[ Skinnay Ennis Orch ]
Theme Song: "Got a Date with an Angel"
né: Robert Ennis, Drums/vocals/leader.
b: August 13, 1909, Salisbury, NC, USA. d: June 3, 1963, Beverly Hills, CA. USA.
Here's a photo of Robert "Skinnay" Ennis, who was born on August 13, 1909 outside Salisbury, North Carolina. Ennis met Hal Kemp while attending the University of North Carolina in 1927. When Kemp started a local dance band, he induced the long and lanky Ennis to play drums.

As the band's success grew, Kemp urged Ennis to sing with the band. Ennis thought it was a gag, as he had no formal singing training. But, his breathless way of singing songs such as "Got A Date With An Angel" perfectly matched Kemp's orchestral style (staccato triple-tonguing brass phrases against unison clarinets, - backed by a solid, smooth, danceable rhythm), and before long Skinnay was the band's featured attraction. ("Got A Date With An Angel" became the Kemp's orch. theme.)

In 1938, Ennis left Kemp to form his own group to be the Orchestra on the Bob Hope Radio Show, based in Los Angeles. (John Scott Trotter, Kemp's arranger, also left at this time to become musical director for Bing Crosby. Hal Kemp continued into the Swing Era, with Janet Blair as his girl vocalist. Janet left him to become a hollywood actress.) Ennis took a chance in leaving Kemp after 13 years to front his own band. During that time many vocalists failed when trying to succeed without the original band that made them popular. Hope made sure that Ennis received a few key lines for laughs on every broadcast. With this kind of advertisement, he had no problems booking his band from coast to coast.

He was drafted into the military but returned to his band and the Hope program following his service and remained well into 1948. His band remained in demand and toured mostly in the West. Ennis also had a long running spot on the "Abbott and Costello Show." During the late 1940's his band played ballrooms and theaters and Ennis even appeared in a few Hollywood movies (including Follow The Band in 1943).

Skinnay Ennis worked with small groups in the Los Angeles area in the 1950's. Sadly, he died while choking on a bone at a Beverly Hills restaurant on June 3, 1963.

Let's watch Skinnay leading his band, and even doing a bit of acting while also singing
  "The Old Lamplighter", with other songs including Cole Porter's "Let's Do It", and a bit of the "Birth of The Blues", in this 1940s movie "Short".

A number of his recordings have become Big Band classics including "Deep in a Dream," "Oh, but I Do," and "Garden of the Moon." His orchestra was the focus of a 1993 Philips Records release which sold well enough to warrant a follow-up release of rare radio out-takes.
Above notes courtesy of Mr. Dan DelFiorentino.

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   [ Eureka Brass Band ]
Please See "Crescent City Joymakers", listing.

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   [ Jack Everette Orch ]
né:. John Everette Jackson
Theme: "Dance Awhile"
Tag: "Dance awhile to our friendly style."
The Everette band so much defined the term "territory band" that many historians cannot recall if the term exsisted before Jack Everette formed his band. The bands long list of performances is very impressive.

He was born John Everette Jackson but when he started his first band in Cedar Rapids, Iowa in February 1926 he used his middle name because another band lead by a Jack Jackson has already been playing Cedar Rapids for two years. The bands popularity began with a weekly radio broadcast over KWCR. After years of playing for other peoples ballrooms (MayFair, Plamor etc) he opened his own in Springfield, Missouri.

Disbanded during the war, they soon afterwards engaged in long tours, staying active until 1956 (the same year his son David Owens Everette starting his own dance band). In 1962 he and his son opened the Jackson Artist Corporation, a booking office in Kansas City. Jack Everette died on Fathers Day 1972. The Jackson Artist Corporation is still being run by David who is currently working on gaining past royalties for the estates of bandleaders and singers for recordings made during the Big Band Era.
Above notes by Mr. Dan DelFiorentino

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   [ James Reese Europe's 369th Regiment Hellfighters Band ]
Feb. 22, 1880, in Mobile, AL, USA. d: April/May 9/10, 1919 Boston, MA, USA.

