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Abe Lyman's California Orch. - Sunday, 1926

4,778 views · Published 17 June 2012 · 3:02 · Indexed 29 October 2026

Channel: 240252 · 2012 · Music

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Abe Lyman's California Orchestra -- Sunday, Fox Trot with Vocal Chorus, Brunswick 1926 (USA)

NOTE: Abe Lyman's California Orchestra - a pioneering West Coast jazz band, directed by Abe Limon ("Lyman") born in Chicago. In 1918 he travelled to LA, where his brother Mike had been employed as entrepreneur at Sunset Inn restaurant in Santa Monica. As the vituose drummer, Abe Lyman managed to arrange in a short time his own dance band, composed of   talented young musicians  -- future bandleader and trumpet player Roy Fox  was among the first to join, Ray Lopez was made the second, "hot" trumpet, Gus Mueller (clarinet) and Buster Johnson (trombone), Miff Mole even joined the band for a time. The group was a great success with the Hollywood crowd, but the Fatty Arbuckle scandal temporarily put the brakes on the Sunset's high living clientele, and the club was forced to close. Lyman's California Orchestra subsequently moved into the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles, and in the summer of 1923, Lyman's Orchestra began to record for the Brunswick label. Their popularity in Los Angeles skyrocketed during the prestigious Ambassador Hotel engagement, and Charlie Chaplin drew upon the Orchestra's talents to assist with his recording debut as singer in 1925, an experiment that Chaplin decided not to repeat. Reacting to the economic pressures of the Great Depression, Lyman decided to move the Orchestra to New York City in 1933. In the 1930s Abe Lyman's hot jazzy style was changed into more trendy "sweet" orchestration. They adjusted through working on radio, and did well -- by 1937, they were among a rotating string of orchestras that played on CBS' popular Your Hit Parade program. However, for most of the fans of the "old" Lyman's style -- it was clear that though the group managed to survive the Depression, the heat was out of the band. Their recording career ended with a handful of records made in 1943, Lyman gave up his musical career and got into the restaurant business. He was still working in it when he died a decade later at age 60.

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