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Donald's Encyclopedia of Popular MusicA B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y ZLANIN, Lester(b 26 August 1907, Philadelphia; d 27 October 2004, Manhattan) Society bandleader whose strict-tempo style kept socialites and royalty dancing for an incredible 70 years. His grandfather, father and six of his brothers were all bandleaders; brother Sam Lanin was described as the Toscanini of bandleaders, one of the most prolifically recorded of his era, cutting around 2000 sides in a ten-year period, leader for example of the Ipana Troubadours, a studio band named after a toothpaste, their radio sponsor. Lester began playing drums and piano at age 5, left school at 15 to play in his brothers' bands and to book musicians for them and for his own bands: among the people he booked at one time or another were Louis Armstrong and Tommy and Jimmy Dorsey. He hit his stride in 1930 playing at Barbara Hutton's coming-out party. He developed a method of continuous playing, so that the music never stopped; he played everything from Dixieland to the Frug, all in the best possible taste; he said he watched the dancers' feet in order to adjust the music as necessary. Mothers in high society began booking him for their daughters' coming-out parties as soon as the girls were born. He sometimes had a dozen bands on the road, and estimated in 1992 that he had played 20,000 wedding receptions. He played for the kings of Norway, Denmark, Sweden, Spain and Greece; he played for Grace Kelly's engagement party, for Queen Elizabeth's 60th birthday, and for the weddings of Prince Charles and Lady Diana Spencer, and Billy Joel and Christie Brinkley. He wrote 'My Lady Love' for Charles and Diana, and 'Pink Petal Waltz' for the New York Junior League in 1948, thereafter always played at debutante balls. He played for every presidential inaugural since Eisenhower, except Jimmy Carter, who thought he was too expensive, and George W. Bush, who didn't ask him, although Bush's father and grandfather had been Lanin fans. He only laid down his baton in 2001, and still had two bands on the road when he died. |