Instruments: piano, violin, conductor
In 1890, at age 10, his family moved to Washington, D.C., and it was there that Europe received his music education in the city's public schools, studying both Piano and Violin. In Washington, he lived only houses away from John Philip Sousa. He must have felt the extraordinary excitement that Sousa and his famous U.S. Marine Corps Band was generating. Circa 1905, Europe settled in New York City, where he found work as a pianist is the local Clubs, and worked on some musical comedies. He also met and worked with both the Bob Cole/Johnson Brothers, and the Williams and Walker Company vaudeville teams.

In 1910, he organized some Harlem jazz musicians into a group called The Clef Club. Here's a photograph of one of the Clef Club Orchestras. This Club soon turned into a combination of orchestra, Booking Agency, and a Black Musican's Union. Just two years later, in May 1912, they made history when they played a benefit for the 'Colored Music Settlement School' at New York's famed Carnegie Hall. The 125-member Clef Club orchestra that he conducted at Carnegie Hall that night featured some rather extraordinary instrumentation including 47 mandolins and bandores, and 27 harp-guitars. It was the very first time that a jazz band played at that prestigious concert Hall. Previously, most Afro-American groups had been limited to banjo and bone-playing on Minstrel Show stages, and this performance represented a very real breakthrough for Black Musicians..

In 1913, another first happened when Europe's Society Orchestra, was probably the first African-American band to record (various Ragtime works). His were the first black bands to make recordings for the Victor Talking Machine Company (1913), and a series of recordings for the Pathe Talking Machine and Record Company (1919). During the 'Teens, dancers Vernon and Irene Castle had become widely popular entertaining folks with their public dance exhibitions. They asked Europe to accompany them on their American and European Dance tours, -and in 1914, Europe signed a contract to tour England, France, and other countries, with the Castles. The Castle's were a hot act, and they soon opened a dance school called 'The Castle House' and also a supper club called San Souci. Europe's Society Orchestra provided the music for these rather successful ventures. Because of this activity, Europe's Society Orchestra was offered a recording contract with Victor records marking the first time that an Afro-American Orchestra was offered a contract with a major American record label. But the outbreak of WW1 changed those plans. Vernon Castle, an Englishman by birtb, volunteered to serve in the British Air Corps. On February 15, 1918, while on military leave, he died while taking part in a Texas air show. That ws the end of public performances by the Castles and Europe's band. It was the Castles who popularized the foxtrot and dances in 2/4 and 5/4 time, to scores by Europe and his collaborator, Ford Dabney.

In 1917, the United States formally declared War on Germany. On September 18, 1916, Europe enlisted in the 15th New York Infantry, Harlem's Black National Guard regiment. A week later, Noble Sissle, a friend and fellow musician also joined. Pianist Eubie Blake, who little chance of becoming an officer (like Europe and Sissle), assumed administration of Europe's music business. Europe completed his officer training and was about to assume command of a machine gun company, when Colonel William Haywood asked to organize a band for the U.S. 15th Infantry. Europe formed the band which unfortunately suffered a racial incident involving their Drum Major, - Noble Sissle. When other Black militiamen heard of the incident, they wanted to retaliate, but were dispersed on orders of (now) Bandmaster Lt. James R. Europe. Then the band, renamed the '369th Regiment of the U.S. Army', was sent to France where they became the first African-American combat troops. Nicknamed the "Harlem Hellfighters", the band performed for the troops and for the French people and government officials. It was the Hellfighters who brought Jazz to France.

On February 17, l9l9, returning from WW I, 1,300 black heroes called the Harlem Hell Fighters, -every man decorated, with the Cross of War (Croix de Guerre) by the French Government. Over a million people watched them parade up Fifth Avenue in lower Manhattan, to Harlem. The "Harlem Hellfighters" band led the troops, and as they turned off 110th Street onto Lenox Avenue, the band broke out playing the song "Here Comes My Daddy Now".

A year later, in 1919, Europe was killed by a crazed bandmember. On May 9, two days after their last recording session for Pathe), Europe reportedly reprimanded his drummer, Herbert Wright, because of Wright's habit of walking on and off stage while other acts were performing. At some point in the conversation, Wright took a pen knife from his pocket and stabbed Europe in the neck. Europe was rushed to a hospital, but died soon afterwards..

