Desdemona202's video: Henri Gendron Broadway Dance Sensation 1924-1931

Henri Gendron: “Broadway Dance Sensation” (1924-1931) 1. Those Panama Mamas–B.D.& M., 1924 [0:00] 2. Put Away a Little Ray of Golden Sunshine For a Rainy Day–B.D. & M., 1924 [2:46] 3. Lucky Kentucky–Plaza, 1925 [5:35] 4. Rose of the Moonlight–Edison, 1925 [8:39] 5. Me Neenyah (My Little One)–Edison, 1925 [12:49] 6. Gigolette–Edison, 1925 [16:34] 7. No One–Edison, 1925 [20:50] 8. Ah-Ha!–Edison, 1925 [24:57] 9. Seminola–Edison, 1925 [28:40] 10. Little Joe–Columbia, 1931 [32:15] 11. (You Gave Me) Everything But Love*–Columbia, 1931 [35:28] Transferred with 3.0 lateral styli in VM670SP cartridge and 3.0 lateral and vertical styli in VM95SP cartridges via Audiotechnica AT-LP120. Discs from Colin Hancock Collection. Discographical and Historical Info from Rust’s “Jazz Records” and “American Dance Band Discography,” Johnson and Shirley’s “American Dance Bands on Record, Newspapers.com, Ancestry.com, Mark Berresford, Nick Dellow, Colin Hancock, and Javier Soria Laso. There are dozens of bandleaders who achieved national prominence in their day yet are now virtually unknown. Such is the case of bandleader Henri Armandi Gendron, whose Strand Roof Orchestra regularly broadcast across the nation in the 1920s and 30s. Gendron was born on September 28, 1895 in Meriden, Connecticut, near Middletown. His parents Israel and Cordilia Gendron were French Canadian immigrants who moved to Meriden from Quebec sometime in the 1880s. Henri was the youngest of five siblings, and took up the violin at a young age. He attended St. Laurent Parochial School and Meriden High School before dropping out, eventually resuming and completing his studies at Yale University. After graduating, he took on a studious, clean-cut persona which earned him descriptions such as, “possessing raven-black hair” and having a “sheiky” build. Gendron travelled to Cuba, playing a year at the Hotel Alamendares in Havana. When he returned to the United States, he travelled to Chicago where in 1923 he led a band at the Villa Venice in the suburb of Glenview. The success of this gig got him into the Strand Theatre in Manhattan in 1924, where he led the band for a year, followed by another year in Brooklyn, and a residency at the Harry Richman Club. The band, which was billed as the "Broadway Dance Sensation" was the first to gain a year long contract in the Strand’s history, which made headlines. While based in New York, Gendron’s Strand Roof Orchestra recorded for Bridgeport Die and Machine Labs, the Plaza Recording Company, and Edison Records, sometimes employing guest musicians like trumpeter Mike Mosiello to augment the band, but usually keeping his regular roster of musicians. His band also broadcast three times a week from station WHN in New York, reaching a wide audience on the East Coast on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Saturdays. In 1926, he brought another band to Chicago, this time playing at the Montmartre Cafe, and getting in a whirlwind romance with vaudevillian Sheila Terry that filled the tabloids and resulted in their marriage. That winter Gendron’s band played a long residency in Lousiville, KY before playing the Chicago Congress Hotel. In 1927 and 1928, the band toured across the midwest before once again setting down roots in Chicago and broadcasting from there through the depression, spicing in the occasional tour to the midwest or southwest. His band, now known as the “Ambassadors,” recorded for Columbia Records in 1931, a time when few orchestras had the chance due to the economic strains of the depression on the recording industry. During WWII he swapped the “I” in his last name for a “y” and played at the Miami, FL Villa Venice before going back to Chicago where he was played the Villa Moderne in Glenview. His last professional show appears to have been New Years Eve 1946/7 in Chicago, and on September 19, 1951, just a few days short of his 56th birthday, Henri Gendron passed away in Chicago.