John Jean Goldkette (March 18, 1893 – March 24, 1962) was a

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, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a major ...

pianist and bandleader.

Life

Goldkette was reportedly born on March 18, 1893 in

Valenciennes Valenciennes (, also , , ; nl, label=also Dutch, Valencijn; pcd, Valincyinnes or ; la, Valentianae) is a commune in the Nord department, Hauts-de-France, France. It lies on the Scheldt () river. Although the city and region experienced a s ...

, France,Russel B. Nye (1976). Music in the Twenties: The Jean Goldkette Orchestra. ''Prospects'', 1, pp 179-203 doi:10.1017/S0361233300004361 but there is evidence that he was born in

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, Greece.Anthony Baldwin
Le Mysterieux Monsieur Goldkettewww.impulsebrass.com
His mother, Angela Goldkette, was a circus performer from Denmark. His father is unknown. He spent his childhood in Greece and Russia, where he studied piano at the Moscow Conservatory as a child prodigy. The family emigrated to the United States in 1911. He performed in a classical ensemble in Chicago at the age of 18, later joining one of Edgar Benson's dance orchestras. He leased a ballroom in Detroit and formed a band which grew to success, and was the foundation for a business empire acting as an agency for twenty orchestras and owning many dance halls. In 1936, he filed for bankruptcy; however, over the next three decades, he built up business again as a musician, conductor, and promoter. He married Lee McQuillen, a newspaperwoman, on March 4, 1939.

Music career

He led many jazz and dance bands, of which the most popular was his

Victor Recording Orchestra The Victor Recording Orchestra was a jazz band led by Jean Goldkette. Founded in 1924, it was considered by Rex Stewart to be the best dance band of its day and the "first original white swing band." It was known for its innovative arrangements an ...

of 1924–1929. The band defeated

Fletcher Henderson James Fletcher Hamilton Henderson (December 18, 1897 – December 29, 1952) was an American pianist, bandleader, arranger and composer, important in the development of big band jazz and swing music. He was one of the most prolific black musi ...

in a battle of the bands contest. The head arranger was

Bill Challis William H. Challis (July 8, 1904 – October 4, 1994) was an American jazz arranger, best known for his association with the Paul Whiteman orchestra. Early life Challis was born in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania. He played piano and saxophone and w ...

and the musicians included

Bix Beiderbecke Leon Bismark "Bix" Beiderbecke (March 10, 1903 – August 6, 1931) was an American jazz cornetist, pianist and composer. Beiderbecke was one of the most influential jazz soloists of the 1920s, a cornet player noted for an inventive lyrical app ...

, Steve Brown,

Hoagy Carmichael Hoagland Howard Carmichael (November 22, 1899 – December 27, 1981) was an American musician, composer, songwriter, actor and lawyer. Carmichael was one of the most successful Tin Pan Alley songwriters of the 1930s, and was among the first ...

Jimmy Dorsey James Francis Dorsey (February 29, 1904 – June 12, 1957) was an American jazz clarinetist, saxophonist, composer and big band leader. He recorded and composed the jazz and pop standards "I'm Glad There Is You (In This World of Ordinary People ...

Tommy Dorsey Thomas Francis Dorsey Jr. (November 19, 1905 – November 26, 1956) was an American jazz trombonist, composer, conductor and bandleader of the big band era. He was known as the "Sentimental Gentleman of Swing" because of his smooth-toned trombo ...

Eddie Lang Eddie Lang (born Salvatore Massaro, October 25, 1902 – March 26, 1933) was an American musician who is credited as the father of jazz guitar. During the 1920s, he gave the guitar a prominence it previously lacked as a solo instrument, as p ...

Chauncey Morehouse Chauncey Morehouse (March 11, 1902 – October 31, 1980) was an American jazz drummer. Biography Morehouse was born in Niagara Falls, New York, United States, and was raised in Chambersburg, Pennsylvania, where he played drums from a very early ...

, Don Murray,

Bill Rank William C. Rank (June 8, 1904 – May 20, 1979) was an American jazz trombonist. Rank was born in Lafayette, Indiana, United States, and initially worked in Indiana and Florida. In 1922, Rank played trombone in Tade's Singing Orchestra, which was ...

, and Spiegle Willcox.

