[Dixielandjazz] Fw: Some information on the Art Hickman Orchetra

[Jack Mitchell]

William Oakley wrote:


>* <http://www.redhotjazz.com/hickmaninfo.html>Art Hickman and his
> Orchestra started out at the St. Francis Hotel (335 Powell Street) in
> San Francisco in 1913. In those early years of Jazz he was even
> described by the press as the originator of Jazz, which was clearly not
> the case and which Hickman also denied. In 1916 the jazz craze started
> up in New York City with the success of the Original Dixieland Jass Band
> <http://www.redhotjazz.com/odjb.html>. The popularity of this style of
> music continued to grow and in 1919 the Hickman Orchestra went to New
> York to play at the Biltmore Hotel and record with Columbia. The trip
> was very successful for the band and they returned briefly to San
> Francisco in 1920, but they were soon offered a part in Ziegfeld
> Follies. The Follies was one of the hottest show business tickets in
> those days and the Hickman returned to New York and were part of the
> show for five months in 1920. In 1921 Hickman sent a smaller group to
> London, England to play under the name of Art Hickman's New York London
> Five <http://www.redhotjazz.com/newyorklondon.html>. Hickman did not
> accompany band on this trip. Returning to California the band played
> residencies at hotels in San Francisco and Los Angeles. In 1926 Hickman
> Orchestra joined another Ziegfeld show, this time in Palm Beach,
> Florida, but in the midst all of this success, Hickman's health began to
> fail and he had to turn down gigs. In 1929 he was hospitalized and he
> died in 1930 of Banti's disease. The style of Jazz that Art Hickman's
> Orchestra played had a lot in common with the early music of Paul
> Whiteman's Orchestra <http://www.redhotjazz.com/pwo.html> (who also
> started out in San Francisco). Both groups saw themselves elevating the
> music beyond the wild and crazy sounds of Original Dixieland Jass Band
> <http://www.redhotjazz.com/odjb.html> and Ted Lewis
> <http://www.redhotjazz.com/tedlewis.html> and in the words of Whiteman
> <http://www.redhotjazz.com/whiteman.html>, "trying to make a lady out of
> Jazz". *

Australian promoter James Bendrodt (originally a Canadian) heard the Hickman 
Orchestra in New York and tried to get Hickman to bring the Orch. to 
Australia. Hickman wouldn't come but a group of sidemen under the leadership 
of pianist Frank Ellis came to Sydney's Palais Royal in April, 1923. They 
were a sensation in Australia, also playing Melbourne. By 1926 the orch was 
led by saxophonist Walter Beban, and consisted of four of the Americans and 
four Australians. Only two of the sides they recorded for Columbia were 
issued - MILENBERG JOYS and THAT CERTAIN PARTY - and they are excellent hot 
jazz recordings, with no suggestion of Paul Whiteman! Of course that was a 
decade after Hickman's success at the St Francis Hotel in San Francisco, and 
lots had happened to jazz in the meantime.

Best wishes
Jack Mitchell

PS: I've never considered the music of the ODJB to be crazy.