Joe Venuti is regarded as the first great jazz violinist. According to official records he was born on September 16, 1903 in Philadelphia. No one really knows much about his early life as Venuti often purposefully obscured the details of his youth for unknown reasons. There has been much speculation about those reasons, but no one has ever really confirmed anything. In school Venuti played in the same violin section with a friend named Salvatore Massaro who would later change his name to Eddie Lang and the two would make some of the most memorable jazz records of the late 1920s and early 1930s.

In 1924 Venuti was living in Detroit and playing with the Jean Goldkette Orchestra, one of the most popular of the decade. Just over a year later he was living in New York City and playing gigs with his childhood friend Lang. In the late 1920s Venuti played with some of the biggest stars in jazz including Red Nichols, Adrian Rollini, Frankie Trumbauer and Bix Beiderbecke. Between 1929 and 1931 Venuti was a member of Paul Whiteman’s hugely popular orchestra and appeared in the 1930 film “King of Jazz” with the group. The most famous record of Venuti’s career was made in October of 1931 with Lang, Benny Goodman and Jack Teagarden.

Venuti was known not only for his musicianship, but also for his practical jokes. Once he called every bass player he could find in the New York telephone directory and asked them to meet him on a street corner. More than 50 bassists showed up with their instruments causing a traffic jam. Subsequently, the musician’s union local required Venuti to pay for their time.

After Lang’s death in 1933, Venuti toured Europe and then formed his own big band which enjoyed limited success and finally broke up in 1943. Venuti moved to southern California and worked as a studio musician for a number of years. He fell into obscurity during the 1950s and 1960s as he battled alcoholism, but made a comeback in the 1970s recording with Marian McPartland, Earl Hines, Dave McKenna, Zoot Sims and Leon Redbone. He was also a regular at the Colorado Jazz Party and made an appearance at the Newport Jazz Festival in 1968. Joe Venuti died in his adopted home of Seattle in 1978.

Here is a link to that record Joe Venuti made in 1931:

"FAREWELL BLUES"