Carl Ravazza

Violinist Carl Ravazza got his start in the early 1930's as vocalist first with Anson Weeks and then with Tom Coakley, whose band he took over in 1936 when Coakley quit music in favour of practicing law. At this time, the 12-man ensemble was based in San Francisco and enjoyed long spells at the Sir Francis Drake. Female vocalist was Carole Landis who later became a noted but tragically short-lived actress. Personnel also included pianist Neil Bondshu (later a bandleader himself), trombonist Marshall Cram and singer Dawn Meredith. Like every band of the day, Ravazza had a theme song, in this case, Vieni Su, which he recorded under the Bluebird label in 1940. The Carl Ravazza Orchestra was always more of a 'society' or hotel band rather than a more jazz-oriented swinging outfit. Among its more famous regular pit stops were the Adolphus (Dallas), the Nicollet (Minneapolis), the Lexington (New York), the Aragon and Trianon (Chicago) and the Peabody (Memphis). When the big band era came to an end, Ravazza used his voice, his chief asset, to carve out a solo career singing at many of the country's top night spots. He retired from show business in 1960 and moved to Reno, Nevada, where he started a talent agency and died there in July 1968.