Jan Garber

Jan Garber ; actually Jacob Charles Garber (born November 5, 1894 in Indianapolis , Indiana , † October 5, 1977 in Shreveport , Louisiana ) was an American violinist and big band leader in the field of swing and popular music .

Life

Jan Garber had his first band as early as 1917; The band leader had his heyday in the 1920s and 1930s when he was "The Idol of the Airwaves" - as successful as his contemporaries Paul Whiteman and Guy Lombardo .

After the First World War, Garber was a violinist with the Philadelphia Orchestra and founded the Garber-Davis Orchestra in 1921 with pianist Milton Davis , which lasted until 1924. Its headquarters were in Atlanta ; they played in the southern and southeastern United States, where it was very popular. Recordings were made for Victor Records (" Oh! Gee, Oh! Gosh, Oh! I'm in Love "). After separating from Davis, he formed his own orchestra in Chicago, which played both sweet and hot dance music and recorded for MCA . During the Depression Garber had problems keeping the band going; in the 1930s he reorganized the ensemble as a big band , moved to the west coast in 1934, where he had an engagement at Catalina Island's Avalon Ballroom and later at the Palomar Ballroom , and recorded a number of albums for Victor . During the Second World War Garber played (instead of Sweet - similar to Guy Lombardo ) in the swing style, his arranger during this phase was Gray Rains, and the band singer was Liz Tilton . Since his audience did not appreciate Garber's change of style, he dissolved the swing band in the spring of 1945 and returned to his Sweet style six months later with a new ensemble and recorded for Black & White Records (including a version of Irving Berlin's “Doing What Comes Natur'lly “); his arranger was now Larry Owen, long-time employee of the saxophonist Freddie Large . Garber moved to Shreveport, Louisiana in the mid-1950s, performing at the Roosevelt Hotel in New Orleans during the winter months ; he directed his own formations until the early 1970s.

Garber recorded over 750 records over the course of his career, mostly for Victor, Decca Records , Columbia Records , Okeh Records and Capitol Records .

Discographic notes

• The Uncollected: Jan Garber (Hindsight, 1939–42)
• 1944 Swing Band, Vol. 1 (Circle)
• The Swinging Sweet Band, Vol. 2 (Swing Era)

Web links

• Jan Garber at Allmusic.com
• Big Band Database (scroll down)

swell

• George T. Simon: The Golden Era of Big Bands ("The Big bands"). Hannibal-Verlag, Höfen 2004, ISBN 3-854-45243-8 .
• Leo Walker: The Big Band Almanac . Ward Ritchie Press, Pasadena. 1978.