Hot Dance 1925: Jan Garber & His Orchestra - I Want To Be Happy, 1925

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Jan Garber & His Orchestra - I Want To Be Happy, HMV 1925

NOTE: Jan (Jacob Charles) GARBER (1894 --1977) American bandleader born in Indianapolis, Indiana. Later his family moved to Philadelphia area, where he studied violin. Garber played violin with the Philadelphia Symphony Orchestra after World War I and formed the Garber-Davis Orchestra with pianist Milton Davis from 1921--1924. After parting with Davis, he formed his own orchestra, playing both "sweet" and "hot" 1920s dance music. He became known as "The Idol of the Airwaves" in his heyday of the 1920s and 1930s, playing jazz in the vein of contemporaries such as Paul Whiteman, Art Hickman or Abe Lyman. He was hit hard by the Great Depression, and in the 1930s, he refashioned his ensemble into a big band and recorded a string of successful records for Victor. During World War II, Garber began playing swing jazz, but the recording restrictions in America during the war eventually made his ensemble unfeasible, and he returned to "sweet" music after the war, continuing to lead ensembles nearly up until the time of his death in Shreveport, Louisiana, in 1977.