The Georgians

The Virginians, drawn from the Paul Whiteman Orchestra, became the first small ensemble to emerge from a larger band and operate on its own during the opening years of the 1920s. The Georgians followed as the next such unit, assembled from musicians belonging to Paul Specht’s commercial orchestra. Stationed at the Hotel Alamac, the group took over the Congo Room each evening once the primary ballroom engagement ended, supplying music for dancers in the hotel’s nightclub. This seven-piece outfit featured the expressive and flexible trumpet work of Frank Guarente, inventive and rhythmically buoyant charts from pianist Arthur Schutt, two skilled reed players within a four-horn front line that briefly counted trombonist Russ Morgan among its members, and the expert drumming of Chauncey Morehouse. Beginning in December 1922 the Georgians cut a distinguished run of recordings that continued through 1924, the initial twenty-four sides later appearing on a Retrieval compact disc. The ensemble enjoyed strong success during its 1923 visit to England alongside Specht. After the original group disbanded in 1924, Guarente formed a New Georgians band that traveled across Europe until 1927 and entered six selections under his own name in 1926. Between 1924 and 1929 the Georgians name was applied in the United States to several unrelated studio ensembles, among them a pair of 1925 titles that included Red Nichols. In the following decade British trumpeter Nat Gonella revived the Georgians name, capitalizing on the success of his own recording of “Georgia on My Mind.”