Alex Hyde

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Alex Hyde (born February 17, 1898 in Hamburg , Germany, † July 7, 1956 in Santa Monica , California) was an American violinist and jazz band leader .

biography

Hyde was born as Alexander Chalfan Hyde in Hamburg two years before the turn of the century. When he was two years old, his family emigrated to the USA, where he went to school and then trained as a violinist with Sascha Coleman and Michael Svedrofsky. He founded his own dance band under the name Romance of Rhythm Orchestra , with which he performed in cafes and bars in and around New York between 1919 and 1922. From 1922 to 1923 he toured North America with it .

After the First World War , in which he as a military band in the United States Navy had served, traveled Hyde to Germany to there in the occupied Rhineland in troops care for American soldiers to make music.

Gramophone recordings with the Romance of Rhythm Orchestra were first made in 1923 on the Victor label after a performance in Montreal, Canada. During his touring tours through Germany in 1924, Hyde made recordings with the “ Vox-Schallplatten- und Speechmaschinen-AG ” and in 1925 with the “Grammophon”.

Hyde's first tour of Germany began in the spring of 1924 with an appearance at the “Tivoli” -Varieté in Hanover. The German listeners, for whom Hyde's easy-going "Doo-Wacka-Doo" music was something completely new, received his performance enthusiastically, although it was still quite a long way from proper hot jazz due to the lack of suitable musicians and at best as jazz-influenced, stop could get away with some 'weird' dance music.

After his engagement at the Deutsches Theater in Munich in June 1924, which ended his first tour of Germany, Hyde returned to America. He returned to Germany in the spring of 1925 with a newly assembled hot jazz ensemble that was improved in terms of its musical quality .

Hyde had hired first-class jazz musicians as soloists . Among them were the British trumpeter Howard McFarlane , the pianist Walker O'Neill and the saxophonist Eddie Grosso . Clarinetist and tenor saxophonist Gene Sedric also took part in some of the sessions . He met the Italian-born banjoist Michele "Mike" Danzi in New York and got him to join his newly established Alex Hyde American Orchestra , which in Germany operated as the Original New York Jazz Orchestra . At that time, the orchestra included Hyde and Danzi, the musicians Walter Kallander, Sam Dunkel, Mickey Diamond, Byron Hooper, Michael Polzer, Steve Kretschmer, Charles Herstoff, Max Rosen and Al Roth. In Ewald André Dupont's famous film “Variety” , the orchestra can be seen in a few short scenes in a large variety theater in 1925, but unfortunately cannot be heard because the film was still silent at the time.

In 1927 Hyde traveled back to America.

At the turn of the decade 1929/30 Hyde made another guest appearance in Germany. With a ladies band, the Red Heads , he performed at the Scala in Berlin .

After returning to the USA, Hyde opened a talent agency, wrote music for military bands in the US Air Force and worked for the film at MGM in Hollywood. Together with his brothers, he ran an insurance company as a partner.

Hyde died on July 7, 1956 in Santa Monica , California. He rests in Forest Lawn Memorial Park (Glendale) , Los Angeles County.

Sound documents (examples)

On Vox

  • 01622 (Matr. 1846 A) Linger Awhile, Fox Trot (Rose) Alex Hyde and His New York Orchestra. Berlin, June 1924
  • 01623 (Mat. 1848 A) Yes! We Have No Bananas, Fox Trot (Silver & Cohn) Alex Hyde and His New York Orchestra. Berlin, June 1924
  • 01624 (Matr. 1852 A) A Kiss In The Dark, Waltz (Victor Herbert) Alex Hyde and His New York Orchestra, aufgen. Berlin, June 1924
  • 01625 (Matr. 1855 A) May Be, Fox Trot (Ted Snyder) Alex Hyde and His New York Orchestra, aufgen. Berlin, June 1924
  • 01626 (Matr. 1867 A) Down On The Farm, Fox Trot (Dale, Adams, Harrison & Parrott) Alex Hyde and His New York Orchestra, up. Berlin, June 1924
  • 01627 (Matr. 1869 A) Lovey Come Back, Fox Trot (Joe Young) Alex Hyde and His New York Orchestra. Berlin, June 1924