Listen to Jim Europe's band playing Jazzola, with his friend Noble Sissle doing the vocal. This is what the Sheetmusic looked like when first published. In retrospect, Europe was an important American bandleader, arranger, and composer, and, along with everything else, a major figure in the transition from ragtime to jazz.

As the band's success grew, Kemp urged Ennis to sing with the band. Ennis thought it was a gag, as he had no formal singing training. But, his breathless way of singing songs such as "Got A Date With An Angel" perfectly matched Kemp's orchestral style (staccato triple-tonguing brass phrases against unison clarinets, - backed by a solid, smooth, danceable rhythm), and before long Skinnay was the band's featured attraction. ("Got A Date With An Angel" became the Kemp's orch. theme.)

In 1938, Ennis left Kemp to form his own group to be the Orchestra on the Bob Hope Radio Show, based in Los Angeles. (John Scott Trotter, Kemp's arranger, also left at this time to become musical director for Bing Crosby. Hal Kemp continued into the Swing Era, with Janet Blair as his girl vocalist. Janet left him to become a hollywood actress.) Ennis took a chance in leaving Kemp after 13 years to front his own band. During that time many vocalists failed when trying to succeed without the original band that made them popular. Hope made sure that Ennis received a few key lines for laughs on every broadcast. With this kind of advertisement, he had no problems booking his band from coast to coast.

He was drafted into the military but returned to his band and the Hope program following his service and remained well into 1948. His band remained in demand and toured mostly in the West. Ennis also had a long running spot on the "Abbott and Costello Show." During the late 1940's his band played ballrooms and theaters and Ennis even appeared in a few Hollywood movies (including Follow The Band in 1943).

Skinnay Ennis worked with small groups in the Los Angeles area in the 1950's. Sadly, he died while choking on a bone at a Beverly Hills restaurant on June 3, 1963.

Let's watch Skinnay leading his band, and even doing a bit of acting while also singing
  "The Old Lamplighter", with other songs including Cole Porter's "Let's Do It", and a bit of the "Birth of The Blues", in this 1940s movie "Short".

A number of his recordings have become Big Band classics including "Deep in a Dream," "Oh, but I Do," and "Garden of the Moon." His orchestra was the focus of a 1993 Philips Records release which sold well enough to warrant a follow-up release of rare radio out-takes.
Above notes courtesy of Mr. Dan DelFiorentino.

   [ Eureka Brass Band ]
Please See "Crescent City Joymakers", listing.

   [ Jack Everette Orch ]
né:. John Everette Jackson
Theme: "Dance Awhile"
Tag: "Dance awhile to our friendly style."
The Everette band so much defined the term "territory band" that many historians cannot recall if the term exsisted before Jack Everette formed his band. The bands long list of performances is very impressive.

He was born John Everette Jackson but when he started his first band in Cedar Rapids, Iowa in February 1926 he used his middle name because another band lead by a Jack Jackson has already been playing Cedar Rapids for two years. The bands popularity began with a weekly radio broadcast over KWCR. After years of playing for other peoples ballrooms (MayFair, Plamor etc) he opened his own in Springfield, Missouri.

Disbanded during the war, they soon afterwards engaged in long tours, staying active until 1956 (the same year his son David Owens Everette starting his own dance band). In 1962 he and his son opened the Jackson Artist Corporation, a booking office in Kansas City. Jack Everette died on Fathers Day 1972. The Jackson Artist Corporation is still being run by David who is currently working on gaining past royalties for the estates of bandleaders and singers for recordings made during the Big Band Era.
Above notes by Mr. Dan DelFiorentino

   [ James Reese Europe's 369th Regiment Hellfighters Band ]
Feb. 22, 1880, in Mobile, AL, USA. d: April/May 9/10, 1919 Boston, MA, USA.

Instruments: piano, violin, conductor
In 1890, at age 10, his family moved to Washington, D.C., and it was there that Europe received his music education in the city's public schools, studying both Piano and Violin. In Washington, he lived only houses away from John Philip Sousa. He must have felt the extraordinary excitement that Sousa and his famous U.S. Marine Corps Band was generating. Circa 1905, Europe settled in New York City, where he found work as a pianist is the local Clubs, and worked on some musical comedies. He also met and worked with both the Bob Cole/Johnson Brothers, and the Williams and Walker Company vaudeville teams.

