Sidney Eastwood Lane (b. Nov 22, 1879, Brewerton, NY; d. Jan 22, 1951, Central Square, NY), composer studied at Syracuse University but dropped out after three and a half years, preferring instead to concentrate on his own private piano studies. His first major work, In Sleepy Hollow, was published in 1913. Subsequent compositions included Five American Dances (19191), Adirondack Sketches (1922), The Blue-Robed Mandarins (1922), Sea Burial (1925), Persimmon Pucker (1926) and Fourth of July Suite (1935). Whiteman recorded Sea Burial, arranged by Ferde Grofe, in 1928, and he remains the only orchestra leader to have recorded any of Lanes works. Whiteman also played Grofes arrangements of Persimmon Pucker amd A Minuet for Betty Schuyler on his 1924-25 concert tour. Though largely unrecognized, Lane was a gifted and original composer who greatly influenced key musical figures such as Bix Beiderbecke."
"Bix was first exposed to Eastwood Lane in 1923, when Bix took piano lessons from Priscilla Holbrock of Hamilton, Ohio. Later he coaxed jazz pianist-composer Dud Mecum into playing Lane's somewhat daunting modernist pieces for him, and eventually developed a friendship with Lane himself and delighted in listening for hours to Lane's playing of his own music. When Beiderbecke developed his own moody piano style, it was based on unfettered 1920s jazz and a subtle, introverted impressionism much like Lane's. His favorite Lane work was Land of the Loon, a quiet, haunting picture of solitude in nature. Bix's four late-1920s piano compositions, In a Mist, Candlelights, Flashes and In the Dark, were noodled out at the keyboard while one of Whiteman's resident arranging geniuses, "Bill Challis." carefully transcribed them. They are all titled after visual experiences, "states of light and sight," and evoke ambiguous feelings in more than their titles. They are twilit compositions, in which quiet dimness, a persistent crepuscular indistinctness, is pierced by rays of light, an alternation of lyrical calm with pure jazz energy."
Listen to the tune Eastwood Lane written by Dave Frishberg (who wrote Dear Bix) and trombonist Don Barrett.
Get a load of the introduction to the recording (and also at the end), the interlude of In A Mist. The youtube video mentions John Pizzarelli. Speaking of Pizzarelli, Bill Challis was arranging Lane's Adirondack Sketches for five guitars, but as Bill was losing his sight, he could not finish it. Bucky Pizzarelli recorded Bix's piano compositions arranged for five guitars by Bill Challis.
On June 21, 1926, the Trumbauer orchestra had a broadcast over WSBT, South Bend, IN. The band played a three-part program. In the second part, Bix played The Legend of Lonesome Lake from Lane's Adirondack Sketches. Did someone (Dud Mecum? Priscilla Holbrock? ) play Lane's composition for Bix and he memorized it (and if Mecum or Holbrock, remembered it three years later), or was Bix able to read the sheet music, slowly, but well enough to learn the piece or at least refresh his memory?
And if you have not done so already, don't fail to hear and watch the excellent videos by forumite Lisa with background music by Eastwood Lane,