On the gramophone

  • 20 218 / B 40 987 (Matr. 1897 at) Shine (sunshine) Foxtrot (Cecil Mack, Lew Brown, Ford Dabney) Alex Hyde m. be. Orig. New York Jazz Orchestra, open. Berlin, April 1925
  • 20 235 / B 41 000 (Matr. 1911 at) Javanella, Fox Trot (Felix Bernard) Alex Hyde m. be. Orig. New York Jazz Orchestra, open. Berlin, April 1925
  • 20 234 / B 41 016 (Matr. 1945 at) Alabamy Bound (Alabama Klänge), Foxtrot (B.Green, B.deSylva, R.Henderson) Alex Hyde m. be. Orig. New York Jazz Orchestra, open. Berlin, May 1925.
  • 20 237 / B 41 020 (Matr. 1963 ½ at) Yearning (In Sehnsucht um Dich), Foxtrot (Davis & Burke) Alex Hyde m. be. Orig. New York Jazz Orchestra, open. Berlin, June 1925
  • 20 252 / B 41 049 (Matr. 2041 at) Hong Kong Dream Girl (Chinese love dream), Fox Trot (Springer & Barris) April 1925

Republication

Curated by jazz researcher Rainer E. Lotz , Harlequin Records released two vinyl LPs with historical original recordings by Alex Hyde in 1985/1999: Hot Dance and doo-wacka-doo from Germany 1924 (Vol. I, HQ 2033, contains recordings on Vox) and Jazz and Hot Dance from Germany 1925 (Vol. II, HQ 2034, contains recordings on gramophone).

Web links

literature

  • Horst JP Bergmeier, Rainer E. Lotz: Alex Hyde, bio-discography . (= Jazzfreund-Publication. No. 28). Edition Der Jazzfreund, Menden 1985, DNB 860384764 .
  • Michael Danzi, Rainer E. Lotz (eds.): American musician in Germany, 1924–1939: memoirs of the jazz, entertainment, and movie world of Berlin during the Weimar Republic and the Nazi era, and in the United States. Verlag N. Ruecker, 1986, ISBN 3-923397-02-X , pp. 10-11 u. 15th
  • Horst H. Lange: Jazz in Germany. The German Jazz Chronicle 1900–1960 . Colloquium Verlag, Berlin 1966, pp. 23, 26, 28, 37, 44, 51, 166.
  • Horst H. Lange: The German “78” discography of hot dance and jazz music 1903–1958 . Colloquium Verlag, Berlin 1966. (2nd, expanded edition. 1978, ISBN 3-7678-0452-2 )
  • Horst H. Lange: When jazz began: 1916–1923; the beginnings of instrumental jazz - from the "Original Dixieland Jazz Band" to Louis Armstrong. Verlag Olms-Presse, 2000, ISBN 3-487-08417-1 .
  • Rainer E. Lotz: Hot Dance Bands in Germany: The 1920s. (= Hot Dance Bands in Germany: A Photo Album. Volume 2). Verlag Jazzfreund, 1982, DNB 830680713 , pp. 35, 37, 71.
  • Waldemar R. Röhrbein , Klaus Mlynek (ed.): History of the city of Hanover: From the beginning of the 19th century to the present (= history of the city of Hanover. Volume 2). Verlag Schlütersche, 1994, ISBN 3-87706-364-0 .
  • Peter Struck : Hanover in 3 days: an entertaining cultural guide. Verlag Schlütersche, 2008, ISBN 978-3-89993-659-9 .
  • Jürgen Wölfer : Jazz in Germany. The encyclopedia. All musicians and record companies from 1920 until today. Hannibal, Höfen 2008, ISBN 978-3-85445-274-4 .
  • Christian Zwarg: VOX Catalog Numbers - 6000 to 6499: Instrumental Soli and Chamber Music . (discography.phonomuseum.at , PDF)

