Roger Wolfe Kahn
|
1927 Time cover featuring Kahn |
Roger Wolfe Kahn (
October 19,
1907 â€"
July 12,
1962) was an
American jazz and popular
musician,
composer, and
bandleader ("Roger Wolfe Kahn and His Orchestra").
Born in
Morristown, New Jersey into a very rich family—his father,
Otto Hermann Kahn, was a banker—Kahn is said to have learned to play 18 musical instruments before starting to lead his own orchestra in
1923, aged only 16. 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. 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.
Roger Wolfe Kahn's second marriage was to
Edith May Nelson. It lasted from
1933 till Kahn's death of a
heart attack in
New York City in
1962. Compilations of Roger Wolfe Kahn's music are available on CD.
Kahn's popular titles include:
*"Hot Hot Hottentot"
*"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-
composerAmericana (1928) -
revue -
composer*
Roger Wolfe Kahn at the
Internet Broadway Database
