Mike Danzi

Michael "Mike" Danzi (born September 1, 1898 in New York City ; † 1986 ) was an American guitarist and banjo player who was active in the field of jazz and light music. He spent fourteen years in Germany, where he played with most of the well-known jazz and dance orchestras and was involved in numerous recordings during this time.

Life

Danzi was the son of Italian immigrants; his father Domenico Danzi came to the USA in 1892 . In New York, Mike Danzi met Alex Hyde , who directed the American Dance Orchestra. On November 11, 1924, he left for Europe with this orchestra. At that time the orchestra included Hyde and Danzi, Walter Kallander , Sam Dunkel , Mickey Diamond , Byron Hooper , Michael Polzer , Steve Kretzchmer , Charles Herstoff , Max Rosen and Al Roth .

Shortly after his arrival in the Port of Hamburg, Mike Danzi met Eric Borchard and Billy Bartholomew and played with them until he had to leave for Munich on his train.

In May 1925, the American Dance Orchestra appeared in the silent film Variété . It also played in the Luna Palais and at an event with Jack Dempsey in the Hotel Esplanade. In the same year Danzi met Bernard Etté , who signed him for a six-month tour through Germany with his Jazz Symphonians . On December 25, 1925, they set out for Essen , and later they traveled through the Rhineland with Ettés Packard . Etté returned briefly to Berlin every fortnight to shoot for Vox in Berlin. This was followed by a trip to Sweden with Dajos Bélas Orchestra and a performance in front of the royal family. In mid-June 1927 Mike Danzi was recruited by Professor Fahrbach-Ehmki for the elegant dance hall in the Villa d'Este at Hardenbergstrasse 21-23. Here he played with Harry Revel, among others . From the late 1920s, Mike Danzi made numerous records and sound film recordings with many different orchestras. At that time he lived in Friedrichstrasse and frequented the Romanisches Café , among other places .

In April 1929 he founded the group The Virginians , which was officially headed by Teddy Kline and named after his homeland. Soon after, when the Nazis gained ground and finally came to power, a massive emigration of Jewish musicians from Berlin and Germany began. The Telefunken had to look for a new orchestra leader. Hans Bund , to whom Revel had been preferred for the Villa d'Este in 1927, was suggested for it, and Danzi did not feel comfortable in his presence. An engagement in the Europahaus together with an Italian band under John Abriani in 1934 made him uncomfortable because Italians were not welcomed in Germany at the time because of Benito Mussolini's policies that prevented the invasion of Austria. From 1935 he played in the Scala orchestra under Otto Stenzel .

In May 1935, Danzi published the first article in a series of articles initiated by the editor of the magazine Der Artist . He later cited this article as evidence that in Nazi Germany swing , foxtrot and other musical styles officially frowned upon as "Negro music" were cultivated in the Third Reich . This was not without effect on the Berlin jazz scene. However, Danzi still played with various orchestras and appeared regularly on the radio. However, he reported on increasing xenophobia and the fears of German musicians of the consequences if they played jazz with him. He was also involved in his first attempts at television in 1938 , together with the guitarist Otto Sachsenhauser . However, he came to the conclusion that the effort was not worth it and decided against further television appearances. He worked in Berlin as usual until October 1939. Because of a collision with the porter of the UFA film studios who wanted to force him to give the Hitler salute and when he refused to let him into the building, the last recordings were almost not made on October 10, 1939. A few days later, Mike Danzi returned to America with his family, where he continued his career. In 1956 he made an appearance at Radio City Music Hall in New York.

Fonts

• Michael Danzi: 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 . As told to Rainer E. Lotz . Ruecker, Schmitten 1986, ISBN 3-923397-02-X

literature

• 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 .

Individual evidence

1. ^ Claudia Molnar: From the bourgeois villa to the NS art gallery. The Berlin Hardenbergstrasse 21-23, BoD 2018, p. 26. ISBN 978-3-74-818039-5 .
2. ↑ At that time, however, the image cultivation that was carried out before the 1936 Summer Olympics in Berlin was already having an effect , because after the end of the Games, surveillance became stricter and a few days after the Reichskristallnacht Jews were banned from attending cultural events .
3. ↑ Michael H. Kater Daring Game. Jazz under National Socialism. Cologne 1995, p. 78
4. ↑ Exhibition in the Center for Jazz ( Memento of the original from March 13, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.