Leo F. Reisman (October 11, 1897 – December 18, 1961) was an American violinist and bandleader in the 1920s and 1930s. Born and reared in

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...

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, United States, he was of

Jewish ancestry ''Zera Yisrael'' ( he, זרע ישראל, , meaning "Seed fIsrael") is a legal category in Jewish law that denotes the blood descendants of Jews who, for one reason or another, are not legally of Jewish ethnicity according to religious criteria. ...

; from German immigrants who immigrated to the United States in the 19th century. Inspired by the Russian-American

violin The violin, sometimes known as a '' fiddle'', is a wooden chordophone ( string instrument) in the violin family. Most violins have a hollow wooden body. It is the smallest and thus highest-pitched instrument ( soprano) in the family in regu ...

ist

Jascha Heifetz Jascha Heifetz (; December 10, 1987) was a Russian-born American violinist. Born in Vilnius, he moved while still a teenager to the United States, where his Carnegie Hall debut was rapturously received. He was a virtuoso since childhood. Fritz ...

, Reisman studied violin as a young man. After being rejected by the

Boston Symphony Orchestra The Boston Symphony Orchestra (BSO) is an American orchestra based in Boston, Massachusetts. It is the second-oldest of the five major American symphony orchestras commonly referred to as the " Big Five". Founded by Henry Lee Higginson in 18 ...

, he formed his own band in 1919. He became famous for having over 80 hits on the popular charts during his career.

Jerome Kern Jerome David Kern (January 27, 1885 – November 11, 1945) was an American composer of musical theatre and popular music. One of the most important American theatre composers of the early 20th century, he wrote more than 700 songs, used in ove ...

called Reisman's orchestra "The String Quartet of Dance Bands".

Biography

Reisman's first recording was on a 10-inch 78 rpm record for Columbia Records, recorded on January 10, 1921 – the two titles being "Love Bird", with a catalog issue of Columbia A-3366, mx.79634 and the other title being "Bright Eyes", with a catalog issue of Columbia A-3366, mx.79635. Reisman recorded for

Columbia Columbia may refer to: * Columbia (personification), the historical female national personification of the United States, and a poetic name for America Places North America Natural features * Columbia Plateau, a geologic and geographic region i ...

exclusively from July 1923 through March 11, 1929, when he signed with Victor and stayed until October 1933. He then signed with Brunswick and stayed until 1937 when he re-signed with Victor. During his 1929-1933 Victor period, Reisman recorded many lesser-known period Broadway songs, some of which were recorded by no other band. Due to his popularity, he was always one of the prominent bands during his time at Columbia, Victor and Brunswick, and he recorded prolifically. Reisman also had the habit of featuring composers and

Broadway Broadway may refer to: Theatre * Broadway Theatre (disambiguation) * Broadway theatre, theatrical productions in professional theatres near Broadway, Manhattan, New York City, U.S. ** Broadway (Manhattan), the street **Broadway Theatre (53rd Stree ...

performers as band vocalists, including

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, and

Arthur Schwartz Arthur Schwartz (November 25, 1900 – September 3, 1984) was an American composer and film producer, widely noted for his songwriting collaborations with Howard Dietz. Biography Early life Schwartz was born in Brooklyn, New York City, on Nov ...

. He also featured Lee Wiley in 1931-32 for her first three recordings. More often than not, his vocalists were

Frank Luther Frank Luther (born Francis Luther Crow, August 4, 1899 – November 16, 1980) was an American country music singer, dance band vocalist, playwright, songwriter and pianist. Early life Born on a farm near Lakin, Kansas, 40 miles from the Colora ...

, Dick Robertson and later Sally Singer and George Beuler. A notable recording from this era was "

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" in November 1929, with vocals by Lou Levin. Among his more popular hits were his number one recordings of

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's " Night and Day" (1932) and

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's "

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" (1934), plus Astaire's recording of

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's "

Cheek to Cheek "Cheek to Cheek" is a song written by Irving Berlin in 1934–35, specifically for the star of his new musical, Fred Astaire. The movie was ''Top Hat'', co-starring Ginger Rogers.

" (1935). Reisman's was primarily a dance orchestra; he was not a fan of jazz music, but some of his early 1930s 78 RPM recordings were a bit "hot". (However, Reisman employed the legendary trumpet player

Bubber Miley Bubber is a nickname and surname which may refer to: People: * Bubber or Bubba Brooks (1922-2002), American jazz tenor saxophonist * James Bubber Epps (born 1943), American politician * Clarence James Bubber Jonnard (1897-1977), American Major Leag ...

in 1930–31, who had been a featured member of

Duke Ellington Edward Kennedy "Duke" Ellington (April 29, 1899 – May 24, 1974) was an American jazz pianist, composer, and leader of his eponymous jazz orchestra from 1923 through the rest of his life. Born and raised in Washington, D.C., Ellington was bas ...

's orchestra.) Reisman worked with Sam Donahue between 1946 - 1951. Eddy Duchin was a member of Leo Reisman's orchestra; it was Reisman who gave Duchin his big break. The band leader and TV personality, Mitch Miller, also was a member of Reisman's orchestra. Reisman's work on radio included having the ''Nine o'Clock Revue'', a 30-minute weekly program on the

Mutual Broadcasting System The Mutual Broadcasting System (commonly referred to simply as Mutual; sometimes referred to as MBS, Mutual Radio or the Mutual Radio Network) was an American commercial radio network in operation from 1934 to 1999. In the golden age of U.S. ra ...

in 1937. Reisman died in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

on December 18, 1961, at the age of 64.

Charting singles

* "Afterglow" (1936) ( US #14) * "It's De-Lovely" (1936) ( US #7) * "On The Beach At Bali-Bali" (1936) ( US #6) * "Yours Truly is Truly Yours" (1936) ( US #14) * "In The Still Of The Night" (1937) ( US #9) * "Spring Is Here" (1938) ( US #14) * "Down Argentina Way" (1940) ( US #7)

References

External links

*
Leo Reisman at Fadograph's Weblog: contemporary comments, personal photos, links to music, notes for a BioLeo Reisman recordings
at the

Discography of American Historical Recordings The Discography of American Historical Recordings (DAHR) is a database of master recordings made by American record companies during the 78rpm era. The DAHR provides some of these original recordings, free of charge, via audio streaming, along with ...

. {{DEFAULTSORT:Reisman, Leo 1897 births 1961 deaths American bandleaders Big band bandleaders American male violinists Jewish violinists 20th-century American conductors (music) 20th-century American violinists United States Army Band musicians 20th-century American male musicians