PAUL VERNON CHESTER
Manouche Maestro
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PAUL VERNON CHESTER
Manouche Maestro
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Django Reinhardt and Harry Volpe
Voted for three years "Most outstanding swing guitarist" by the American Guild of BM & G. Concerts with the Volpe Quintet. Gretcsh announces the new Synchromatic 400 Harry Volpe jazz guitar. 1941-44 Concerts with his "Strings in Rhythm", works with Paramount, RCA. Writes for musical magazines : Metronome, Orchestra World, Fretted Harmony, B.M.G. 1945 Voted "World's Greatest Jazz Guitarist" by W.E.V.D. N.Y (Well in their eyes) 1946 Meeting with Django Reinhardt , in New York for the Duke Ellington tour, guest at Volpe's. All night long they are involved in a memorable jam session
Harry Volpe (1906 - 1995) was a pioneer of the guitar before that phrase was
coined. He was an established teacher, studio and recording musician in New York
already in the 1920's and 1930's. He was the first guitarist selected to the
Radio City Music Hall staff where he was a featured soloist. A prolific
composer, Harry Volpe wrote several pieces for the guitar including his
interpretation of Rachmaninoff's Prelude in C# Minor. Among his other
compositions are Volpette, June Memories, Two Guitars and Marreqita. The early
guitar duets he penned and recorded with Frank Victor in 1936 remain classics of
the guitar duet form. For many years Harry
Volpe ran a music store in New York where he offered lessons to the young
guitarists seeking their fortunes as jazz guitarists. Among his students were
Johnny Smith, Sal Salvador and Joe Pass. Clearly he was influenced by Django as
this recording of his confirms.
I
Found a New Baby Also check these out as a mix of Les Paul and Django
styles.
Compare carefully these two guitars from the Gretsch
stable -
If Volpe was given these by Gretsch he did not
readily lend them for recording or allow Django to practice with them for the
Ellington Band. - was the intended Gibson L5 problem or the free Epiphone Saga?
The Super Jam Session - Django playing Gretsch
Synchromatic 400 Guitar and Volpe with a Gretsch Special.
From it's cat-eye sound holes (2 one almost lost behind the pick guard) to it's thirteen layers of binding, the Synchromatic was a visual feast. Luckily for players, it had a sound and playability to match it's red-hot looks. Built to one-up the Gibson Super 400, the Synchromatic 400 debuted in 1939 at the top of the Synchromatic line. It was obviously descended from the earlier Model 250, but the 250 never had he Synchro's art-deco style, or it's "Seven Points of Supremacy, as the marketing folks liked to tout. The Synchromatic's distinctive styling was carried from the 400 down through the Synchromatic 300, 200 and 160 models, differing mostly in the size of the guitar and level of ornamentation. A entry-level Synchromatic 100 was also offered, although it had to do without the styling of the higher-end Synchros. The Synchromatic 400 "Chromatic Tailpiece" is an exclusive Gretsch feature. The tailpiece is designed to compensate for differing string gauges, thereby reducing tension and equalizing playing finger pressure. The tailpiece makes playing easier with uniform finger action. The Synchromatic "Synchronized bridge" is another exclusive Gretsch feature. The bridge is graduated to provide progressively broader contact between the vibrating strings and the top, or sounding board. The result is perfect harmonious balance between the fast vibrating treble strings and slower vibrating bass strings.
A prolific composer, Harry Volpe wrote several pieces for the guitar including his interpretation of Rachmaninoff's Prelude in C# Minor. Among his other compositions are Volpette, June Memories, Two Guitars and Marreqita. The early guitar duets he penned and recorded with Frank Victor in 1936 remain classics of the guitar duet form. Some of his teaching materials are still available through Mel Bay Publications. For many years Harry Volpe ran a music store in New York where he offered lessons to the young guitarists seeking their fortunes as jazz guitarists. Among his students were Johnny Smith, Sal Salvador and Joe Pass. Although his playing was not purely in the jazz idiom, Harry Volpe remains a significant figure in the history of jazz guitar if for no other reason than that he played with and taught some of the best guitarists of the last century.
1904
Born
in Sicily, Grotte near Agrigento, at midnight on April 7.
1919 In New York,
playing the Banjo in "Barber shop" trio.
1921 In his first group
: "The Aurora Troubadours", at the guitar.
1922 RKO
Circuit Tour
1924-1932
With the Ted Navarre Band
1932-1935 Discovered by the violinist
Al Dufy , the
NBC
invites
him for an audition and joins the
Radio City Music Hall orchestra
as
lead guitar
, Erno Rapee and Charles Previn directors.
Takes part in
NBC and CBS's broadcasts,
also in duet with violinist Al Dufy.
Composes and teaches for
Paramount
Tour with Vincent Lopez Orchestra. Publishes with Al Rocky acquiring international acknowledgments. Recordings in duet with Karl Kress .
1936-1941 Opens the Volpe's Guitar
Centre , a meeting
point for musicians in New York, frequented, among others, by Tony Mottola,
Sal Salvador, Al Caiola.
Founded a musical
publishing house (Volpe Music Company).
DECCA Recordings
with the guitarist
Frank Victor
, and with the
Volpe Quartet
.
Voted for three years
"Most outstanding swing guitarist" by the
American Guild of BM & G.
Concerts with the
Volpe Quintet
.
 Gretcsh announces the new Synchromatic 400 Harry Volpe jazz guitar.
1941-44
Concerts with his "Strings in Rhythm", works with Paramount, RCA.
Writes for
musical magazines
: Metronome, Orchestra
World, Fretted Harmony, B.M.G.
1945
Voted "World's Greatest Jazz Guitarist" by
Radio W.E.V.D. New York.
