JOHN ROLAND REDD
aka JUAN ROLANDO
aka KORLA PANDIT
He was the first black man to star in his own television show.
Born: September 16, 1921, St. Louis, MO
Died: October 2, 1998 (age 77 years), Petaluma, CA
The musician who first passed for Mexican as JUAN ROLANDO and as Indian KORLA PANDIT to escape Jim Crow was known as The Godfather of the Exotica music genre.
Quote:
"Music may not save your soul, but it will cause your soul to be worth saving."
Documentary trailer:
https://youtu.be/wTGHjOKZdlA?si=3P-2ZIFHSvrQvhVz
“He was the first black man to star in his own television show (Ethel Waters preceded him by a decade). His narcotic Svengali persona formed an emotional intimacy with viewers where a Black man would have been beaten or jailed for the same.”
To keep his authenticity, he never spoke during his performances and used his hypnotic persona through his eyes to engage his audiences.
John Roland Redd September 16, 1921 in St. Louis, Missouri, born to Doshia O'Nina Johnson Redd (1885-1977) and Baptist Minister Rev. Ernest S. Redd (1883-1966).
"...One of seven children, young John displayed incredible musical abilities by the age of two. In 1937 he graduated from high school, and moved to Omaha. In 1938 he moved to Ottumwa, Iowa, and worked for the Central Broadcasting Company in Des Moines. By 1939 he was living in Los Angeles, CA with his sister Frances, wearing what would become his trademark turban, playing in clubs under the name "Juan Rolando".
He became known for playing both the organ and grand piano at the same time (the piano with his right hand and the organ with his left), and was first billed as "Juan Rolando, the One-Man Combo!" In 1941,Juan Rolando (nee John Roland Redd,) yet to become Korla Pandit, met and developed a life-long love affair with statuesque blonde Beryl June DeBeeson, a Disney artist, whom he would marry on July 21,1944, in Tijuana, Mexico (mixed marriages were not yet allowed in California). They remained married until his death in 1998.
Under Beryl's artistic direction, "Juan Rolando" became "Korla Pandit", and Korla Pandit in turn became the mysterious symbol for and creator of "Exotica", in 1948 conjuring up musically on radio (Korla Pandit was the organist for "Chandu, the Magician,) all manner of inventive, never-before-heard orchestration, first on the Nova Chord Organ, then on the Hammond B-3 Electronic Organ.)
At the age of twenty-two, he was discovered by Television pioneer Klaus (KTLA) Landsberg, and in February of 1949 the handsome young man in a turban was captivating audiences as Korla Pandit with his own "Universal Language of Music" KTLA Television show, playing his "music of the Exotic East" with a blend of waltzes, tangos, cha-cha-cha's and other tunes of the '40's and 50's, as well as an occasional classic like "Claire de Lune" or "The Swan".
"...Korla Pandit’s Adventures in Music aired in 1949. It was the first all-music television program. There are over 900 episodes and nothing like it before or since. Korla was unquestionably and unusually gifted: he played viewer-requested supper-club show-tunes, Hawaiian war chants, and reeling ragas while pounding the organ with open palms for percussive effect. The organ then was authoritatively akin to the harmonica, suited only for weddings and roller rinks. At a time when the only Indian personality the country had seen was the actor Sabu, Korla looked, sounded, and acted just different enough to attract and just engaging enough to suspend viewers..."
During this time he also supplied the music for Bob Clampett's hit KTLA-TV puppet show "Time For Beany". Eventually Korla Pandit would be seen and heard around the world with his organ and piano music segments, by way of the fledgling Louis Snader Telescriptions filmed at Hollywood's Goldwyn Studios in August of 1951. It was on these filmed musical clips produced for Television that Korla Pandit preceded Liberace, eventually giving the glitzy pianist his big break when the young organist broke ties with Snader, who then hired Liberace to take Korla's place.
By the mid-seventies Korla Pandit had for the most part disappeared from Television screens, but cashed in on his sizeable fan following by performing live in theater organ concerts, giving lecture-concert seminars and individual instruction, in-home organ concerts, and, eventually, playing at super market openings, automobile dealership promotional events, organ and piano trade shows, and popular Pipes & Pizza Parlours.
Korla Pandit appeared in several motion pictures, most prominent among them Tim Burton's 1994 "Ed Wood" starring Johnny Depp (with whom Korla Pandit shares a scene). In what can only be described as a "comeback" near the end of his life, Korla Pandit performed in small clubs and restaurants, then, in January of 1996, with entrepreneur Joey (Seehee) Cheezhee, headlined "The Wonderful World Of Joey" lounge revival show at Bimbo's 365 in San Francisco, CA, followed by similar shows at retro nightspots such as Kelbo's, and the House of Blues jazz club, both in Southern California. Korla Pandit's final public performance was February 14, 1997, at The Luna Park Club in Los Angeles, CA. Korla Pandit passed away October 1, 1998, at the age of 76 in Petaluma, California."
Source:
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/6980/korla-pandit
https://www.popmatters.com/korla-pandit-artist-profile
