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Tal Henry Musical artist

Tal Henry(July 10, 1898 – August 17, 1967) was an American orchestra director in the swing and big band eras.Henry was born Talmadge Allen Henry in Maysville, Georgia. At the age of 7, he started playing the violin. He left Maysville in 1914 to attend Shenandoah Conservatory of Music located in Dayton, Virginia. The school moved to Winchester, Virginia and has become a University. After his education there, Henry went to Elon College, near Burlington, North Carolina, where he taught violin.In early 1919, he began playing with the Frank Hood band and made his home in Greensboro, North Carolina. In 1924 Tal Henry took over the band and formed the Tal Henry and His North Carolinians Orchestra where he played in the O’Henry Hotel in Greensboro. The orchestra moved north to Washington, Pennsylvania playing the dances and events at the Washington Hotel. The orchestra had a contract to perform at the formal opening of the Hotel Charlotte when the hotel opened in 1924. The orchestra moved on to the Mound Club in St. Louis, Missouri where he signed with William Foor-Robinson Orchestra Corporation of America. The Tal Henry orchestra went on to Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. Ed Fishman introduced Bob Hope and George Burns to Tal Henry and His North Carolinians and booked them into the Stanley in Pittsburgh. They traveled vaudeville for sixteen weeks, going from town to town playing wherever the act could find work.Tal Henry signed with the Orchestra Corporation of America, and so the orchestra was under contract with the Hotel New Yorker, Peabody Hotel in Memphis, Tenn., and the Baker Hotels all in the cities of the state of Texas. There was always a place for the orchestra in New York City. The Dorsey Brothers, Tommy and Jimmy, practiced with the orchestra when they were in the city. By the middle of the 1920s, the orchestra was nationally known as a famous band with the Victor Records, Bluebird and Sunrise records. In 1928, the orchestra produced two Warner Bros. and Victor Record Company's Vitaphone films. These Vitaphone shorts were used in theatres, radio, photoplay theatres, Loew’s Palace and other standard movie theatres. Vitaphone was the first sound film technology to gain widespread acceptance in the early Swing Era offering audiences the closest approximation possible to a live performance. The orchestra played many of the movie theatres in the orchestra pit, on stage, in hotel ballrooms, and any other venues where the orchestra performed.The orchestra became so famous nationally, and were so busy with contracts afforded by the Orchestra Corporation of America that Charles Miller of Music Corporation of America, wrote to Tal at the Peabody Hotel in Memphis, telling him how extremely surprised he was to receive a letter advising the MCOA that Tal was not interested changing his booking arrangement at that time. The letter from Miller stated that Tal should change his mind; they would like very much to talk to him and make the change.Tal Henry and His Orchestra was billed at the Hershey Park Hotel, on the advertisement,dated Wednesday May 25, 1932, with admission 50 cents. They were also billed Saturday May 21, 1932 "Harlem's Aristocrat of Jazz" with Duke Ellington, followed on May 28, 1932 Vincent Lopez would be at the same ballroom in the Hershey Park Hotel. Memorial Day on May 30, 1932, had Opie Cates and His Orchestra. Tal Henry recorded Victor Records, Bluebird and Sunrise recordings in New York City on May 6, 1926, Camden, New Jersey on April 25, 1928. New York City on May 22, 1928, New York City December 5, 1928 and New York City on February 7, 1934.Tal's photo was on the front of Max Hart Inc Magazine. He was presented as the Exclusive VICTOR Artists, Tal Henry and his North Carolinians Orchestra, claiming Tal Henry as "The Prince of Personality" with a great Orchestra from the Cotton Belt of North Carolina. He was also on the cover of Orchestra World Magazine and Billboard Magazine, February 3, 1934. He had become the “South’s Finest …One of American’s Best.” Miami News wrote that Tal Henry is "here at last" with his “knock-out” orchestra of Victor Recording Artists. “One of America’s greatest entertaining and novelty orchestras…A sensational hit” …. A orchestra that radiates enthusiasm, life and action….people recalled the nostalgic, favorite enchanting swing and big band music Tal Henry played for the patrons. Tal directed the orchestra with 11 talented musicians.The Tal Henry Orchestra accompanied many of the Major Bowes applicants trying out for the program on the network broadcasting on Sunday nights. The applicants were tabulated for votes and were thinned down to 15 or 20 in Major Bowes fashion. The chosen ones had to rehearse privately for the broadcast. The eleven piece band took on other musicians, making a total of fourteen sensational orchestra. They were at the Roseland-on-the-Merrimack where Tal Henry and his clever artists were one of the outstanding dance orchestras in America in 1931. They were known far and wide throughout daily radio broadcast over the networks of the National Broadcasting Company, featured particularly through Station WEAF in New York. In addition they won worldwide fame through their hundreds of Victor Red Seal records. He returned to the Hotel New Yorker after the Roseland booking. United Artists had the movie "Coquette" with Mary Pickford at Loew's Palace the week of April 15, 1929. Tal Henry was billed with Mary Pickford on stage with "Coquette." Thomas Meighan played with Mary Pickford in early movies with no sound. Tal Henry and his North Carolinians provided the musical accompaniment.Paul Whiteman came to Tal Henry's home on many occasions. Around the sametime, Jan Garber, a close friend of Tal's came to Greensboro, NC., where Tal drove him to Asheville, NC. There was a band from Canada that had a tax levy against the band. Jan took over the band, which was Jan Garber's second band.

Personal facts

Birth date	July 10, 1898
Date of death	August 17, 1967
Hometown	Maysville Georgia United States

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