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ 1873–1936, was concertmaster with the Philadelphia Symphony Orchestra from 1904 to 1906, then at the Metropolitan Opera, cf. stokowski.org
  2. ↑ cf. Murray Pfeffer ( Memento from August 14, 2017 in the Internet Archive ): “... he was educated in New York city public schools as well as in private music study with Sascha Coleman and Michael Svedrofsky, eventually earning an honorary Mus. D. "
  3. ↑ cf. Bergmeier-Lotz p. 9 and Murray Pfeffer ( Memento from August 14, 2017 in the Internet Archive ), American Band's Alphabetical Index: Alex Hyde Orchestra
  4. ↑ "On May 1, 1924, the Alex Hyde Band from New York started their tour of Germany in the Tivoli-Varieté in Hanover as the first American jazz band ", cf. Struck p. 71. A photo showing the cast at the time. at redhotjazz.com
  5. ↑ Vox 01622 to 01627, June 1924, cf. Lange, “78er” Discogr, p. 485.
  6. ↑ Gr 20 218 to 20 286, April to July 1925, cf. Lange, “78er” Discogr, pp. 485–486. An advertisement for “Grammophon” from that year lists Hyde under “The masters of dance music: Alex Hyde, Efim Schachmeister , Eric Borchard , Paul Godwin ”, who played with her under contract.
  7. ↑ on this establishment cf. Röhrbein-Mlynek p. 475 “The Tivoli itself, located between Königstrasse and Schiffgraben and belonging to a Jewish family, enjoyed an international reputation as a variety show. Artists and performers of international renown gave each other the handle here ... ”, and Andreas-Andrew Bornemann at postkarten-archiv.de
  8. ↑ the name mimics the effects that can be achieved with the mute on trumpet and trombone, and was soon used generically for the entire style of hot dance . A typical piece of music even had it as the title, cf. loc.gov. on "Doo Wacka Doo", Fox Trot by Clarence Gaskill, George Horther and Will Donaldson in 1924.
  9. ↑ Eddie Grosso was the only player with jazz experience at the time, cf. 'arwulf' at allmusic.com : "The only really adept jazz musician in this 1924 troupe was reedman Edwin" Eddie "Grosso, and despite his best efforts the band sounds like a slightly intoxicated long-lost pit orchestra throughout."
  10. ↑ "" Linger Awhile "is profoundly weird, as is" Yes We Have No Bananas. "" Says 'arwulf' at allmusic.com
  11. ↑ later with the dance orchestras of Bernard Etté and Dajos Béla , cf. Lotz, Hot Dance Bands p. 71f.
  12. ↑ by him and his partner Ray Allen Vox made his own record: 06217 (Matr. 1869 A) Dustin 'the Keys (Walker O'Neill) Walker O'Neill and Ray Allen, piano duet. Rec. Late May 1924 ( "Matrix number used twice (both records inspected))" (Zwarg) and 06217 (Matr. 2019 A) Geenwich Witch (Zez Confrey) Ray Allen, piano. Rec. November 1924, cf. Zwarg, VOX Catalog Numbers - 6000 to 6499: Instrumental Soli and Chamber Music, p. 55 and Bergmeier-Lotz, p. 23.
  13. ↑ cf. redhotjazz.com , Danzi p. 15 and Lange, Jazz Chronik p. 23, Lange, “78er” Discogr, p. 485.
  14. ↑ cf. Photo at redhotjazz.com , movie poster at wikimedia.org
  15. ↑ cf. Text of the advertisement in Variety v. Nov. 12, 1924, ill. at mediahist.org
  16. ^ Lange, Jazz Chronik p. 23; according to Bergmeier-Lotz p. 75f. also appearances in the “Wintergarten” and “Kabarett der Komiker” ( KadeKo ), which, however, were displeasing due to insufficient skill, cf. ibid p. 77: the musicians were "not yet mature as instrumentalists".
  17. ↑ cf. findagrave.com
  18. ↑ listen on youtube
  19. ↑ listen on youtube
  20. ↑ listen on youtube
  21. ↑ listen on youtube
  22. ↑ listen on youtube
  23. ↑ listen on youtube
  24. ↑ listen on youtube
  25. ↑ listen on youtube
  26. ↑ Review of arwulf at allmusic.com , record cover (Vol. II) ill. at ebayimg.com
personal data
SURNAME Hyde, Alex
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Hyde, Alexander Chalfan (maiden name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German-born American musician, violinist, band leader
DATE OF BIRTH February 17, 1898
PLACE OF BIRTH Hamburg
DATE OF DEATH July 7, 1956
Place of death Santa Monica , California