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Carl Kress

{{short description|American jazz guitarist (1907–1965)}}

{{about|the guitarist|the film editor|Carl Kress (film editor)}}

{{Infobox musical artist

| name = Carl Kress

| image = Carl Kress, June 1947 (Gottlieb 13331).jpg

| caption = Carl Kress, c. June 1947

| birth_date = {{Birth date|1907|10|20}}

| birth_place = Newark, New Jersey, U.S.

| death_date = {{Death date|1965|6|10}}

| death_place = Reno, Nevada, U.S.

| genre = Jazz

| occupation = Musician

| instrument = Guitar

| years_active = 1926–1965

| past_member_of = The Paul Whiteman Orchestra

}}

Carl Kress (October 20, 1907 – June 10, 1965){{cite book|title=The Guinness Encyclopedia of Popular Music|editor=Colin Larkin|publisher=Guinness Publishing|date=1992|edition=First|isbn=0-85112-939-0|page=1406}} was an American jazz guitarist.

Music career

Kress started on piano before picking up the banjo. Beginning in 1926, he played guitar during his brief period in Paul Whiteman's orchestra. For most of his career, he was a studio musician and sideman buried in large orchestras, and his name was little known. His work in the 1920s and 1930s included sessions with The Boswell Sisters, The Dorsey Brothers, Bix Beiderbecke, Hoagy Carmichael, Miff Mole, Red Nichols, Adrian Rollini, and Frankie Trumbauer.{{cite book|last1=Yanow|first1=Scott|title=The Great Jazz Guitarists |date=2013 | publisher=Backbeat| location=San Francisco | isbn=978-1-61713-023-6|pages=113–114}}

Outside of orchestras, Kress played in several guitar duets with Eddie Lang (1932), Dick McDonough (1934, 1937), Tony Mottola (1941), and George Barnes (1961–1965). In 1938 and 1939, he made some solo recordings, the songs "Peg Leg Shuffle", "Helena", "Love Song", "Sutton Mutton", and "Afterthoughts". During the 1940s, he played Dixieland jazz with Bobby Hackett, Pee Wee Russell, and Muggsy Spanier.

Kress was married to Helen Carroll, a native of Bloomington, Indiana, who moved to New York City to become a singer. She was a member of the Satisfiers and sang with Perry Como, Frank Sinatra, and Jo Stafford. Carl and Helen Kress lived in Manhasset, New York.{{cite web|title=Helen Kress|url=http://www.seacoastonline.com/article/20110306/PUBLICRECORDS04/103060331|website=Seacoast Online|access-date=9 August 2017|language=en|date=6 March 2011}} Carl Kress died of a heart attack in 1965 while he was on tour with George Barnes (musician) in Reno, Nevada.

Technique

Like many early jazz guitarists, Kress played banjo before switching to guitar. The tenor banjo tunes its consecutive strings in intervals of fifths,

: C-G-D-A,

and Kress adapted this all-fifths tuning for his guitar

: B{{music|flat}}-F-C-G-D-A,{{harvtxt|Lucas|Obrecht|1996|p=12}}:

{{cite book|last1=Lucas|first1=Nick|last2=Obrecht|first2=Jas|editor1-last=Sallis|editor1-first=James|title=The Guitar in Jazz: An Anthology|date=1996|publisher=University of Nebraska Press|location=Lincoln, Nebraska|isbn=978-0-8032-4250-0|pages=12–19|chapter=Nick Lucas}}{{harvtxt|Lieberson|1996|p=47}}:

{{cite book|last1=Lieberson|first1=Richard|editor1-last=Sallis|editor1-first=James|title=The Guitar in Jazz: An Anthology|date=1996|publisher=University of Nebraska Press|location=Lincoln, Nebraska|isbn=978-0-8032-4250-0|pages=45–53|chapter=The jazz guitar duet: A fifty year history}}{{harvtxt|Lieberson|1996a|page=92}}:

{{cite book|last1=Lieberson|first1=Richard|editor1-last=Sallis|editor1-first=James|title=The Guitar in Jazz: An Anthology|date=1996a|publisher=University of Nebraska Press|location=Lincoln, Nebraska|isbn=978-0-8032-4250-0|pages=89–112|chapter=Swing Guitar: The Acoustic Chordal Style}}

although he down-tuned the A-string an octave.

Before switching to fifths tuning, Kress used other tunings on the banjo and tenor guitar. His fifths-tuning gave Kress's playing "fuller chords and basslines", according to Richard Lieberson.{{harvtxt|Lieberson|1996|p=42}} When Kress's duets with Dick McDonough were published, they were transposed from his fifths tuning to standard tuning.{{harvtxt|Lieberson|1996|p=46}}

All-fifths tuning is used by other instruments besides tenor banjos. For example, it is used by mandolins, violins, mandolas, violas, mandocellos, and cellos.{{cite book |chapter = Regular Tunings |title=Alternate Tuning Guide |first=Bill |last=Sethares |authorlink=William Sethares |year=2001 |pages=52–67 |url=http://sethares.engr.wisc.edu/alternatetunings/regulartunings.pdf |format=.pdf|publisher=University of Wisconsin Department of Electrical Engineering|location=Madison, Wisconsin|access-date=19 May 2012}}

Discography

=As leader=

  • 1934-37 - The Guitar Genius of Dick McDonough & Carl Kress in the Thirties (Jazz Archives, 1976)
  • 1934-37 - Pioneers of the Jazz Guitar (Yazoo, 1992) (Karl Cress only in four tracks)
  • 1939.02 - Original Guitar Solos (Decca, 1940)
  • 1941 - Fun on the Frets (Yazoo, ?) w Tony Mottola - Transcriptions
  • 1961 - Guitar Galaxies (Mercury, 1962) (under George Barnes name)
  • 1962 - Something Tender with George Barnes (United Artists, 1963)
  • 1962 - Two Guitars Volume 1 with George Barnes (Stash, 1983)
  • 1962 - Two Guitars and a Horn Volume II (Stash, 1983) with George Barnes under Bud Freeman name
  • 1963.04 - Town Hall Concert with George Barnes (United Artists, 1963)
  • 196?- Guitars, Anyone? Why Not Start at the Top? with George Barnes (Carney, 1963)

=As sideman=

References

{{Reflist}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kress, Carl}}

Category:1907 births

Category:1965 deaths

Category:Jazz musicians from Newark, New Jersey

Category:Guitarists from New Jersey

Category:American jazz guitarists

Category:Inventors of musical tunings

Category:20th-century American guitarists

Category:The Dorsey Brothers members