Jazz Articles about Joe Venuti

Joe Venuti: Joe & Zoot & More

by C. Michael Bailey
October 4, 2002

The Sad Clown as Phoenix...

Giuseppi Venuti (1903—1978) was born en route to America form Italy. He claimed Philadelphia as home, and Philadelphia claims him as a favorite son. Venuti and childhood chum Eddie Lang provided the American violin/guitar foil to European team of Stephane Grappelli and Django Reinhardt. Venuti and Lang made some of the most influential violin/Guitar sides in jazz and worked right up to the unfortunately premature death of Lang during a tonsillectomy. Venuti performed regularly with ...

Joe Venuti/Tony Romano: Never Before...Never Again

by Mark Corroto
January 1, 2001

In today’s world, getting this many Italian-Americans together in one place probably violates some racketeering laws. But back in the early 1950s, come to think of it, was probably a crime too! Violinist Joe Venuti (1903-1978) achieved lasting jazz fame for his duets with guitarist Eddie Lang in the 1920s and 1930s. He worked with Louis Armstrong, Bix Beiderbecke, Hoagy Carmichael, Bing Crosby, Paul Whiteman, and Zoot Sims. In 1937 he met guitarist Tony Romano. Romano built a career as ...