Jean Goldkette & His Orchestra-Clementine (From New Orleans)

Jean Goldkette (1893–1962), born in Valenciennes (France) was a jazz pianist and bandleader who spent his childhood in Greece and Russia, and emigrated to the States in 1911. He led many jazz and dance bands, of which the best known was his Victor Recording Orchestra of 1924 – 1929, which included, at various times, Bix Beiderbecke, Hoagy Carmichael, Chauncey Morehouse, the Dorsey Bros, Bill Rank, Eddie Lang, Frankie Trumbauer, Pee Wee Russell, Steve Brown, Doc Ryker and Joe Venuti, among others. In 1927, Paul Whiteman hired away most of Goldkette's better players. Goldkette later helped organize McKinney's Cotton Pickers and Glen Gray's Orange Blossoms, which became famous as the Casa Loma Orchestra. In the 1930s he left jazz to work as a booking agent and classical pianist. In 1939, he organized the American Symphony Orchestra which debuted at Carnegie Hall. He moved to California in 1961, and the following year died in Santa Barbara, California. This great record was made in 1927.