Joe Kayser

Joe Kayser (born September 14, 1891 in St. Louis , Missouri , † October 3, 1981 in Evanston , Illinois ) was an American drummer and big band leader in the field of swing and popular music .

Joe Kayser was one of the early jazz band leaders of the American Midwest . He grew up in St. Louis, where he received his musical training; he moved to New York City in 1917 and played as a drummer in Earl Fuller's orchestra at Rector's Restaurant , which also included Ted Lewis . During World War I he served in the US Navy ; he played in a small Navy ensemble, which also included violinist Jack Benny . After the war he played in the Meyer Davis Orchestra , then in 1921 he founded his first five-piece formation in St. Louis, which he expanded with growing success. The band then went on extensive tours in the form of one-night stands . Kayser then moved the band's headquarters to Rockford , and finally to Chicago in 1924 . For the next five years, Joe Kayer's orchestra had regular engagements in the Aragon and Trianon ballrooms. In 1929 Kayser broke up his band and became musical director and MC at Diversy Theater in Chicago. He then held a similar position at the Midland Theater in Kansas City .

In 1930 he returned to Chicago and had (with a new band) engagements in the Arcadia and Mary Garden Ballrooms. During this time, many young musicians of the later Chicago jazz played in his orchestra . It occurred in 1933 and 1934 at the World's Fair, u. a. as the backing band for the dancer Sally Rand; In 1936 he broke up the band and worked as an artist agent for the station NBC , from 1943 for MCA , for which he headed the office in Chicago, where he stayed until his retirement in 1955.

swell

• Leo Walker: The Big Band Almanac . Ward Ritchie Press, Pasadena. 1978

Web links

• Bigband database