Rex Stewart Rex William Stewart Jr. (February 22, 1907 – September 7, 1967) was an American jazz cornetist who was a member of the Duke Ellington orchestra. Career As a boy he studied piano and violin; most of his career was spent on cornet. Stewart drop ...

, a member of Henderson's band, wrote that "It was, without any question, the greatest in the world...the original predecessor to any large white dance orchestra that followed, up to Benny Goodman."

Brian Rust Brian Arthur Lovell Rust (19 March 1922 – 5 January 2011) was an English jazz discographer. Career Rust was born in 1922 in Golders Green, then part of the Municipal Borough of Hendon in Middlesex. He collected records from the age of fiv ...

also called it "the greatest band of them all." Goldkette was music director for the

Detroit Athletic Club The Detroit Athletic Club (often referred to as the DAC) is a private social club and athletic club located in the heart of Detroit's theater, sports, and entertainment district. It is located across the street from Detroit's historic Music Hall ...

for over 20 years and co-owned the

Graystone Ballroom The Graystone Ballroom was a dance hall located at 4237 Woodward Avenue in Detroit, Michigan, United States. Billed as "Detroit's Million Dollar Ballroom", it opened its doors on March 7, 1922 with a floorplan designed to hold 3,000 people, making ...

in Detroit with Charles Horvath, who performed with the Goldkette Victor Band in its early years. He owned his own entertainment company, Jean Goldkette's Orchestras and Attractions, working out of the

Book-Cadillac Hotel The Westin Book Cadillac Detroit is a historic skyscraper hotel in Downtown Detroit, Michigan, within the Washington Boulevard Historic District. Designed in the Neo-Renaissance style, and opened as the Book-Cadillac Hotel in 1924, the , 31- ...

in Detroit. He co-wrote the song "It's the Blues (No. 14 Blues)" which was recorded in Detroit and released by Victor. He also wrote the words to the 1926 song "New Steps". In 1927,

Paul Whiteman Paul Samuel Whiteman (March 28, 1890 – December 29, 1967) was an American bandleader, composer, orchestral director, and violinist. As the leader of one of the most popular dance bands in the United States during the 1920s and early 1930s, ...

hired most of Goldkette's better players due to Goldkette's inability to meet payroll for his top-notch musicians. Goldkette helped organize

McKinney's Cotton Pickers McKinney's Cotton Pickers were an American jazz band, founded in Detroit, Michigan, United States in 1926, and led by William McKinney, who expanded his Synco Septet to ten players. Cuba Austin took over for McKinney on drums, with the latter bec ...

and

Glen Gray Glenn Gray Knoblauch (June 7, 1900 – August 23, 1963), known professionally as Glen Gray, was an American jazz saxophonist and leader of the Casa Loma Orchestra.''The Mississippi Rag'', "Glen Gray and the Casa Loma Orchestra," George A. Bo ...

's Orange Blossoms, which became popular as the

Casa Loma Orchestra The Casa Loma Orchestra was an American dance band active from 1929 to 1963. Until the rapid multiplication in the number of swing bands from 1935 on, the Casa Loma Orchestra was one of the top North American dance bands. With the decline of the b ...

. In the 1930s, he left jazz to work as a booking agent and classical pianist. In 1939, he organized the

American Symphony Orchestra The American Symphony Orchestra is a New York-based American orchestra founded in 1962 by Leopold Stokowski whose mission is to demystify orchestral music and make it accessible and affordable for all audiences. Leon Botstein is the orchestra's m ...

which debuted at Carnegie Hall.

Frankie Laine Frankie Laine (born Francesco Paolo LoVecchio; March 30, 1913 – February 6, 2007) was an American Singing, singer, songwriter, and actor whose career spanned nearly 75 years, from his first concerts in 1930 with a marathon dance company to hi ...

worked as Goldkette's librarian.

Death

He moved to California in 1961 and the following year died in Santa Barbara, California, of a heart attack at the age of 69. He took a taxi to the hospital by himself and died that same day. He is buried in the Angelus-Rosedale Cemetery in Los Angeles, California.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Goldkette, Jean 1893 births 1962 deaths 20th-century American pianists 20th-century conductors (music) American jazz pianists American male pianists Big band bandleaders Dixieland jazz musicians Jazz bandleaders Musicians from Detroit Jazz musicians from Michigan 20th-century American male musicians American male jazz musicians Victor Recording Orchestra members Immigrants to the United States