Lester Lanin

Lester Lanin's bands have dominated the dance band scene for over 50 years. He was so successful in and around New York that clients would book his band years in advance.   He had to have several bands to accommodate these multiple bookings. (Some times up to 15 bands on one night.) His bands would appear at engagements without him, while he was somewhere else (perhaps the Whitehouse in Washington) with another one of the bands.

His music was very popular with the dancing "society" crowd. What people didn't know was that the orchestra that might consist of perhaps 3 trumpets, 2 trombones 4 or 5 saxes with rhythm section and strings played without music.  I don't mean they memorized what they were playing. There was no written music. Instead the lead players created instant arrangements as they played. They were expected to lay down the melody in such a way that the others in the section could follow it and in harmony.  It sounded together and it was.

One of the advantages of his formula was that the band could go from tune to tune without the musicians looking for any music.  There wasn't any.   If it was a medley the rhythm section played the four bar interludes establishing the key. This "no arrangements" formula dictated how the music was to be played. On rare occasions there might be just a few recent rock charts on the stand.   These tunes were so new that these lead sheets were considered only a guide.

A second trumpet (section player) was expected to have a good "ear" as to his harmony notes.  The third player (and all the inner voices as well) were also expected to be specialists in making up these harmonies and in the same rhythm dictated by the lead players.

There was a sizeable "stable" of Lester Lanin musicians that were his regular players that knew the routine and were good at making the music "work." (I might add, there were two bands in Toronto that used this same "no music” idea. One was the Frank Bogart band and the other was Stanley St. John.   These were also "society" bands).

There was a trumpet teacher at the University of Toronto some time ago and he was originally from New York City. He let me in on some of these Lester Lanin oddities as he had done considerable work for that organization when he lived on the East coast.

One day he said, he got a call from the Lester Lanin orchestra to do an engagement. He was to be picked up in front of the Waldorf Astoria at 9:00 AM the following morning.  He didn't think the time was relative to anything as the Lester Lanin band could be playing a convention or some other important function in New York and at any hour.  

When he was picked up, the limo took him to the airport where he promptly boarded a chartered aircraft.  This was all a big surprise to him, as the details of the engagement were somehow never disclosed. That night he ended up playing in Rome, Italy. He didn't even have a toothbrush with him.

Web space donated by Encore...The Concert Band www.encoretheconcertband.ca