Federico "Fred" Díaz Elizalde (1907-1979) was a Spanish Filipino classical and jazz pianist, composer, conductor, and bandleader influential in the British dance band era. At age 7 he entered the Madrid Royal Conservatory, winning the first prize in piano at age 14. He then studied at St. Joseph's College, London and went to study law at Stanford University in the 1920s. His musical interests prevailed and he left the university. He took composition lessons under Ernst Bloch at Stanford, leaving the school in 1926. He then embarked on a career as a jazz bandleader, leading the Stanford University Band at the Biltmore Hotel in Los Angeles while he studied composition. He recorded with the Cinderella Roof Orchestra in 1926, then returned to England, where he entered Cambridge University in the autumn as a law student. This lasted only a year; soon after reaching England, Elizalde formed a new band, the Quinquaginta Band, which became highly successful and influential on the development of British jazz music in the late 20s. He recorded with his band in 1927 under several ensemble names for Brunswick and Decca, including the Cambridge Undergraduates. In his run at the Savoy Hotel in London, his band featured many of the best players in early British jazz, including Norman Payne, Jack Jackson, and Harry Hayes, as well as Americans such as Chelsea Quealey, Bobby Davis, Fud Livingston, Adrian Rollini, and Arthur Rollini. In December 1928, he released a short film Christmas Party filmed in the DeForest Phonofilm sound-on-film process. The band was voted best popular dance orchestra in Melody Maker in 1928, but in July 1929 his contract expired and was not renewed. In the same period, Elizalde composed works which melded jazz and European concert music elements. In 1928 he visited Germany and became closely associated with Siegfried Wagner. He also conducted orchestras in Germany, Belgium and the Netherlands. In 1928 he wrote the music for Pola Negri's final silent film, The Way of Lost Souls (1929).
Elizalde broke up his band in 1929 after a poorly received tour in Scotland and the onset of the Great Depression, which necessitated the return home of many of his American sidemen. He led a new group at the Duchess Theater in London in 1930, but later that year returned to Manila to accept a position as conductor of the Manila Symphony Orchestra. He conducted in the 1930s in Biarritz, Paris, and Madrid, and recorded for the last time in 1933 on a brief return trip to Britain. His symphonic poems Jota, Spiritual and Moods were written in these years. In 1931-33 he was in Paris, where he was closely associated with Maurice Ravel and Darius Milhaud, and conducted the first performances of some of Milhaud's works. In 1932 he composed some songs for Conchita Supervía and incidental music for La pájara pinta by R. Alberti. Sadly his career is even much richer and longer than this text case is able to show (see e.g. Wikipedia) This hot side was waxed in 1927.