Athos C. "Ace" Brigode (January 5, 1893 – February 3, 1960) was a United States dance band leader who enjoyed his greatest popularity in the 1920s. Ace Brigode was born in Illinois. He entered show business as a member of a touring minstrel show. His band began playing professionally in early 1921 as "Ace Brigode & His 10 Virginians"; a bit later they were renamed "Ace Brigode & His 14 Virginians"; this name stuck although the band varied between having 9 to 19 members over the years. The band played in the moderately

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Its roots are in blues, ragtime, European harmony, African rhythmic rituals, spirituals, h ...

-influenced peppy dance band style called "Collegiate Hot" that to many people exemplifies the music of the "Roaring Twenties". The most noted musician who played with Brigode was trombonist

Abe Lincoln Abraham Lincoln (February 12, 1809 – April 15, 1865) was the 16th president of the United States, serving from 1861 until his assassination in 1865. He led the United States through the American Civil War, defeating the Confederate State ...

. Brigode hosted the "White Rose Gasoline Show" on

radio Radio is the technology of communicating using radio waves. Radio waves are electromagnetic waves of frequency between 3 hertz (Hz) and 300 gigahertz (GHz). They are generated by an electronic device called a transmitter connec ...

, featuring his band. The band also made

gramophone record A phonograph record (also known as a gramophone record, especially in British English) or a vinyl record (for later varieties only) is an analog sound storage medium in the form of a flat disc with an inscribed, modulated spiral groove. The g ...

s for various

record label "Big Three" music labels A record label or record company is a brand or trademark of Sound recording and reproduction, music recordings and music videos, or the company that owns it. Sometimes, a record label is also a Music publisher, ...

s, including

OKeh OKeh Records () is an American record label founded by the Otto Heinemann Phonograph Corporation, a phonograph supplier established in 1916, which branched out into phonograph records in 1918. The name originally was spelled "OkeH" from the init ...

Edison Thomas Alva Edison (February11, 1847October18, 1931) was an American inventor and businessman. He developed many devices in fields such as electric power generation, mass communication, sound recording, and motion pictures. These inventions, ...

, Cameo and

Pathé Records Pathé Records was an international record company and label and producer of phonographs, based in France, and active from the 1890s through the 1930s. Early years The Pathé record business was founded by brothers Charles and Émile Pathé, ...

; their biggest hit was a 1925 version of " Yes Sir, That's My Baby" for

Columbia Records Columbia Records is an American reco ...

. The band's theme song was "

Carry Me Back to Old Virginny "Carry Me Back to Old Virginny" is a song written circa 1878 by James A. Bland (1854–1911), an African-American composer and minstrel performer. It was Virginia's state song from 1940 until 1997. There is some evidence suggesting that it i ...

Dwight Eisenhower Dwight David "Ike" Eisenhower (born David Dwight Eisenhower; October 14, 1890 – March 28, 1969) was the 34th president of the United States, serving from 1953 to 1961. During World War II, he was Supreme Commander of the Allied Expeditionar ...

was among the band's fans. Brigode himself played

violin The violin, sometimes referred to as a fiddle, is a wooden chordophone, and is the smallest, and thus highest-pitched instrument (soprano) in regular use in the violin family. Smaller violin-type instruments exist, including the violino picc ...

and

clarinet The clarinet is a Single-reed instrument, single-reed musical instrument in the woodwind family, with a nearly cylindrical bore (wind instruments), bore and a flared bell. Clarinets comprise a Family (musical instruments), family of instrume ...

, but mostly acted as master of ceremonies. The band toured widely around the United States. Brigode kept the band current with newer style arrangements into the early

swing music Swing music is a style of jazz that developed in the United States during the late 1920s and early 1930s. It became nationally popular from the mid-1930s. Swing bands usually featured soloists who would improvise on the melody over the arrangement ...

era, before disbanding the group in 1946. After this Ace Brigode worked as promotions manager for

Cleveland, Ohio Cleveland is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County, Ohio, Cuyahoga County. Located along the southern shore of Lake Erie, it is situated across the Canada–United States border, Canada–U.S. maritime border ...

's Chippewa Lake Park, and also did

television Television (TV) is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. Additionally, the term can refer to a physical television set rather than the medium of transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertising, ...

commercial voice work. Brigode refused to book rock and roll performers into the park because of his dislike for the musical genre. He was survived by his wife, Theresa, sons Robert and Richard, and a daughter, Mrs. James Knott.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Brigode, Ace 1893 births 1960 deaths American bandleaders American male violinists 20th-century American conductors (music) 20th-century American violinists 20th-century American male musicians Columbia Records artists

See also

References