Charlie Kerr (11 August 1890

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

– 7 October 1976

Coconut Grove, Miami, Florida Coconut Grove, also known colloquially as The Grove, is the oldest continuously inhabited neighborhood of Miami in Miami-Dade County, Florida. The neighborhood is roughly bound by North Prospect Drive to the south, LeJeune Road to the west, So ...

) was an American jazz drummer who led a jazz orchestra bearing his name in Philadelphia beginning in the early 1920s. In 1922, Kerr led orchestra in the first radio remote broadcast of a dance in history from the Café L'Aiglon, Philadelphia, via WIP radio. Throughout the 1930s, his orchestra continued broadcasting on stations WFI and WLIT, which merged as

WFIL WFIL (560 AM) is a radio station in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States, with a Christian radio format consisting of teaching and talk programs. Owned by Salem Media Group, studios and transmitter facilities are shared with co-owned WN ...

in 1935. During the summers of the 1930, through World War II years, his orchestra performed in Cape May City, New Jersey. Kerr retired from music in the late 1940s and opened his own furniture store in Miami.

Members of the Charlie Kerr Orchestra

* Frank Guarantee (1893–1942) – trumpet * Cecil Way – trumpet * Joseph DeLuca – trombone *

Tommy Dorsey Thomas Francis Dorsey Jr. (November 19, 1905 – November 26, 1956) was an American jazz trombonist, composer, conductor and bandleader of the big band era. He was known as the "Sentimental Gentleman of Swing" because of his smooth-toned trombo ...

(1905–1956) – trombone * Leo McConville (1900–1968) – trumpet * Vincenzo D'Imperio (born 1885) – saxophone * Jerry DeMasi (born 1901) – saxophone *

Stan Keller Stan Keller (' Stanley Keller Grubb, (1907–1990) was an American bandleader, composer, arranger, and woodwind player who led his own orchestra — ''Stan Keller and His Orchestra''. Keller was a member of the original Pennsylvanians, the Cal ...

(1907–1990) – saxophone * William A. Bove (born 1901) – piano * Robert McCracken – piano * Michael O. Trafficante (born 1892) – double bass * Albert Valante – violin *

Joe Venuti Giuseppe "Joe" Venuti (September 16, 1903 – August 14, 1978) was an American jazz musician and pioneer jazz violinist. Considered the father of jazz violin, he pioneered the use of string instruments in jazz along with the guitarist Eddie ...

(1903 –1978) – violin *

Eddie Lang Eddie Lang (born Salvatore Massaro, October 25, 1902 – March 26, 1933) was an American musician who is credited as the father of jazz guitar. During the 1920s, he gave the guitar a prominence it previously lacked as a solo instrument, as p ...

(1902–1933) – banjo, guitar

Employers as a musician

The Bellevue-Stratford Hotel The Bellevue-Stratford Hotel is a landmark building at 200 S. Broad Street at the corner of Walnut Street in Center City Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Constructed in 1904 and expanded to its present size in 1912, it has continued as a well-known ...

, Philadelphia ( 1918)

Family

In 1918, Charlie married Edna VanDusen Kerr ''(née'' Hilt; 1894–1980). They had two children, Harry Nagle Kerr,

D.O. Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine (DO or D.O., or in Australia DO USA) is a medical degree conferred by the 38 osteopathic Medical school in the United States, medical schools in the United States. DO and Doctor of Medicine, Doctor of Medicine (MD) ...

(1912–1998) and Edward Allison Kerr (1924–2010). Charlie’s parents, Henry Nagle Kerr (1867–1951

Miami Miami ( ), officially the City of Miami, known as "the 305", "The Magic City", and "Gateway to the Americas", is a coastal metropolis and the county seat of Miami-Dade County in South Florida, United States. With a population of 442,241 at th ...

) and Mary Emma Kerr ''(née'' Thomas; 1867–1943

) were married in 1889.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kerr, Charles Edward 1890 births 1976 deaths American jazz drummers 20th-century American drummers American male drummers 20th-century American male musicians American male jazz musicians