[78-L] Rex Battle, or not?

[David Lennick]

The difference re Romanelli is that his orchestra actually did record two sides 
for Edison but they weren't usable for some reason and another orchestra remade 
them, so I understand. And Battle's name was used by Apex a couple of years 
earlier than the Romanelli situation.

dl

James Tennyson wrote:
> 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
>>>
> 
>