Jules Levy Jr.

Jules Levy Jr. was born on January 8 of 1889 in New York as the son of pioneer cornetist Jules Levy. He is also the half-brother of Conway Tearle. It was with his father that Levy Jr. received his first cornet lessons as a child. Levy Jr. led his own brass quartet, and made records for Edison, Emerson and Pathé. For Edison, he recorded several of his father's compositions. One can clearly hear that Levy Jr. had a great command over his instruments (first cornet and later trumpet). Levy Jr. applied for a job at the Rector's Club in New York as a member of violinist, alto saxophonist & clarinet player Joseph Samuels's orchestra, also known as the Synco Jazz Band. It was with Samuels that he made his first jazz & dance band recordings in 1919. Levy Jr. also recorded with Sam Lanin, Nathan Glantz (both under Glantz's own name & several pseudonyms (for example, the Merry Sparklers)), Ben Selvin, Arthur Lange (from 1922 to early 1923), Louis Katzman (including several sessions that Katzman did as the Atlantic Dance Orchestra), Dave Kaplan (including Kaplan's Melodists, McNalpak's Dance Orchestra & the early Top Notchers sides), Bailey's Lucky Seven, the Tennessee Ten (the augmented version of the Original Memphis Five), Fred W. Hager & Justin Ring's band (as Rega Dance Orchestra) & many other groups. Levy Jr. had also the opportunity to accompany Mamie Smith & Clarence Williams among other artists on several recordings. Levy Jr. died at the age of 35 years old (not 33 despite the report) of pleurisy on June 18 of 1924 in New York leaving his wife Mary & a baby daughter as its survivors. It was reported that "he had four households to support among his relations and his Herculean efforts in the phonograph recording field combined with his nightly appearances at the Roseland Ballroom as a member of Sam Lanin's Orchestra were sufficient to try any human's endurance. His phonograph record dates were prolific weekly and the talk of the music profession. This was probably the cause for a small tumour on his face, which led to pleurisy. The tumour is said to have burst internally and this spread its poison into his system. Levy was 33 years old and married with a baby daughter". [Information regarding Levy Jr.'s death is taken from Richard Johnson & Bernard Shirley's book "American Dance Bands On Record & Film, 1915-1942"]