Search - Herman Kenin, Lillian Frederic :: Herman Kenin's Multnomah Hotel Orchestra & the Garden Dancing Palace Orchestra

A Good Disc To Have Around

"Gimpy" Peach Johnson | 02/14/2003

(4 out of 5 stars)

"The two bands represented here (Herman Kenin's Hotel Multnomah Orchestra and The Garden Dancing Palace Orchestra) may not be two of the well-known dance bands of the 1920s, nor are they the best, but as a fan of 1920s dance bands, I enjoyed this disc very much. Kenin's Orchestra had a few connections with Jean Goldkette's Orchestra, and the Kenin's upright bass player sounds a lot like Steve Brown at times. The tunes aren't scorching hot, but most are upbeat and pleasant enough. "There's Somebody New" has a particularly interesting slap-bass opening which I can listen to again and again! "Walkin' Around In a Dream" is one of the prettiest dance band numbers of the 1920s, and I particularly like Herman Kenin's version. The Garden Dancing Palace Orchestra recorded very few sides, and from the selections on this disc, it is evident why! They're not *bad*, but there certainly were better bands out there making records! However, I really like their version of "Rose Room" which is played as a fast fox-trot. The liner notes suggest that it may be the fastest recording of "Rose Room" from that era, and I like it!The sound quality, while it could be better, is quite acceptable. At times I feel like it borders on being "over-processed," but there aren't really any digital artifacts and the disc is quite pleasant to listen to. The liner notes are well-researched and well written, with nice commentaries on the recordings by James Paarten. The disc itself is a CD-R (Recordable CD), but let's face it: a disc of two obscure 1920s dance bands isn't likely to sell more than 500 or a thousand copies, so I'm sure it was much more cost-efficient to use CD-R.These are tunes that will keep your toes tapping, and if you enjoy other dance bands of the 1920s, you'll like this disc. I pull it out and listen to it occasionally--and I'm glad I bought it--but it certainly isn't one of the "essentials.""

Review of Herman Kenin's Multnomah Hotel Orchestra .... .

Michael Stern | Towson Maryland USA | 09/05/2005

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Many of the songs included on this two-bands' album of 1920's songs, are vocals. Most musical selections -- be they vocals or instrumentals -- are perky. A listener to this album who wants an authentic 1920's musical selection across the bias should enjoy the selections, which play all together for slightly over 1 hour. There are a couple of songs included on this album, whose arrangements and vocal styling I find to be formatted somewhat tediously, but all represented musical styles may be acceptable to some folks. I find this album fun."