Vessella's Italian Band is a name found on many discs made by the Victor Talking Machine Company from 1911 until 1916.
In the 1920s, Brunswick issued recordings made by the ensemle.
The ensemble was led by Oreste Vessella, who was born in Alife, Italy in 1877.
He was the nephew of a successful bandleader named Alessandro Vessella (1860-1929), who led the Band of Rome.
Oreste trained as a clarinetist in Naples and also studied music in Genoa.
By 1903 the bandleader was pleasing crowds at the Atlantic City Steel Pier. (Vincenso Callimo, a clarinetist in the Royal Italian Band, drowned while attempting to swim around the 1,500 ft long Steel Pier.)
In December 1904, Vessella's name was in newspapers due to a breach of promise lawsuit brought against him by a former lover in Italy. The young woman, Gaetanina Lombari, sought $25,000 in damages.
His bride was Edna Egan, daughter of a millionaire, a Cincinnati businessman named Thomas P. Egan. She had been married for only a few months when news of this scandal broke in October 1904.
The breach of promise case reached a judgement in April 1905. It went against Vessella, who was ordered to pay $10,000 to Signorina Lombari.
The lawsuit added strain to Vessella's marriage. In 1910 he divorced Edna. At that time she was 25 years old, and Oreste was age 33.
In the summer of 1906 Oreste Vessella went to Chicago as guest conductor of another Italian band, the Banda Roma, which was on the bill for the Sans Souci amusement park.
He and the bandsmen had some artistic differences. In July a dispute arose with the Chicago musicians union which found fault with Vessella's contract and fined him $500 and each of his musicians $50.
Then in August he expressed some abusive words towards a musician during a concert and a fracas ensued between him and the players, frightening the audience, and only stopped when police intervened.
In late August, 1906, Vessela returned to Atlantic City to finish the summer season with his regular band at the Steel Pier.
In April 1907 Vessella was arrested on a charge of threatening a musician with a pistol. The bandsman, Francesca Certaglia, contended that he and Vessella got into an argument over money. Vessella claimed it was over a mistake in the playing of the musician. After a hearing in magistrate court, Oreste was acquitted and released.
Oreste's younger brother, Marco Vessella, was engaged to play the summer season at Atlantic City at Young's Pier. One could probably hear Marco's band and Oreste's band at the same time.
Oreste Vessella died in Atlantic City on June 21, 1963. He was 86.
