* En anglais uniquement
One of the great guitarists of the 1930s,
Carl Kress had a very sophisticated chordal style on acoustic guitar. He originally played banjo before gradually shifting to guitar.
Kress played with
Paul Whiteman in 1926 and then became a very busy studio musician, recording with all of the top white musicians (including
Bix Beiderbecke, Red Nichols' Five Pennies, and two classic duets with
Eddie Lang) in those segregated days.
Kress often teamed up with fellow guitarist
Dick McDonough in the 1930s, he co-owned the Onyx Club on 52nd Street for a time, and continued working in the studios into the 1960s, playing during his last years in a duo with
George Barnes. Most of
Carl Kress' solo and duet (with
McDonough) recordings from the 1930s are long overdue to be reissued. ~ Scott Yanow