Adrian Schubert & His Orchestra - I Promise You

2015-10-29 2

Staggeringly prolific Adrian Schubert was not a bandleader in the usual sense, since he rather was a musical director, working with dozens of outfits under equally numerous pseudonyms, merely for recording purposes. He did hire many top musicians though (trumpeter Mike Mosiello, trombonist Tommy Dorsey, saxophonist Jimmy Dorsey, clarinetist Benny Goodman, multi-instrumentalist Andy Sannella, percussion virtuoso George Hamilton Green and violinist and vocalist Scrappy Lambert, etc). This wonderful record was made in 1931, featuring a vocal by Charles Swan Lawman (1901-1955). Sadly, this refined tenor (although back then he was referred to as a baritone) is totally forgotten today. Very little information is available about him. He performed on the radio in the late 1920s and early 1930s and was once billed as "The Dixie Baritone". During the same period he was quite active recording for the Columbia, Banner, Crown and Oriole labels, leaving us in total around 85 sides. On Columbia he recorded under his own name. He also appeared as vocalist with several bands including Ben Selvin, Adrian Schubert, Lou Gold, Tommy Gott, Leonard Joy and Bob Haring. A record review in Time Magazine, in 1931, referred to him in these words: "A newcomer, baritone Charlie Lawman is pleasantly old-fashioned".