Abe Lyman (born Abraham Simon; August 4, 1897 – October 23, 1957) was a bandleader from the 1920s to the 1940s. He made recordings, appeared in films and provided the music for numerous radio shows, including '' Your Hit Parade''.

Biography

Born in

Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

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, on August 4, 1897, to an

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immigrant family, Lyman's name at birth was Abraham Simon. He and his brother, Mike, changed their last name to Lyman because they both thought it sounded better. Abe learned to play the drums when he was young, and at the age of 14 he had a job as a drummer in a Chicago café. Around 1919, he was regularly playing music with two other notable future big band leaders, Henry Halstead and Gus Arnheim, in California. In Los Angeles Mike Lyman opened the Sunset, a night club popular with such film stars as

Mary Pickford Gladys Louise Smith (April 8, 1892 – May 29, 1979), known professionally as Mary Pickford, was a Canadian-American film actress and producer. A Canadian pioneers in early Hollywood, pioneer in the American film industry with a Hollywood care ...

, Norma Talmadge,

Charlie Chaplin Sir Charles Spencer Chaplin (16 April 188925 December 1977) was an English comic actor, filmmaker, and composer who rose to fame in the era of silent film. He became a worldwide icon through his screen persona, the Tramp, and is considered o ...

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, and Harold Lloyd. When Abe's nine-piece band first played at the Sunset, it was a success, but the club closed after celebrities signed contracts stating they were not to be seen at clubs. For an engagement at the Cocoanut Grove in The Ambassador Hotel on April 1, 1922, Abe added a violinist and saxophonist. Opening night drew a large crowd of 1500 guests in the Cocoanut Grove, plus another 500 more outside. Lyman appeared on radio as early as 1922. His orchestra was broadcast from The Ambassador Hotel by late March on KOG. After the band cut their first record under the local label Nordskog Records, they moved a year later to Brunswick Records in the summer of 1923. There they made many recordings and were one of Brunswick's leading orchestras through 1935, when Lyman signed to

Decca Records Decca Records is a British record label established in 1929 by Edward Lewis (Decca), Edward Lewis after his acquisition of a gramophone manufacturer, The Decca Gramophone Company. It set up an American subsidiary under the Decca name, which bec ...

. In late 1937, Lyman signed with Victor where he was assigned their Bluebird label. He recorded prolifically for them through 1942. The Lyman Orchestra toured Europe in 1929, appearing at the Kit Cat Club and the

Palladium Palladium is a chemical element; it has symbol Pd and atomic number 46. It is a rare and lustrous silvery-white metal discovered in 1802 by the English chemist William Hyde Wollaston. He named it after the asteroid Pallas (formally 2 Pallas), ...

in London and at the

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and the Perroquet in Paris. Lyman and his orchestra were featured in a number of early talkies, including '' Hold Everything'' (1930), '' Paramount on Parade'' (1930), '' Good News'' (1930) and '' Madam Satan'' (1930). In 1931, Abe Lyman and his orchestra recorded a number of soundtracks for the '' Merrie Melodies'' cartoon series. Notable musicians in the Lyman Orchestra included Ray Lopez, Gussie Mueller, and Orlando "Slim" Martin. Charlie Chaplin guest-conducted the band in two occasions: in 1923 and 1926, in both cases recording songs written by Chaplin himself. During the 1930s, the Lyman Orchestra was heard regularly on such shows as '' Accordiana'' and ''Waltz Time'' every Friday evening and on NBC, ''Coast to Coast''. Under the name "Rose Blane", Lyman's wife was vocalist with the band during this period. Lyman and his orchestra sat in for Phil Harris on the Jack Benny program in 1943 when Harris served in the Merchant Marines. After the end of the recording ban, Lyman briefly switched to Columbia in 1945, making his final records for that label. When Lyman was 50 years old, he left the music industry and went into the restaurant management business. He died in

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at the age of 60.

Popular Recordings

*"Midnight Rose" (vocal by Charles Kaley) (1923) *" After I Say I'm Sorry" (vocal by Charles Kaley) (1926) *"Mary Lou" (vocal by Charles Kaley) (1926) *"There's a Blue Ridge in My Heart, Virginia"(vocal by Charles Kaley) (1926) *"Just a Bird's Eye View (of My Old Kentucky Home)" (vocal Frank Sylvano) (1927) *"Sweethearts on Parade" (vocal Phil Neely) (1929) *"Just One More Chance" (vocal Phil Neely) (1931) *"Little Old Lady" (vocal by Sonny Schuyler) (1937) *"Amen" (vocal Rose Blane) (1942) *" Rum and Coca Cola" (vocal Rose Blane) (1945)

References

Ate Van Delden: "Abe Lyman-The Early Years"Abe Lyman (1899–1957)
Red Hot Jazz Archive

External links

Abe Lyman's California Ambassador Hotel Orchestra
Red Hot Jazz Archive
Abe Lyman recordings
at the Discography of American Historical Recordings. * {{DEFAULTSORT:Lyman, Abe American jazz bandleaders American big band bandleaders American jazz drummers 1897 births 1957 deaths 20th-century American conductors (music) American male drummers Drummers from Chicago