"Let's Talk About My Sweetie"

by Abe Lyman's California Orchestra

Abe Lyman could have been called "the Ben Bernie of the West Coast" - like Ben, his orchestra was one of the most popular in the region (Los Angeles in Abe's case), his band turned "sweet" in later years, and he kept working up into the early 40's. Though his band leaned heavily toward dance music, he'd record the occasional hot number - this is one of those, recorded for Brunswick on February 1, 1926. The tune, a major hit that year, was written by Walter Donaldson and Gus Kahn (the team that wrote "Yes Sir That's My Baby", "My Buddy", "Carolina In The Morning", plus lots of others). The trombone breaks, probably played by Orlando "Slim" Martin, are a highlight. The vocal is by Charles Kaley, who would leave the band a few months later. It's an early electric recording, with some distortion, but this particular one has information in the 11,000Hz range - a remarkable achievement in those days! Unfortunately there's a fair amount of static in that same frequency range, and I removed as much of it as possible while keeping the original fidelity. (More info about Abe Lyman can be found at the Red Hot Jazz Archive.)
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