Jim Janossy, Sr. -- May 15, 2020             Back to CatalinaRadio.com

I've been working on recreating music like my dad and his group used to perform
at the Fisher Club in Avon, Minnesota, and other locations in that area in 1940-42,
with his group "Brothers and Buddies". It was known then as a "novelty" orchestra
such as that popularized in the 1920's by Ben Selvin, because of the unusual instruments
they sometimes used, such as the kalimba, steel drums, vibraphone, and even
sometimes a theater organ (!) as well as more traditional instruments. They especially
liked to perform tunes that have a catchy beat where a string bass could be plucked
(both my dad Gus and his brother Bill were professional string bass players with the
Minneapolis Symphony in those days). See if you can hear the thumping of a string bass
in these tunes! Sheet music for songs like this was the common medium for distributing
music back in those days, and both dad and Uncle Bill had the musical knowledge and
skill to arrange tunes from sheet music to create the kind of sound they wanted.

Click on each to listen! These were popular in the first half of the 1900's...
                                                                        and IMHO they don't sound stale today!

	Dill Pickles (1910)
	You Can't Live Without a Girl (1911)
	That's What the Girls Like (1912)	<<< My absolute favorite! The piano hands off to a theater organ masterfully at 2:12 in this tune for a dramatic passage ideally suited to it! And the bass just keeps plucking right along! Dad and Bill sure had a nice way of arranging things.
	You'd Be Surprised (1919)
	March Brittania!	My favorite march, after attending the Three Choirs Festival in Worchester, UK with my son Jimmy in 2011! Hope you enjoy this too Jimmy!
	The Story of Peter Rabbit (1921)

These are typical of the kind of music I load onto the replica old time radio/players that I
construct and donate to retirement and convalescent homes. Under U.S. copyright law music
written before 1923 is now in the public domain. That's why I stick to the older tunes that
Brothers and Buddies used to perform when I load the donated "radios". My creations are
regarded as derivatives of public domain material, so I actually own the copyright to these
unique performances of the music--which means I can give away .mp3 files like this if I wish.

Back to CatalinaRadio.com