George Stoll was a musical director, conductor, composer and jazz violoinist.
George Stoll (May 7th, 1905 – Jan 18th, 1985)Born George Martin Stoll, he was also later credited as George E Stoll, sometimes without the middle initial.
Violin prodigy Stoll made his musical debut as a boy violin prodigy, gaining nationwide attention fame. He toured North America as a jazz violinist on the Fanchon and Marco circuit and was part of the Jazzmania Quintet, appearing with Edythe Flynn in an early 1927 sound short. In San Diego he bacame an orchestra and trio leader and started to feature with Jack Oakie on radio programs, such as Camel Cigarette and NBC’s Shell Oik Program. In 1934 Bing Crosby selected Stoll as his musical director for the second series of the CBS Woodbury radio programs. For Decca, George Stoll and His Orchestra accompanied Crosby and Louis Armstrong in the successful 1936 recordings of ‘Pennies from Heaven’. Stoll and his orchestra appeared on screen the same year in MGM’s ‘Swing Banditry’.
For more information check out the The Vitaphone Project.
Also, here is a wonderful interview with Roy Hutchinson, one of the founding members of the Vitaphone Project.
