8433007726184425144
>>
>> - Stephen D
>> Calgary
>>