Biography
Eddie Lang, born Salvatore Massaro, adopted the recording alias Blind Willie Dunn for sessions he contributed to as part of the Gin Bottle Four during 1928 and 1929. That ensemble, featuring blues guitarist Lonnie Johnson, cornetist King Oliver, and occasional percussion and vocals from Hoagy Carmichael, stood among the earliest interracial jazz groups to commit performances to disc.
Lang first employed the pseudonym during a 1928 date alongside pianist Frank Signorelli and chimes player Justin Ring; he returned to the Blind Willie Dunn name the next year to lay down tracks including “Blue Guitars,” “A Handful of Riffs,” “Midnight Call Blues,” “Jet Black Blues,” and “Hot Fingers.”
Those three Gin Bottle Four dates formed only a fraction of the South Philadelphia native’s short yet extraordinarily active career, during which he is believed to have collaborated with more than four hundred musicians. Lang died at thirty after a routine tonsillectomy led to fatal blood loss. Beyond his landmark recordings with childhood friend and jazz violinist Joe Venuti, he accepted nearly every invitation to play, appearing with both white artists such as Cliff “Ukulele Ike” Edwards, Ruth Etting, Paul Whiteman, Bix Beiderbecke, Benny Goodman, and Bing Crosby and Black musicians including Louis Armstrong, Bessie Smith, Clarence Williams, Victoria Spivey, and Ray Charles.
Lang first employed the pseudonym during a 1928 date alongside pianist Frank Signorelli and chimes player Justin Ring; he returned to the Blind Willie Dunn name the next year to lay down tracks including “Blue Guitars,” “A Handful of Riffs,” “Midnight Call Blues,” “Jet Black Blues,” and “Hot Fingers.”
Those three Gin Bottle Four dates formed only a fraction of the South Philadelphia native’s short yet extraordinarily active career, during which he is believed to have collaborated with more than four hundred musicians. Lang died at thirty after a routine tonsillectomy led to fatal blood loss. Beyond his landmark recordings with childhood friend and jazz violinist Joe Venuti, he accepted nearly every invitation to play, appearing with both white artists such as Cliff “Ukulele Ike” Edwards, Ruth Etting, Paul Whiteman, Bix Beiderbecke, Benny Goodman, and Bing Crosby and Black musicians including Louis Armstrong, Bessie Smith, Clarence Williams, Victoria Spivey, and Ray Charles.