"Dan Ritchie & His Orchestra" [Will Osborne] - Whistle And Blow Your Blues Away (1932)
Channel: C Porter
Date: 08/05/2022

A rarely known about occurrence that started in the early days of Will's playing over the ARC was Dick Robertson coming into the record vocals on another take with the band on a March 24th session in 1932. A more than familiar situation for Robertson--as he did this for quite possibly every recording dance-band of prominence in those years at one point or another--but for Will, this would likely be unfamiliar at the very least, if not done begrudgingly. Aside from one Melotone exclusive release in Spanish countries and Hispanic speaking markets that previous June which featured a vocalist still unknown to this day on "Without That Gal!" (MS-16064. 6/09/'31), this was a new experience for Will. It didn't last too long either, likely as the ARC quickly realized that Osborne's orchestra had it's own established musical style and sound, and that studio vocalists didn't work. Either that or because those records just plain didn't sell well, even though the industry was in the biggest slump to date. 

What doesn't help is the implementation of the ARC's still confusing pseudonym method, which instead of crediting one band under a fictional name, would instead credit them usually as another ARC artist completely unrelated to that recording. Same thing happened with the vocalist names too. One of these early examples for Osborne and Robertson is seen here as Dan Ritchie. Others included Bob Causer, a legitimate pseudonym of: "Majestic Dance Orchestra", Ron Aldridge & His Reno Boys, and later on a foreign Decca release, "The Rhythm Maniacs" as another legitimate pseudonym.

Audio taken from archive.org. Uploader jakej, 

Listen to the ever-growing Will Osborne Audible Discography Project: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL5I_eUpXmCpUb1uzHIseeuLnUGbq4Amut

The flipside is called Tell Me While We're Dancing, also appearing with Robertson, also separately Osborne. Audio/video of either has yet to be put online. So instead here's something from an August session, months later:  https://youtu.be/jVjzENMeL5Y