Will Osborne & His Orch. with Morton Downey, Annette Hanshaw & Singin' Sam - Say It Isn't So, 1932

Will Osborne singing with His Orchestra and with Morton Downey, Annette Hanshaw, Singin’ Sam – Say It Isn’t So, Perfect 1932 (USA)

NOTE: Will OSBORNE (b. 1905 as William Osborne Oliphant in Toronto, Canada – d. 1981 in Santa Monica, CA) - Canadian-born American bandleader, trombonist and crooner. He began his musical career playing in local dance bands as a multi-instrumentalist (drums and cornet, trumpet, slide trombone). In 1924 Osborne formed his own dance orchestra, but had to wait until April 1929 to rise in popularity, when Rudy Vallee, who was then busy in Hollywood filming The Vagabond Lover, invited Osborne to take over Villa Valee, where Vallee's band was performing, and also convinced the radio station to broadcast Osborne's band (Osborne's phrasing reflected Rudy Vallée's crooning vocal style). However, Osborne publicly stated that actually it's "Rudy Vallee who is his imitator," which started a publicity "war" between the two rivals. When the Depression hit in 1929 and public demand grew for crooners such as Rudy Vallee and Will Osborne, followed by Bing Crosby and Russ Columbo (a style of dance music that encouraged romance, sentiment and escape) Osborne formed a new band that thoroughly filled all these needs. In later years, his orchestra appeared in several films, including 1946's Swing Parade and the Abbott & Castello Show. He retired in 1957 and took up the entertainment business in Lake Tahoe, Nevada.

For this recording, which the label calls "Featuring 7 Great Artists," Will Osborne invited as many as 4 famous singers: Morton Downey, Annette Hanshaw, Singin' Sam and himself in the dual role of vocalist and bandleader. However, that makes 4 performers, not seven. Where are the other 3 „great artists”? Perhaps it's also about composer Irving Berlin? That makes 5 and still missing 2. Or should we add two prominent members of the orchestra? Maybe You Tubers can help count it up...