In 1910, he organized some Harlem jazz musicians into a group called The Clef Club. Here's a photograph of one of the Clef Club Orchestras. This Club soon turned into a combination of orchestra, Booking Agency, and a Black Musican's Union. Just two years later, in May 1912, they made history when they played a benefit for the 'Colored Music Settlement School' at New York's famed Carnegie Hall. The 125-member Clef Club orchestra that he conducted at Carnegie Hall that night featured some rather extraordinary instrumentation including 47 mandolins and bandores, and 27 harp-guitars. It was the very first time that a jazz band played at that prestigious concert Hall. Previously, most Afro-American groups had been limited to banjo and bone-playing on Minstrel Show stages, and this performance represented a very real breakthrough for Black Musicians..

In 1913, another first happened when Europe's Society Orchestra, was probably the first African-American band to record (various Ragtime works). His were the first black bands to make recordings for the Victor Talking Machine Company (1913), and a series of recordings for the Pathe Talking Machine and Record Company (1919). During the 'Teens, dancers Vernon and Irene Castle had become widely popular entertaining folks with their public dance exhibitions. They asked Europe to accompany them on their American and European Dance tours, -and in 1914, Europe signed a contract to tour England, France, and other countries, with the Castles. The Castle's were a hot act, and they soon opened a dance school called 'The Castle House' and also a supper club called San Souci. Europe's Society Orchestra provided the music for these rather successful ventures. Because of this activity, Europe's Society Orchestra was offered a recording contract with Victor records marking the first time that an Afro-American Orchestra was offered a contract with a major American record label. But the outbreak of WW1 changed those plans. Vernon Castle, an Englishman by birtb, volunteered to serve in the British Air Corps. On February 15, 1918, while on military leave, he died while taking part in a Texas air show. That ws the end of public performances by the Castles and Europe's band. It was the Castles who popularized the foxtrot and dances in 2/4 and 5/4 time, to scores by Europe and his collaborator, Ford Dabney.

In 1917, the United States formally declared War on Germany. On September 18, 1916, Europe enlisted in the 15th New York Infantry, Harlem's Black National Guard regiment. A week later, Noble Sissle, a friend and fellow musician also joined. Pianist Eubie Blake, who little chance of becoming an officer (like Europe and Sissle), assumed administration of Europe's music business. Europe completed his officer training and was about to assume command of a machine gun company, when Colonel William Haywood asked to organize a band for the U.S. 15th Infantry. Europe formed the band which unfortunately suffered a racial incident involving their Drum Major, - Noble Sissle. When other Black militiamen heard of the incident, they wanted to retaliate, but were dispersed on orders of (now) Bandmaster Lt. James R. Europe. Then the band, renamed the '369th Regiment of the U.S. Army', was sent to France where they became the first African-American combat troops. Nicknamed the "Harlem Hellfighters", the band performed for the troops and for the French people and government officials. It was the Hellfighters who brought Jazz to France.

On February 17, l9l9, returning from WW I, 1,300 black heroes called the Harlem Hell Fighters, -every man decorated, with the Cross of War (Croix de Guerre) by the French Government. Over a million people watched them parade up Fifth Avenue in lower Manhattan, to Harlem. The "Harlem Hellfighters" band led the troops, and as they turned off 110th Street onto Lenox Avenue, the band broke out playing the song "Here Comes My Daddy Now".

A year later, in 1919, Europe was killed by a crazed bandmember. On May 9, two days after their last recording session for Pathe), Europe reportedly reprimanded his drummer, Herbert Wright, because of Wright's habit of walking on and off stage while other acts were performing. At some point in the conversation, Wright took a pen knife from his pocket and stabbed Europe in the neck. Europe was rushed to a hospital, but died soon afterwards..

Listen to Jim Europe's band playing Jazzola, with his friend Noble Sissle doing the vocal. This is what the Sheetmusic looked like when first published. In retrospect, Europe was an important American bandleader, arranger, and composer, and, along with everything else, a major figure in the transition from ragtime to jazz.