[ Bernhard Ette mit sein Schautanzorch ], 1920s - '30s
b. Sept. 13, 1898, Kassel, Germany, d. Sept. 26, 1973 Muhldorf am Inn, Germany
instrument: Violin
Here's a photo Bernhard Ette, who, from the 1920s onward, had one the most well-known hotel bands in Berlin. He was long resident in the Hotel Esplanade, and later played virtually all the better known dance clubs, and recorded very many times. His band became one of the very first to be heard on the then new medium of radio, which only added to his fame and popularity.

Born in Germany, of French Huegenot parents, Ette first studied the violin at the Spohr Conservatory. Early on, Ette worked in the Carl Robrecht orchestra, playing Piano, Banjo and Violin. (He would later hire Robrecht as an arranger.) Circa 1922, Ette formed his own first band, 22 men, for a gig at 'The Kurhaus', in Bad Nauheim. His orchestra played much in a style of music usually characterized as 'symphonic Jazz', -based on the style of his musical idol, American leader Paul Whiteman. Some of the men in the band from time to time included Peter Rasmussen from Denmark on trombone, Canadian Johnny Dixon blew a really hot trumpet, Christian Wagner played alto-sax, and an American guitarist, Tony Morello was in the rhythm section. (His son, Joe Morello, would, -40 years later- play with Dave Brubeck.) In 1923, still in Bad Nauheim, he started to record, often with visiting White-American sidemen. His orchestra was heard on radio broadcasts, and live at Berlin's Boston Club. His recordings include "Sam, The Old Accordion Man" (1927, Vox 8528) and "Original Dixieland Onestep" (1929, Kristall 3042). In 1927, he also recorded as a member of the Jazz Kings, - a small group from within his larger band.

During a career, which extended well past World War II, he recorded often - for different companies -with a repertoire gradually morphing from 'hot' dance music to light "Pop". Listen to the band playing "The blond Kaethchen", in 1940 with Ralph Maria Siegel vocalizing.

[ Thore Ehrling Orch. ]
Trumpet/Arranger/Composer.
Thore, the most successful of all the Swedish Dance Bands leaders, led various orchestras from 1938 well into the 1960's. Besides the big bands, he sometimes led small Dixieland-type groups. On a 1939 recording session, two of Thore's sidemen were Nat and Bruts Gonella.

[ The Eurojazz-Orchester (Friedrich Gulda) ]
Trumpeter Ron Simmonds has told us about two Jazz Workshops at which he played.

"These were made up of people from all over Europe. I did two with Friedrich
Gulda, the concert pianist, who led the band on baritone sax.

       They were in 1971 and 1972 with line-ups including:
       Trumpets:   Ron Simmonds, Dusko Goykovic, Rob Pronk, Bosse Broberg,
           Bengt-Arne Wallin
       Trombones:   Ake Persson, Nat Peck, Erich Kleinschuster, Willi Meerwald
       Saxes:   Herb Geller, Arne Domnerus, Fatty George, Danny Moss, Ronnie
           Ross, Tubby Hayes, Friedrich Gulda
       George Riedel (bass); Egil Johansson (drums)"

"Gulda also had concerts in Germany, and in Berlin during the Jazz Tage of 1966, with a band he called the Eurojazz-Orchester. Jay Jay Johnson was featured on this. The line-up had:
       Ernie Royal, Rolf Ericson, Kenny Wheeler, Ray Premru (trumpets);
       Rolf Isakson (French horn);
       Erich Kleinschuster (Erich was the bandleader for Vienna radio) Rudolf
           Josel (trombones);
       Alfie Reece (tuba);
       Herb Geller, Tubby Hayes, Hans Salomon, Ronnie Ross (saxes);
       Pierre Cavelli (guitar); Ron Carter (bass); Mel Lewis (drums)
       Joe Zawinul (piano) (photo source unknown. (L-R ) Hans Salomon, Carl Drewo,
           Dick Murphy, Joe Zawinul, Rudi Hansen and Viktor Plasil, in Austria 1955 )
       The BigBands Database thanks famed trumpeter Ron Simmonds for this information

[ Excello-s Five Band ], 1920s - '30s
Currently No Information Available.
This Belgium group was formed in Brussels in 1923. In 1929. under their drummer-leader Robert Kierberg, the group made some excellent recordings. Other members included trombonist Henry Vandenbossche, and trumpeter Louis de Vries. Subsequently, the band toured throughout Europe. (European recordings appeared on Grammophon and Polydor)

[ Kurt Edelhagen and his Orch. ]
b. June 5, 1920, Herne, Germany d. Feb. 8, 1982, Cologne, Germany.
Edelhagen formed his first orchestra in the years immediately following World War II. Edelhagen, had been playing piano in clubs for the Allied armies, and the quality of the band he formed was quite remarkable. This was especially so since dance music with a jazz-orientation had been frowned upon by the defeated regime.

Before 1946 had ended, Kurt's first band was already in operation. He would go on to develop a series of big bands for studio and radio work that extended into the 1970's.

