Efim Schachmeister
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Chaim "Efim" Schachmeister (22 July 1894 – 6 October 1944) was a German violinist and bandleader. He also recorded under the pseudonyms ''Sascha Elmo'' and ''Joan Florescu''. Born in
Kiev Kyiv, also Kiev, is the capital and most populous List of cities in Ukraine, city of Ukraine. Located in the north-central part of the country, it straddles both sides of the Dnieper, Dnieper River. As of 1 January 2022, its population was 2, ...
to
Romanian Jew This is a list of Romanian Jews who are or were Jewish or of Jewish ancestry. Academics * Aaron Aaronsohn, botanist * Yaakov Bar-Shalom, electrical engineer * J. J. Benjamin, historian * Martin Bercovici, energy engineer * Randolph L. Braham ...
ish parents, from 1910 to 1913 he studied music at the
Stern Conservatory The Stern Conservatory (''Stern'sches Konservatorium'') was a private music school in Berlin with many distinguished tutors and alumni. The school is now part of Berlin University of the Arts. History It was founded in 1850 as the ''Berliner Mu ...
in Berlin. In 1915 he joined the Popescu Gypsy Band (''Zigeuner-Kapelle Popescu''). In 1923 he became bandleader, and the following year embarked on a German tour that ended in April 1925 with an engagement at the
Hotel Excelsior Hotel Excelsior was a hotel in Berlin, Germany. It occupied number 112/113, Königgrätzer Straße (today's Stresemannstrasse) on Askanischer Platz in the Berlin district of Kreuzberg. It was one of the largest and most luxurious hotels in Europ ...
in Berlin. This was followed by engagements at top Berlin dancehalls such as the Barberina, the Palais de Danse, and the Pavillon Mascotte. Beginning in this period he signed with
Deutsche Grammophon Deutsche Grammophon (; DGG) is a German classical music record label that was the precursor of the corporation PolyGram. Headquartered in Berlin Friedrichshain, it is now part of Universal Music Group (UMG) since its merger with the UMG family of ...
, which billed him as the "King of all Dance-Violinists". Even the
Nazi Nazism (), formally named National Socialism (NS; , ), is the far-right politics, far-right Totalitarianism, totalitarian socio-political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Germany. During H ...
-sponsored '' Encyclopedia of Jews in Music'' describes Schachmeister as a "defining jazz bandleader of the "Systemzeit"." Schachmeister's style evolved over the course of the 1920s from
ragtime Ragtime, also spelled rag-time or rag time, is a musical style that had its peak from the 1890s to 1910s. Its cardinal trait is its Syncopation, syncopated or "ragged" rhythm. Ragtime was popularized during the early 20th century by composers ...
to the more modern
jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Its roots are in blues, ragtime, European harmony, African rhythmic rituals, spirituals, h ...
. His orchestra included many notable musicians, including the trumpeter Louis de Vries, the trombonist Henri van den Bossche, the banjoist
Mike Danzi Mike Danzi (September 1, 1898, New York City - February 13, 1986, New York City) was an American jazz and light music banjoist, guitarist, and bandleader. He has been cited as one of several musicians who successfully transplanted American popula ...
, and the pianist Adam Gelbtrunk. He himself played the violin, characteristically in a
gypsy {{Infobox ethnic group , group = Romani people , image = , image_caption = , flag = Roma flag.svg , flag_caption = Romani flag created in 1933 and accepted at the 1971 World Romani Congress , po ...
-manner, but was also capable of adjusting his style to a more
Blues Blues is a music genre and musical form that originated among African Americans in the Deep South of the United States around the 1860s. Blues has incorporated spiritual (music), spirituals, work songs, field hollers, Ring shout, shouts, cha ...
-influenced technique when necessary. His 1927 recording of " Saint Louis Blues" Grammophon B 50106 is illustrative of his tendency to combine elements of Blues and the
shtetl or ( ; , ; Grammatical number#Overview, pl. ''shtetelekh'') is a Yiddish term for small towns with predominantly Ashkenazi Jews, Ashkenazi Jewish populations which Eastern European Jewry, existed in Eastern Europe before the Holocaust. The t ...
style. As a Jew and a jazz musician, he was considered doubly degenerate by the Nazi regime, and left Germany soon after Hitler's rise to power. He first traveled to
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, but later settled permanently in
Argentina Argentina, officially the Argentine Republic, is a country in the southern half of South America. It covers an area of , making it the List of South American countries by area, second-largest country in South America after Brazil, the fourt ...
, along with his fellow German-Jewish bandleaders
Dajos Béla Leon Golzmann or as he was more commonly known, Dajos Béla (19 December 1897 – 5 December 1978), was a Russian jazz violinist and bandleader. Career Golzmann was born in Kyiv, now part of Ukraine, to a Russian father and Hungarian mother. He ...
and Sam Baskini. He died in Argentina in 1944, aged fifty.


References


Sources

* Klaus Krüger: ''Fox auf 78''. Zeitschrift, München/Dietramszell, 2003. * Horst H. Lange, ''Jazz in Deutschland''. Berlin (Colloquium), 1966 u.ö. * Rainer E. Lotz, ''German Ragtime and Prehistory of Jazz – Volume 1: The Sound Documents''. London (Storyville), 1985. * Rainer E. Lotz, ''Diskografie der deutschen Tanzmusik – Band 8''. Bonn (Lotz), 2003. * Rainer E. Lotz, ''Deutsche Hot-Discographie. Cake Walk, Ragtime, Hot Dance & Jazz – ein Handbuch''. Bonn (Lotz), 2006 . * Horst H. J. Bergmeier, Rainer E. Lotz, ''Der Jazz in Deutschland. Vom Cakewalk zum Jazz.'' – Begleitbuch zur CD-Box Bear Family Records BCD 16909 CP, 2007, 26261-X). *
Jürgen Wölfer Jürgen Wölfer (25 December 1944 – 24 July 2015) was a German music writer and historian with focus on Jazz. Life Born in Eisleben, Wölfer studied education, graduated with a diploma and worked for a long time in the record industry, where ...
, ''Jazz in Deutschland – Das Lexikon. