Dismuke's Hit Of The Week
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April 2001


April 5 2001
 

I'm Talking Through My Heart             
Eddy Duchin and his Orchestra 
Lew Sherwood, vocal                            1936
(Victor 25390-A)

Duchin's was one of the most successful of the 1930s society bands and was especially popular with socially prominent New Yorkers.  It was also one of the very few bands that managed to enjoy decent record sales during even the darkest days of the Great Depression - perhaps because his audience consisted of many who could still afford to purchase records.  The band's arrangements centered around Duchin's rather flashy piano solos (the late music critic George T. Simon once referred to him as "a virile Liberace").  His musical career was interrupted by four years in the Navy during World War II.  Duchin remained popular though the early 1950s, when he became ill with leukemia.  He died in 1951 at the age of 41. 

In the early 1960s, his son Peter, who is also a pianist, formed a society band similar to his father's.  Peter Duchin continues to schedule 100 performances each year and has performed at every Presidential Inaugural Ball since 1961.



Note: Because of other demands on my time, there were no additional updates in April 2001
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