1946 Meeting with Django Reinhardt
, in New York for the Duke Ellington tour, guest at Volpe's. All night long
they are involved in a memorable
jam session
.
1948-1953
Makes the music and plays at the prize winner "The time of the Cuckoo" at
the Empire Theatre, Broadway
, with his quartet; actress
Shirley Booth
and
Geraldine Brooks
.
Conducts the Pan-American
Orchestra in SESAC-Columbia recordings.
From the
department of the state of Washington he becomes the
candidate for the "American Specialist" in the musical field for a cultural
exchange program.
Town Hall
concert
.
Because of law
questions , concerning the separation from his wife, he
loses the SESAC royalties (registered by his wife so as the Volpe Music
Company), is forced to reduce the scale of his production centre and
(perhaps a "daring" solution of his lawyer!) goes to jail. There the editor
Charles Colin helped him acquiring and selling books and all the press
machines of the Volpe's centre.
Goes out from jail, and
recuperates in Florida where he forms a trio
and solves his questions by resorting to the law. He settles in Miami.
1954 Concert at Fort Lauderdale
with the
Symphony Orchestra directed by Vasilios Priakos
.
Some TV shows and
jazz clubs concerts
while devotes himself to
teaching at the Frost Conservatory. Among his most
famous pupils, here and at New York: Sal Salvador, Al Caiola, Tony
Mottola,Joe Pass, John Colens, Johnny Smith. Publications
with Charles Hansen.
Epiphone
produces the
"Harry Volpe" model
.
1955-1960
With Rasha Rodell signs a contract for top shows at the Eden Rock
Hotel, Miami Beach,
where he plays with Nat King Cole, Ella Fitzgerald,
Cab Calloway,
Count Basie, Perry Como, Jimmy Durante.
In trio, a week, with
Arthur Godfrey in a TV show aired coast to
coast.
1960-1995
Goes on
publishing
with Charles Hansen and taking part to the
David Williams Hotel' exhibitions at
Coral Gables .
Teaches at the
Miami-Dade Junior College .
Dies in 1995, January
The Harry Volpe Master Class??
c.1940
1955 Epiphone Harry Volpe Model Status: Serial #: 69041, blue label Body size at lower bout: 15 1/4" Scale length: 25 1/2" Nut width: 1 3/4" Finish: Natural blonde finish, nitrocellulose lacquer type Materials: Slab figure Primavera (white mahogany) top, back and sides; solid one piece mahogany neck; Brazilian rosewood fingerboard with pearl inlay; bound body and fingerboard; enamelled metal head plate; solid bone nut. Hardware: 100% original hardware includes original De Armond single-coil pickup; volume and tone controls with clear Lucite barrel knobs; compensated "lightning-bolt" rosewood bridge; three-on-a-plate Grover tuners; nickel trapeze tailpiece; dark tortoise pick guard; hex-key adjustable truss rod. Notes: The Epiphone company's only artist model guitar, the Harry Volpe model, is also one of the rarest of all Epi electrics. Performer, teacher, and prolific endorser, Volpe was associated at one time or another with almost every major US guitar manufacturer. Volpe specified a 1 3/4" fingerboard for his namesake model, just a bit wider than typical instruments of the era. The Primavera wood body is strikingly attractive and light in weight. Also unique is the factory DeArmond pickup, a rare variant seen only on this model Epiphone. Making it's debut in 1955, the Harry Volpe also has the bittersweet distinction of being the last new model introduced by Epiphone as an independent company. Though catalogued until 1957, it's unlikely any were made after 1956, making it one of the scarcest of all Epi electrics, and perhaps the rarest ever. This example is the only one we've seen, and happily is in virtual museum condition, complete with its original Epiphone black faux alligator hard shell case. The guitar is without cracks, pick, or buckle wear, and shows only moderate thumb wear on the neck, and some checking near the waist on the back. The fingerboard is straight and true, and the neck has a very contemporary neck profile. The voice has fine balance and clarity, in a body size that sits very comfortably in the lap. A handsome and highly distinctive instrument from Epi's final era.. Setup: The frets have been precision levelled, re-crowned and polished as needed; truss rod tension and neck relief adjusted; bridge height adjusted; bridge compensation set; string slots at nut and bridge inspected and recut; bridge foot contour inspected and fit to top; bridge radius inspected and re-curved; wheels and tuners lubricated; fingerboard and bridge oiled; body and neck cleaned and hand polished. This instrument is strung with medium gauge bronze strings (.013-.057). The guitar will accommodate lighter or heavier gauge strings, according to preference. String action is set at 5/64" to 6/64" at the 12th fret, with moderate relief for acoustic playing with medium strings.
Epi' Stathopoulos vision of the future of music and guitar, as well as the importance of his work could be seen by, and in, those who chose to play an Epiphone. Musicians who themselves were visionaries. George Van Epps, Harry Volpe, Howard Roberts, Joe Pass and other Jazz players would make music history with an Epiphone guitar, as would Blues legend, John Lee Hooker.
Joe Pass - A year later in 1944 Pass's parents sent him to New York to study with the highly respected studio guitar player Harry Volpe. When Volpe realized that Pass improvised better than he did, he focused on teaching Pass to sight read music. Pass became frustrated with his lessons and returned to Johnstown — though not for long. When his father became ill, he dropped out of the tenth grade and moved to New York. |
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Django
with Harry Volpe
Artie
Narvaez of the Artie Shaw Band loaned this 1939 Gretsch Synchromatic 400
(opposite) to Django Reinhardt to record guitar duets with Harry Volpe in 1946.
Django also used this instrument to prepare for his American concert tour with
the Duke Ellington Orchestra. This is the first year of issue of the
Synchromatic 400 which was discontinued during the Second World War due to
restrictions on material.
Gretsch