One of the first post-war European bandleaders to bring in foreign Jazz musicians, his bands featured such sidemen as Dusko Goykovich, Jimmy Deuchar, Derek Humble, and Jiggs Whigham. In private correspondence, Mr. Klaus Boening has recalled that "Edelhagen did his very first recordings in Baden-Baden during the Summer of 1949 for an American recording company, called "Empire". Those Swing style recordings, released on the Empire label, included "Interlude", "Golden Earrings", "Empire Bounce", "Cherokee" and "Explosion". The records are very hard to find......" "Subsequently, Edelhagen recorded songs for various German record companies, such as Polydor, Austroton, Philips and Brunswick-Polydor. He had used a pseudonym for the Philips recordings, - "Frank Folken und sein Orchester", the main reason being to avoid problems with the licence and copyright-laws from the other record companies. So, on Philips, he was Frank Folken, not Kurt Edelhagen."

During his career, Kurt also contributed to some films. He worked as an orchestrator, conductor, or musical director for such films as "Solang' es hübsche Mädchen gibt" (1955), "Hier bin ich - hier bleib' ich" (1959), "Unsere tollen Tanten in der Südsee" (1963), and on TV shows such as "Stars in der Manege" (1972). He also worked as a composer for the 1973-1979 TV series "Klimbim". His orchestra was seen in the 1954 film " Große Starparade, Die" and in the 1955 film "Liebe, Tanz und 1000 Schlager".

Even after the big band era had ended in the late 50's, Kurt's orchestras continued to bring enjoyment to his listeners well into the 1970's. Edelhagen's various orchestras featured a rather wide range of big band music, but his bias towards powerful brass ensemble playing reflected his love for Stan Kenton's style.

[ Valdemar Eiberg Orch. ]
Eiberg's interest in Jazz was stirred by listening to the imported recordings of American Jazz bands. In 1923, Eiberg formed the first Danish Jazz orchestra. In late August 1924, he made the first Danish Jazz recording (HMV 200ex) while the band was appearing at the roof room of the Cosmopolitan Hotel in Copenhagen. (The songs were "I've Got A Cross-eyed Papa" and "In Bluebird Land"). in the years following, members of his band included saxist Kai Ewans, , trombonist Peter Rasmussen (b. Dec. 16, 1906), and pianist Leo Mathisen, -all of whom would later, in the '30s and '40s, also become bandleaders. During the German occupation of 1940-1945, younger musicians like the gifted violonist Svend Asmussen and the pianist Kjeld Bonfils played with the band. However, with the ending of World War II, and the public's changing taste in music, almost the entire pre-WWII generation of musicians moved into the background as a new younger generation of musicians came upon the scene..

Here is a 'scrapbook' of some extremely rare photographs that Mr. John Eiberg, Grandson of Waldemar Eiberg, has granted us permission to reproduce.
The first photo is the 1924 Eiberg Orchestra, that made the very first Danish Jazz recording. And here's Eiberg's D'Angleterre Orkester, also in 1924.Eiberg is second from right and Bigom is playing Banjo in the center.
Then there's a photo of the Mandolin Trio in 1918, Waldemar Sophus Gerlach Eiberg is at left, Karla Viola Mathilde Madsen (nickname:Jonna, Waldemar's wife) Eilberg is in center and Carl Bigom is at the right.
And, here's the same Mandolin Trio in 1920, a couple of years later, with the same lineup; - Waldemar on left, Karla center and Bigon right.
This is a picture of Eiberg's 1930 Band then playing at a nightclub called 'Heckman's'. While here's a photograph of the Eiberg band playingduring the summer of 1930 at the Hornbaek Badehotel, on the beach. Incidentally, the wonderful British bandleader, Jack Hylton, autographed a photo of Hylton's own band and presented it to Waldemar Eiberg. While the picture is unfortunately undated, it appears to be circa 1927-'30. Here's a link to that very photograph of Hylton's 1927-'30 Band, as it appears in our British Bands Database.

[ Kai Ewans Orch. ]
b. April 10, 1906, Horsholm, Denmark, d. April 3, 1988
né: Kai Peter Anthon Nielsen
Instruments: Clarinet/Alto sax/vocals/bandleader.
Here's a couple of photographs (source unknown) showing Kai Ewans, as a very young man, and then as a more mature person. Without a doubt, Kai had the 'dominant' Danish orchestra. Kai learned the band business when he worked, from 1924-1926, with his cousin, another pioneer dance band leader, Waldemar Eiberg. Kai Ewans was a cousin to both Waldemar Eiberg and Peter Rasmussen (their fathers and mothers were also cousins.)

After working in Eiberg's ensemble, Kai traveled around Europe and the U.S. In 1930, he joined Kai Julian's band, and remained with the band through 1932 when it disbanded, and many of the sidemen joined the Eric Tuxen band.

[ Håkan von Eichwald Dance Band ]
b. April 2, 1908, Turku, Finland, d. April, 1, 1964, Malmö, Sweden. Age: 55
Håkan started his career leading theater pit orchestras. His own band was a very busy studio orchestra, recording more than 300 dance band numbers between the years of 1930 and 1939. During the WW2 years, Håkan returned to leading theatrical pit orchestras. In the post war years, Håkan led a symphony orchestra in Helsingborg, up to his death in Malmö, in 1964, age 55.

[ Georg Enders Jazz-Orkester ]
Currently no information on this Swedish dance band.

[ Egerstams Dansorkester ]
Currently no information on this Swedish dance band.