Swing Music in the Capital District

By Michael Catoggio.

Research assistance by Bill Schilling.

It was swinging in the Tally-Ho Club on Hudson and in the Lark Tavern on Madison. Music filled the Klub Eagle and poured out the doors of the Castle Ballroom. The Rhythm Club on Madison was rocking. Sophisticated sounds were swaying in the hotels – at the Ten Eyck and the DeWitt.

The swing era crested between 1935 and 1945. New York City was its beating heart, but cities around the country featured home-grown bands of their own.

The greater Albany area featured a rich and vibrant swing music scene. A colleague and I set out to explore this forgotten piece of our local history.

Why forgotten? Our research revealed no substantive histories of the local swing music scene. A scattered article here or there. It quickly became apparent that we had to stitch this tale together from scratch. So, after years spent in libraries, archives, conducting interviews and digging through piles of historical photos, we have a story to share.

The famous Big Bands came through town, and we took notice, but our focus became the local musicians and bands.

Some in our area scratched out a living as full-time musicians. But many were working people during the day – bus drivers, schoolteachers, doctors, bakers. Folks who arrived home on a Friday night, prepared dinner and collapsed on the couch. Later they’d head to their bedroom closet to find a tuxedo or sequined dress, and a well-worn instrument case on the floor. Fully adorned, they would emerge onto the street and head to a club. There they’d enter a fantasy world of sparkling curtains and dazzling lights.

Who were these folks? Perhaps they were friends or neighbors of our grandparents. Maybe our great-aunt Mary sang in a club. Or our second cousin played trumpet in the Harry Vincent Orchestra.

Now, we can introduce a few of them to you.

Was Albany swinging? You bet. We found significant numbers of area venues. We took a close look at 1938 through 1942. Each year, well over 100 venues featured live music. A few places featured musicians from out of town, but most featured area talent.

Some swing era places are still around today. The Manor Inn at 77 Washington Avenue in Rensselaer hosted a couple of very prominent local performers. The Horton Girls’ Orchestra played the Manor, plus other venues in the area. The Horton family lived in South Bethlehem. They were managed by their father, Aub Horton. An advertisement placed in the April 8, 1939 issue of Billboard Magazine, stated: “Horton Girls Orchestra and Revue ‘Real Rhythm’ feature[ed] the Horton Sisters, Maxine, Shirley and Madelon, Stars of Stage and the Radio…”

Today we know the Manor as Jimmy Casey’s restaurant.

The Manor Inn also hosted the Mike Pantone Orchestra. Pantone began his career with a famous local group in the 1920s called the King Jazz Orchestra. He operated a music school on lower Madison Avenue in Albany. Perhaps his most famous student was William Kennedy.

Pantone formed his own band in the early 1930s. By the 1935 he was a fixture in the area. He played long gigs at the Lark Tavern on Madison Avenue - another establishment withstanding the ravages of time. Pantone died on a Thursday, at the young age of 42, in his apartment at 342 Madison Avenue. He had played the Lark, just up the street, the previous Saturday night.

Stuarts was an upscale nightclub at 4 Sheridan Avenue, just off North Pearl. The building is still there today, housing a Mexican restaurant.

The Francis Murphy Orchestra played the club frequently. Stuarts was owned by a lawyer by the name of Irving Doling who just happened to play piano for the Murphy Orchestra.

Francis Murphy, born in Albany, was classically trained. He formed his band in 1930. Arguably, his Orchestra was the preeminent local band of the era. They were one of the few area bands to play the Kenmore’s Rain-Bo Room. They played the Ten Eyck’s Roof Garden and their prestigious Flag Room. They were regulars at the DeWitt Clinton. They played numerous bars and ballrooms in the area. In 1940 they played “the season” at Riley’s Lake House, outside Saratoga Springs. The Lake Houses were where the social elite went on August evenings after spending the day at the races. On any given night, one might encounter Carey Grant dining at a nearby table. And of course, illegal gambling was always available to the high rollers in the back rooms.

The Murphy Orchestra was heard regularly on WOKO radio.

Most of the other clubs in Albany have been lost to parking lots, arterial ramps and new construction. But in those vacant spaces hover the ghosts of Albany’s swinging past. Skippy’s Music Bar sat on Market where the Skippy Trio featured a young Skippy DeSair. DeSair would go on to play with the Woody Herman Orchestra. Big Charlie’s Harlem Grill was located at 52 ½ Hamilton, now a vacant lot across from the Greyhound station. African American Jimmy McGriff played at Dale’s Grill on 51 Central. Billy Harris, played the Klub Eagle at 32 Eagle. The Jimmy D’Angelo Band had a long-running gig at the University Grill at 85 South Pearl. Hal Turner’s Rhythm Boy’s held court at Club Frolics at 79 South Pearl.

Other notable bands: Rookie Davis and her Harlem Swing Orchestra. Davis was an African American. Paul Parker and His Orchestra had a long gig at the Hunter’s Clinton Height Inn in East Greenbush. Gordie Randall and his Orchestra made frequent appearances at Air-O-Dance, a giant dance hall 12 miles outside Albany on Route 20. Randall went on to become the bandleader at WGY.

And while the locals played their horns downtown, the rich and famous came to town. Our grandparents paid their forty-five cents at the Palace box office to see Glenn Miller, Benny Goodman, and Fletcher Henderson. The air was sweet with beautiful sounds.

The Grande Dame of them all was the Kenmore’s Rain-Bo Room, where Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington, Cab Calloway, and Tommy Dorsey with Frank Sinatra played in an intimate setting. It must have been a special night out.

Yes, New York City was the epicenter of Swing. But Albany was just up the tracks.