Traditionally, the
Jean Goldkette orchestra has been remembered mainly as an appendage of the
Bix Beiderbecke story, as the short-lived cornetist shows up briefly at different junctures in the
Goldkette discography. Perhaps this explains why the Timeless label's sampler of
Goldkette's Victor recordings (waxed in Detroit, Camden N. J., Kansas City and Chicago between March 27, 1924 and January 14, 1929) neatly sidesteps each and every record that
Beiderbecke ever made with this little dance band. (That material appears on the Transatlantic Radio label's
Goldkette compilation, which was released in 2002.) Please note that "Birmingham Bertha" was originally issued as by
Jean Goldkette and His Orchestra but was in reality performed by
McKinney's Cotton Pickers, an Afro-American ensemble largely led by Don Redman and also based in Michigan. A native of Valenciennes France,
Goldkette made a name for himself in Detroit during the early to mid-'20s by providing the public with high quality dance music, some of which found its way onto 78 rpm phonograph records. The examples presented on this collection clearly demonstrate the importance of skilled arrangers (
Russ Morgan, Don Redman) and inspired instrumentalists (trumpeter Sterling Bose), trombonists
Spiegel Wilcox,
Pee Wee Hunt and
Tommy Dorsey, reedmen
Jimmy Dorsey and Volly de Faut, violinist
Joe Venuti and bassist Steve Brown, whose primary influence appears to have been Pops Foster. Most of the singing is done by members of the band; guest vocalists include
Hoagy Carmichael (who also plays piano and cornet) and a trio of females who were billed as "Wynken, Blynken and Nod." ~ arwulf arwulf