Dick McDonough

Dick McDonough
Background information
Birth name	Richard Tobin McDonough
Born	(1904-07-30)July 30, 1904 New York, New York, U.S.
Died	(1938-05-25)May 25, 1938 New York, New York, U.S.
Genres	Jazz
Occupation(s)	Musician
Instrument(s)	Guitar, tenor banjo
Years active	1921–1938

Richard Tobin McDonough (July 30, 1904 – May 25, 1938) was an American jazz guitarist and banjoist. Perhaps best remembered for his duets with fellow guitarist Carl Kress, McDonough appeared on numerous record sessions and radio broadcasts throughout the 1920s and 1930s.

McDonough began playing banjo and mandolin in high school. An athlete, he initially played left-handed because, according to McDonough, that was how he held his hockey stick. At Georgetown University, he performed professionally at weekend dances and two years later started a band. He attended Columbia Law School after college and while there played with bands in New York City. McDonough played with Red Nichols in 1927 as a banjoist,^[1] and soon after played with Paul Whiteman. He began studying the guitar and eventually was in demand for session work, recording with The Dorsey Brothers, Red Nichols, and Miff Mole.^[1] In the 1930s, he performed in a duo with jazz guitarist Carl Kress and cut several sessions with an orchestra under his own name, in addition to backing many other recording artists.^[2]

Other credits include session work with

McDonough struggled with alcohol abuse during his adult life and died, aged 34, of pneumonia in May 1938 at the LeRoy Sanitarium after an operation.^[1] He was survived by his widow, Dorothy Wiggman.^[4]

Discography

• Dick McDonough and His Orchestra Vol. 1 (Swing Time)
• Dick McDonough and His Orchestra Vol. 2 (Swing Time)
• The Guitar Genius of Dick McDonough and Carl Kress in the Thirties (Jazz Archives, 1976)
• Pioneers of Jazz Guitar (Retrieval, 1997)

References