Re: [ARSCLIST] Fascinating DVD on the musician with the longest recording career

[Jon Noring <jon@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

Steve wrote:

> We often discuss “who had the longest recording career” and sometimes  it’s
> a pop singer or maybe a classical musician. Well, per the Guinness Book of
> World Records, it’s a little known musician who played on country, jazz, AND
> classical recordings. And he did it from 1926 to 2004 (!). His name was Kaspar  “
> Stranger” Malone and he was new to me. He played on clarinet, flute, guitar,
> bass, piano and more! And he played on recordings with Gid Tanner, Jack
> Teagarden, San Francisco Symphony and Lawrence Welk!  

Checking the musician index in Brian Rust's Jazz Records, I see no
listing for a "Kaspar Malone", or anything close. But this doesn't
mean anything since he may have played under a different name, or
never played, on any of the recordings listed in Rust. (He may be
indexed in other discographies, though.)

It is fascinating to trace the human side of audio recordings.

For example, I've been pondering whether to conduct research to
determine who "Charlie Palloy" was who recorded some very interesting
vocal and guitar recordings in the early 30's, mostly for the obscure
Crown label. He is one of those musicians who suddenly appeared out of
nowhere, made a small splash, then vanished back into the woodwork,
never to be heard from again.

(There is no mention of a "Charles or Charlie Palloy" at ancestry.com,
and they have a very large database of genealogical data, so it is
probable his real name was something else -- maybe a variant on the
"Palloy" surname, such as "Pollay".)

In my genealogical research I've discovered an accomplished
Philadelphia classical vocalist by the name of "Zaidee Townsend", who
sang from the very late 1800's to the early 1900's. It is always
possible she recorded in some capacity (alone or part of a group) and
so I'd like to know if she did. I'm not sure the discographical
information of classical recordings from that time period will ever
be able to resolve whether she ever recorded. Her living descendents
have no information whether or not she recorded.

Lots of other mysteries which I'm sure everyone on this list and 78-L
have their own to share.

Jon Noring