Dick Long’s Nankin Café Orchestra – If You Don’t Tell Me (How Am I “Gonna” Know) Fox-Trot (Tobias – Henderson) Victor 1924 (USA)
NOTE: Nankin Café – a restaurant with Chinese and American food – was founded by Walter James in Minneapolis in 1919 at 14 S. 7th St. In its early years, the restaurant had a dance floor and the music of the Minneapolis band: the Dick Long;s Nankin Café Orchestra. Nankin Café was a fixture of Downtown Minneapolis dining until it was sold in the 1950s and was moved to 15 S. 7th St.. That was the time when one could get Lobster Chop Suey for $1.50 or veal chops for $.65. Shrimp fried rice for $.50 or a tenderloin steak sandwich with potatoes for $.65. Cocktails were just $.25 and a chocolate sundae $.15. In 1981 the Nankin Café moved again to City Center to survive until 1999, when it was closed.
The “novelty fox-trot” played by Dick Long’s band is delicately arranged, with distant oriental motifs, which accurately remind of the place where the band performed. Unfortunately, I did not find any more info about later fate of that unusual dance orchestra of the Jazz Age in the Mid-Western area.
Ещё видео!