Ray Starita and His Ambassadors Band - Blue River (1938)

Ray Starita and His Ambassadors Band recorded the song "Blue River" with Eddie Collins on vocals in London on April 5, 1938, for the Columbia label. The performers were Starita, who played clarinet and tenor sax and directed the band, Andy Richardson and Sylvester Ahola on trumpet, Bill Hall on trombone, Chester Smith on alto sax, Reg Pursglove on violin, Donald Thorne on piano, Jack Hill on guitar, Arthur Calkin on brass bass and Rudy Starita on drums and vibes.

Ray Starita was a British dance band leader and reed player who was born in Sicily and grew up in the United States. He performed in London from 1925 to 1932, then returned to the United States and operated an amusement park.

"Blue River" is a song first recorded in July 1927 by either the Original Dixie Rag Pickers or The Harmonizers. The music was written by Joseph Meyer and lyrics by Al Bryan. Meyer also wrote the songs "California, Here I Come" and "If You Knew Susie."

Add a Comment

All comments are moderated before publication. These HTML tags are permitted: <p>, <b>, <i>, <a>, and <blockquote>.