Roger Wolfe Kahn

Roger Wolfe Kahn

Roger Wolfe Kahn (October 19, 1907July 12, 1962) was an American jazz and popular musician, composer, and bandleader ("Roger Wolfe Kahn and His Orchestra").

Roger Wolff Kahn (Wolff was his middle name's original spelling) was born in Morristown, New Jersey into a wealthy German Jewish banking family, and his father, Otto Hermann Kahn, was a famous banker. (Otto and Roger Kahn were the first father and son to appear separately on the cover of "Time" magazine: Otto in November 1925 and Roger in September 1927, aged 19.)

Kahn is said to have learned to play 18 musical instruments before starting to lead his own orchestra in 1923, aged only 16. In 1925, Kahn appeared in a short film made in Lee De Forest's Phonofilm sound-on-film process. Kahn hired famous jazz musicians of the day to play in his band, especially during recording sessions, for example Joe Venuti, Eddie Lang, Artie Shaw, Jack Teagarden, Red Nichols, and Gene Krupa. Recordings were made for Victor until 1929, Columbia in 1929 and 1930, and for the Brunswick label in 1932.

Kahn always had fun leading and conducting his orchestra. Reportedly, when the band was playing especially well he used to throw himself onto the floor and wave his legs in the air. However, in the mid-1930s, he lost interest in his orchestra and disbanded it. Instead, he preoccupied himself with aviation and eventually, in 1941, became a test pilot for the Grumman Aircraft Engineering Corporation, a well-known aircraft manufacturer.

In 1931, Kahn made headlines on the New York society pages when he married musical comedy actress Hannah Williams January 16, 1931. The wedding was at Oheka Castle, his family's estate on Long Island, and was kept secret from the public for two weeks, until the Broadway show Williams was appearing in, "Sweet and Low", had had its final performances. The couple made headlines again when they divorced two years later and when, after only a few weeks, Williams married boxing champion Jack Dempsey. Two days after the divorce, on April 7, 1933, Roger Wolfe Kahn married Edith May Nelson, a Maine politician's daughter. That marriage lasted from 1933 till Kahn's death of a heart attack in New York City on July 12, 1962. By his second wife, he had two children, Peter W. Kahn and Virginia Kahn.

Compilations of Roger Wolfe Kahn's music are available on CD.

Kahn's popular titles include:

*"Hot Hot Hottentot"
*"One Night In The Jungle"
*"Anything You Say"
*"Crazy Rhythm" (part of the soundtrack of Woody Allen's "Bullets Over Broadway")
*"Imagination"
*"She's a Great Great Girl" (the closing theme song of WAMU's "Hot Jazz Saturday Night" hosted by Rob Bamberger)

Kahn's work on Broadway includes:

*"Here's Howe" (1928) - musical - co-composer
*"Americana" (1928) - revue - composer

External links

* [http://www.ibdb.com/person.asp?ID=11968 Roger Wolfe Kahn] at the Internet Broadway Database
* [http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0434914 Roger Wolfe Kahn] at the Internet Movie Database
* [http://www.americanmusicpreservation.com/OHEKAGardenParty2004.htm Roger Wolfe Kahn and His Orchestra]


Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Поможем решить контрольную работу

Look at other dictionaries:

  • Roger Wolfe Kahn — Roger Wolfe Kahn, seine erste Frau Hannah Williams und Otto Hermann Kahn 1931 vor dem Hotel Adlon in Berlin …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Roger Kahn (disambiguation) — Roger Kahn may refer to:*Roger Kahn, American sportswriter *Roger Wolfe Kahn, American bandleader …   Wikipedia

  • Kahn (Begriffsklärung) — Kahn bezeichnet: ein kleines Boot oder Schiff, siehe Kahn Kahn ist der Familienname folgender Personen: Abdul Kadir Khan (* 1936), pakistanischer Nuklearingenieur Albert Kahn (1860–1940), französischer Bankier Albert Kahn (Architekt) (1869–1942) …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Kahn — is a German surname. Kahn is the German word for a small boat. It is also a Germanized form of the Jewish surname Cohen, another variant of which is Cahn. People with the surname Kahn * Albert Kahn (banker) (1860 ndash;1940), French banker,… …   Wikipedia

  • Otto Hermann Kahn — Born February 21, 1867(1867 02 21) Mannheim, Germany Died March 29, 1934(1934 03 29) (aged 67) New York City, U …   Wikipedia

  • Liste von Jazzstandards und -kompositionen — Dieser Artikel enthält eine alphabetische Liste von bekannten und weniger bekannten Jazzstandards und Jazzkompositionen. Er erhebt keinen Anspruch auf Vollständigkeit, kann aber laufend ergänzt werden. Der jeweilige Komponist (abgekürzt: M)… …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Crazy Rhythm (song) — Crazy Rhythm is a thirty two bar swing show tune written in 1928 by Irving Caesar, Joseph Meyer, and Roger Wolfe Kahn for the Broadway musical Here s Howe [http://www.redhotjazz.com/rwkahno.html Roger Wolfe Kahn His Orchestra] at The Red Hot Jazz …   Wikipedia

  • 1928 in music — Events* April 27 Igor Stravinsky s ballet Apollon musagète is premiered in Washington * September 11 Leoš Janáček s String Quartet No. 2 , Intimate Letters , is premiered in Brno * September 12 Anton Webern s String Trio is premiered in Siena *… …   Wikipedia

  • Liste der Biografien/Kah–Kak — Biografien: A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Further Definitions — Studioalbum von Benny Carter Veröffentlichung 1962 Label Impulse! …   Deutsch Wikipedia

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”