Lester Lanin was an American jazz

Jazz

Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...

 and pop music bandleader

Bandleader

A bandleader is the leader of a band of musicians. The term is most commonly, though not exclusively, used with a group that plays popular music as a small combo or a big band, such as one which plays jazz, blues, rhythm and blues or rock and roll music....

.

Lanin's brothers, Sam

Sam Lanin

Sam Lanin was an American jazz bandleader.Lanin's brothers, Howard and Lester, were also bandleaders, and all of them had sustained, successful careers in music. Lanin was one of ten children born to Russian-Jewish immigrants who emigrated to Philadelphia in the decade of the 1900s...

 and Howard

Howard Lanin

Howard Lanin was an American bandleader, one of the most successful in the Philadelphia, Pennsylvania area in the early 20th century. Lanin was called, "The King of Society Music." He led the Howard Lanin Orchestra, a group that performed show tunes, waltzes and sweet jazz...

, were also both bandleaders; they came from a family of ten (of which Lester was the youngest) born to a family of Russian

Russians

The Russian people are an East Slavic ethnic group native to Russia, speaking the Russian language and primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries....

 - Jewish immigrants. He originally wanted to be an attorney

Lawyer

A lawyer, according to Black's Law Dictionary, is "a person learned in the law; as an attorney, counsel or solicitor; a person who is practicing law." Law is the system of rules of conduct established by the sovereign government of a society to correct wrongs, maintain the stability of political...

 but quit school to play music in his teens. Beginning in 1927, he led ensembles that were paid to play at the houses of wealthy socialites in Philadelphia and New York, continuing after the 1929 stock market crash.

In 1930, Lanin was hired to play at a gala for Barbara Hutton

Barbara Hutton

Barbara Woolworth Hutton was an American socialite dubbed by the media as the "Poor Little Rich Girl" because of her troubled life...

, and the event garnered so much press in New York newspaper

Newspaper

A newspaper is a scheduled publication containing news of current events, informative articles, diverse features and advertising. It usually is printed on relatively inexpensive, low-grade paper such as newsprint. By 2007, there were 6580 daily newspapers in the world selling 395 million copies a...

s that it made Lanin a star as well as the young heiress. Lanin became a major star of the dance music world, and was hired worldwide to play for king

King

- Centers of population :* King, Ontario, CanadaIn USA:* King, Indiana* King, North Carolina* King, Lincoln County, Wisconsin* King, Waupaca County, Wisconsin* King County, Washington- Moving-image works :Television:...

s and queens

Queens

Queens is the easternmost of the five boroughs of New York City. The largest borough in area and the second-largest in population, it is coextensive with Queens County, an administrative division of New York state, in the United States....

, in addition to a recurring invitation to play at White House

White House

The White House is the official residence and principal workplace of the president of the United States. Located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C., the house was designed by Irish-born James Hoban, and built between 1792 and 1800 of white-painted Aquia sandstone in the Neoclassical...

 inaugural balls from the Eisenhower administration to the Carter administration. Lanin was managed for much of his career by New York socialite music promoter Al Madison.

Famous for long, smooth medley

Medley (music)

In music, a medley is a piece composed from parts of existing pieces, usually three, played one after another, sometimes overlapping. They are common in popular music, and most medleys are songs rather than instrumental. A medley which is a remixed series is called a megamix, often done with tracks...

s, Lanin's popularity increased upon the advent of the LP era. Starting with Epic Records

Epic Records

Epic Records is an American record label, owned by Sony Music Entertainment. Though it was originally conceived as a jazz imprint, it has since expanded to represent various genres. L.A...

 in the middle of the 1950s, he recorded a string of albums for several labels, many of which hit the US Billboard 200

Billboard 200

The Billboard 200 is a ranking of the 200 highest-selling music albums and EPs in the United States, published weekly by Billboard magazine. It is frequently used to convey the popularity of an artist or groups of artists...

. He continued performing well into the 1990s. In 1999 Lester Lanin played himself in the black-and-white film comedy Man of the Century

Man of the Century

Man of the Century is a 1999 comedy film directed by Adam Abraham and written by Abraham and Gibson Frazier. The film stars Frazier, Cara Buono, Susan Egan, Dwight Ewell and Anthony Rapp. It is a farce about the attitudes, values, and slang displayed in the popular culture of the 1920s . Man of...

, where he was the favorite musician of lead character Johnny Twennies. Lester Lanin died at age 97 in 2004.

Discography

Note:This list is incomplete.

• Dance to the Music of Lester Lanin (1957) US #7
• Lester Lanin and His Orchestra (1958) US #18
• Cocktail Dancing
• Have Band, Will Travel (1958) US #12
• Lester Lanin at the Tiffany Ball (1958) US #17
• Lester Lanin Goes to College (1958) US #19
• Dancing on the Continent
• Christmas Dance Party
• Have Band, Will Travel
• The Madison Avenue Beat
• Twistin' in High Society! (1962) US #37
• More Twistin' in High Society
• Dancing Theatre Party (Featuring the Dancing Pianos)
• 40 Beatles Hits (1966)

External links