Wild Cat is an instrumental duet for violin and guitar, composed by
jazz
Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a major ...
guitarist
Eddie Lang
Eddie Lang (born Salvatore Massaro, October 25, 1902 – March 26, 1933) was an American musician who is credited as the father of jazz guitar. During the 1920s, he gave the guitar a prominence it previously lacked as a solo instrument, as p ...
and violinist
Joe Venuti
Giuseppe "Joe" Venuti (September 16, 1903 – August 14, 1978) was an American jazz musician and pioneer jazz violinist.
Considered the father of jazz violin, he pioneered the use of string instruments in jazz along with the guitarist Eddie La ...
.
Background
They first recorded it in New York, January 24, 1927. It is a showcase piece for Venuti's talent as a violinist. His performance has been held to "offer some good examples of bow rockin'." One critic described the work as follows:
"Wild Cat" illustrates the salient features of Venuti's unique violin styling. He utilized the full range of the violin, from low rich tones to the high, ethereal sounds near the bridge. . . The melody of the popular song "Wild Cat" was completely transformed through Venuti's ingenious improvisation on its underlying chord structure.
Author Katharine Rapoport included the piece as recommended listening "to really get your head (and ears) around jazz music".
Andy Stein
Andy Stein is an American saxophone and violin player. He is a member of The Guys All-Star Shoe Band on the radio show ''A Prairie Home Companion'' and the movie. He was a founding member of the country rock band Commander Cody and His Lost Plan ...
is also noted for a virtuoso performance of the same piece. A further recording of "Wild Cat" by Stan Kurtis and Dick Hyman, which came out on the Pro Jazz label in 1987, was well received.
[''Horizon'', January /February 1989, quoted in Sanford Josephson, ''Jazz Notes: Interviews across the Generations'' (Greenwood, 2009), p. 28.]
CD releases
*''Joe Venuti: Violin Jazz''. Kazoo, 1990. ASIN: B000000G7Z
*''Joe Venuti: Pretty Trix''. Iajrc Records, 2000. ASIN: B000003KW7
*''Eddie Lang & Joe Venuti: New York Sessions 1926–1935''.
JSP Records
JSP Records is a British record label, founded in 1978 by John Stedman (John Stedman Promotions), releasing recordings by blues musicians such as Professor Longhair, Buddy Guy, Jimmy Witherspoon, Louisiana Red, Deitra Farr, Charlie Sayles, ...
, 2003. ASIN: B00009XH3X
*''The Best of Jazz Violins''. LRC Ltd., 2009. ASIN: B000008CHD
References
External links
* *{{cite web, url=http://www.jazz.com/music/2009/2/4/eddie-lang-joe-venuti-wild-cat, title=Eddie Lang & Joe Venuti: Wild Cat – Jazz.com | Jazz Music – Jazz Artists – Jazz News, publisher=jazz.com, accessdate=2015-04-10
1927 compositions
Jazz compositions