Paul Specht - Dearest-You Are The Nearest To My Heart

Paul Specht (1895-1954) was an American dance bandleader popular in the 1920s. He was a violinist, having been taught by his father Charles G. Specht, a violinist, organist, and bandleader in his own right. He attended Combs Conservatory in Philadelphia, and led his first band in 1916, which toured the Western United States during World War I. He signed with Columbia Records in 1922, playing both with a larger dance ensemble and with a smaller, more jazz-oriented unit called The Georgians. He toured England several times, beginning in 1922, and set up a "School for Jazz Musicians" there in 1924. He did not return to England after 1926. He continued to be popular into the 1930s, and led bands into the 1940s, during which time he developed arthritis which hampered his musical abilities.[4] He lived in Greenwich Village late in his life and did arranging work for radio and television. He died in 1954 at the age of 59 in New York City. A number of noted jazz and popular musicians played in Specht's ensembles, including Hank D'Amico, Russ Morgan, Sylvester Ahola, Arthur Schutt, Art Christmas and Chauncey Morehouse. This very fine record was made in 1923.