b. Asa Yoelson, 26 May 1886, Srednick, Lithuania (his exact date of birth is uncertain), d. 23 October 1950, San Francisco, California, USA. Shortly before the turn of the century, Jolson's father, Moses Yoelson, emigrated to the USA. In a few years he was able to send for his wife and four children, who joined him in Washington DC. Moses Yoelson was cantor at a synagogue and had hopes that his youngest son, Asa, would adopt this profession. After the death of their mother, the two sons, Asa and Hirsch, occasionally sang on street corners for pennies. Following the example of his brother, who had changed his name to Harry, Asa became Al. When family disagreements arose after his father remarried, Al went to New York where his brother had gone to try his luck in showbusiness. For food-money, he sang at McGirk's, a saloon/restaurant in New York's Bowery and later sang with military bands during the time of the Spanish-American War. Back in Washington, he attracted attention when, as a member of the audience at the city's Bijou Theater, he joined in the singing with entertainer Eddie Leonard. The vaudevillian was so impressed he offered the boy a job, singing from the balcony as part of the act. Al refused but ran away to join a theatrical troupe. This venture was short-lived and a week or so later he was back home but had again altered the spelling of his name, this time to Al Joelson. In the audience, again at the Bijou, he sang during the stage act of burlesque queen Aggie Beller. Once more he was made an offer and this time he did not refuse. This job was also brief, because he was not content to merely sing from the balcony and Beller would not allow him to join her on the stage.

Listen to AL JOLSON at Finetune.

• (2005)  Let Me Sing And I'm Happy: Al Jolson At Warner Bros. 1926-1936
• (2001)  20th Century Masters The Millennium Collection: Best of Al Jolson
• (1995)  The Jolson Story - Rock-A-Bye Your Baby
• (1995)  Rainbow 'Round My Shoulder
• (1920)  You Ain'T Heard Nothin' Yet: Jolie'S Finest Columbia Recordings

• Swanee
• Rock-A-Bye Your Baby With A Dixie Melody
• April Showers
• You Made Me Love You (I Didn't Want To Do It)
• I'm Sitting On Top Of The World (from the film soundtrack 'The Singing Fool', 1928)

• Scott Joplin
• Frank Sinatra
• Bing Crosby
• Butch Thompson
• Morten Gunnar Larsen
• Dean Martin
• David Laibman
• Gunther Schuller
• Ralph Press
• Roy Eaton
• Fats Waller and His Rhythm
• Jelly Roll Morton
• Red Wing Blackbirds Ragtime Jazz Band
• The Beau Hunks
• the ragwagon band
• B.B. King
• Art Tatum
• Greg Howe
• The Four Blackbirds
• Maurice Chevalier

• VogonPoet
• fiveherb
• Anne_Arbor_Day
• eddielin11
• stuartek
• lgvhnI5s
• mellypup
• onetwo
• EddieIII
• ELMAN

• lgvhnI5s on 2009-10-08 07:54:23.057:
  One of the great old-timers.