Dick McDonough was born July 30, 1904, in New York City. He began playing banjo and mandolin as a teenager in high school. His first performed music professionally when he was attending Georgetown University, playing on weekends and leading a band. During that period he developed his own style before he ever heard Eddie Lang.
McDonough made his recording debut in August 1925 as a banjoist with Ross Gorman’s Earl Carroll Orchestra, an organization that included cornetist Red Nichols and trombonist Miff Mole. As electrical recording became prominent, McDonough began doubling on guitar which, by 1927, became his main instrument. Like Lang, McDonough was skilled at advanced rhythm accompaniment and playing hot single-string lines while soloing.
During the next decade, there was plenty of recording and radio work for the guitarist. While Eddie Lang was better known, McDonough was just as busy. Among the groups that he recorded with during 1927-33 were various combos organized by Red Nichols plus bands headed by Miff Mole, Jimmy Lytell, Don Voorhees, Ben Selvin, Jack Pettis, Fred Rich, Jack Purvis, Benny Goodman, Victor Young, the Dorsey Brothers, Adrian Rollini, and Joe Venuti.
From 1934 to 1937, Dick McDonough recorded with Mildred Bailey, Johnny Mercer, Cliff Edwards, Gene Gifford, Billie Holiday, Red McKenzie, and Glenn Miller. His most notable jazz session as a sideman during this period was with an all-star quintet simply titled “Jam Session At Victor.” McDonough held his own with Bunny Berigan, Tommy Dorsey, Fats Waller, and drummer George Wettling during those joyous performances and took fine solos.
Dick McDonough, who had recorded an unaccompanied “Honeysuckle Rose” in 1934, during 1936-37 led no less than a dozen sessions as the head of medium-sized groups with such sidemen as Bunny Berigan, Babe Russin, Jack Jenney, Claude Thornhill, and Artie Shaw occasionally in the supporting cast. The guitarist only took a few solos on these recordings, and the music straddled the boundary between dance music and jazz.
Dick McDonough, whose health declined during his final year due to long-term alcohol abuse, collapsed while working in the NBC studios on May 25, 1938, succumbing to pneumonia. He was just 33. – Adapted from a profile by Scott Yanow
