caption death_date years_active birth_place label name background birth_date instrument image article_title birth_name occupation
kaufman circa 1919 3 january 1976 1914 -- 1949 syracuse , new york united states victor columbia edison gennett aeolian banner oriole vocalion irving kaufman solo_singer 8 february 1890 vocals irving_kaufman_singer_crop . jpg irving kaufman -lrb- singer -rrb-
 isidore kaufman singer
irving kaufman -lrb- singer -rrb-

irving kaufman born isidore kaufman syracuse , new york -lrb- february 8 , 1890 -- january 3 , 1976 -rrb- was a prolific early twentieth century singer , recording artist and vaudeville performer .
the son of russian jewish immigrants , he was a member of `` the kaufman brothers '' , along with his brothers phillip and jack .
kaufman began recording in 1914 , and recorded for victor , columbia , vocalion , gennett , edison , harmony , as well as all of the dime labels -lrb- banner , perfect , etc. -rrb- .
early in his career , when recording for edison and rca victor , he recorded under his own name , but he also used a number of -lrb- non-jewish-sounding -rrb- aliases .
sometimes , as in the case of several of his 1927 `` broadway bell-hops '' vocals , he was merely credited as `` vocal chorus '' .
he was often credited as `` vocal refrain by george beaver '' on the dime store labels .
kaufman was a singer in the vaudeville style ; certainly not considered a jazz singer , he nonetheless sang on recordings accompanied by some of the foremost jazz figures of the 1920s , including leon `` bix '' beiderbecke , frank trumbauer , the dorsey brothers , red nichols , miff mole , and eddie lang .
-lrb- his voice recorded well - both acoustically and electrically - and was one of the most prolific singers during the 1920s . -rrb-
kaufman retired after a heart attack in 1949 , and made no further commercial recordings until 1974 , when a 2-lp set titled `` reminisce with irving kaufman '' was released .
it consisted mostly of transcriptions of his old recordings , but included several new cuts of kaufman singing , accompanied by his second wife , belle brooks -lrb- 1904 -- 93 -rrb- .
upon retirement he lived in palm springs , california .
he died january 3 , 1976 in indio , california .
