1930s & 40s recordings featuring Letritia Kandle found

About Steel Guitarists and their Music

Moderator: Shoshanah Marohn

Post Reply
User avatar
John Norris
Posts: 139
Joined: 27 Jul 2005 12:01 am
Location: Peterson Strobe Tuners, Illinois, USA
Contact:

1930s & 40s recordings featuring Letritia Kandle found

Post by John Norris »

Some rare recordings have come to light since Letritia's passing.

Image


The Kohala Girls circa 1934 featuring Letritia Kandle on National Tricone Resophonic

Image

The Kohala Girls play "Mother's Lullaby" - with Vocal
http://76.12.147.135/audio/Track04.mp3

The Kohala Girls play "Chile Blues" - Instrumental
http://76.12.147.135/audio/Track05.mp3

Letritia Kandle on steel guitar - possibly with the Chicago Plectrophonic Orchestra from the 1940s

Image

Letritia Kandle Plectrophonic 1
http://76.12.147.135/audio/Track06.mp3

Letritia Kandle Plectrophonic 2
http://76.12.147.135/audio/Track07.mp3

Letritia Kandle recordings on National Grand Letar - Paul Whiteman Orchestra radio broadcast interludes - Drake Hotel, Chicago, 1937

Image

http://76.12.147.135/audio/Track08.mp3

http://76.12.147.135/audio/Track09.mp3

http://76.12.147.135/audio/Track10.mp3

http://76.12.147.135/audio/Track11.mp3

http://76.12.147.135/audio/Track12.mp3

http://76.12.147.135/audio/Track13.mp3

http://76.12.147.135/audio/Track14.mp3

http://76.12.147.135/audio/Track15.mp3

http://76.12.147.135/audio/Track16.mp3

Image

Read the story of the 2008 restoration of Letritia's Grand Letar in this earlier post:

http://bb.steelguitarforum.com/viewtopic.php?t=120173

Image

Enjoy!

John Norris
Last edited by John Norris on 12 Aug 2010 2:40 pm, edited 2 times in total.
John Norris
Peterson Strobe Tuners
- Celebrating 75 Years of Tuning Products in 2023!
Paul Warnik
Posts: 1845
Joined: 1 Mar 2001 1:01 am
Location: Illinois,USA

Post by Paul Warnik »

Hello forum friends-
Many have asked in the past few years if any recordings of Letrita existed? In the days following her passing, Her son discovered several old 78 RPM transcription discs with some rare vintage performances, recorded in the mid-1930s thru the early 1940s.
Links to which are provided above.
I'm sure that Letritia would be overjoyed to know that the steel guitar community is now able to hear recordings of her work from long ago.
Enjoy!
PW
Last edited by Paul Warnik on 12 Aug 2010 2:25 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Ron Randall
Posts: 2179
Joined: 13 Jan 2002 1:01 am
Location: Dallas, Texas, USA

Post by Ron Randall »

Paul

WOW
Thanks for sharing

Ron
Billy Tonnesen
Posts: 1882
Joined: 2 Oct 2006 12:01 am
Location: R.I.P., Buena Park, California
Contact:

Post by Billy Tonnesen »

For anyone interested, the "Talking Steel Guitar" was invented and used by Alvino Rey in his big Pop Band back in the 30's. Google Alvino Rey and you can see old movies of Alvino and the Talking Guitar.
User avatar
Blake Hawkins
Posts: 1844
Joined: 4 Aug 1998 11:00 pm
Location: Florida

Post by Blake Hawkins »

Paul and John, Thanks very much for all the great work and dedication you have done to preserve
the life work of this great lady and musician.
Those tracks are priceless.
Maybe she also influenced Alvino Rey?
Blake
User avatar
Earnest Bovine
Posts: 8318
Joined: 4 Aug 1998 11:00 pm
Location: Los Angeles CA USA

Post by Earnest Bovine »

Farewell Blues has all of Alvino Rey's tricks in it, including pedals, and talking guitar.. then the announcer says "Thank you Alvino Rey" so I don't think that is Letricia. (...same on Stormy Weather)
Paul Warnik
Posts: 1845
Joined: 1 Mar 2001 1:01 am
Location: Illinois,USA

Post by Paul Warnik »

An error was made and it was detected by Earnest B., apparently the recordings with the Navy Pier Dance Band were performed with Alvino Rey and have been removed so as not to appear as Letritia Kandle's work.
Letritia told me that she played many concerts in aid of the War Bond effort, these shows were also broadcast on the radio. Undoubtedly Alvino Rey also played for the War Bond effort.
Her son mentioned something about one disc without a label or having an illegible label. I will notify her son Bill of the mistake.
PW
Ron Whitfield
Posts: 6895
Joined: 15 Nov 2002 1:01 am
Location: Kaaawa, Hawaii, USA
Contact:

Post by Ron Whitfield »

Thanx for posting the Kandel recordings, that puts the cherry on top of her incredible story.

Paul, for those of us that missed and would like to also hear the rare Rey recordings, could you post them on a separate thread, please?
User avatar
basilh
Posts: 7694
Joined: 26 May 1999 12:01 am
Location: United Kingdom
Contact:

Post by basilh »

I wish to find out did Letritia play on the Paul Whiteman LP on the Grand Award Label "Hawaiian Magic" 1956
There were 2 Versions, original GA 33-208.... 33-356 (Had 2 extra tracks) is it Letritia Kandle
User avatar
John Norris
Posts: 139
Joined: 27 Jul 2005 12:01 am
Location: Peterson Strobe Tuners, Illinois, USA
Contact:

Post by John Norris »

Hi Basil,
According to Paul Warnik, who spoke to Letritia extensively about her career, by 1954 she had left the music business, so its unlikely that she was on the record you mention unless the recording session took place a year or two before the release.

John Norris
John Norris
Peterson Strobe Tuners
- Celebrating 75 Years of Tuning Products in 2023!
User avatar
Jeff Mead
Posts: 1708
Joined: 15 Jun 2006 12:01 am
Location: London, England

Post by Jeff Mead »

Did anyone save these MP3s as they are no longer available via the links in the first post and I'd love to hear them?
User avatar
Jay Fagerlie
Posts: 1637
Joined: 14 Nov 2003 1:01 am
Location: Lotus, California, USA
Contact:

Post by Jay Fagerlie »

Hi Jeff
By luck I did save them-

Try this:

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/c1yu04strn7su0k/ZnuX2bbIci?m


I will leave it up for a while to give everyone a chance to download them.

Jay
User avatar
Aaron Jennings
Posts: 247
Joined: 6 Sep 2012 9:45 pm
Location: Montana, USA

Post by Aaron Jennings »

Jay,

Thanks for posting this, I had almost given up hope on hearing these. Let us know when you take them out of dropbox, and I'll make them available elsewhere.

I've been looking forward to this for awhile!
User avatar
Jay Fagerlie
Posts: 1637
Joined: 14 Nov 2003 1:01 am
Location: Lotus, California, USA
Contact:

Post by Jay Fagerlie »

I'll leave them up for a while-
Anthony Lis
Posts: 66
Joined: 29 Jan 2013 5:50 pm
Location: South Dakota, USA

Post by Anthony Lis »

Jay,

I'm glad you saved the Letretia Kandle files, and that they are still up as of June 11, 2020. I will look forward to listening to these.
Post Reply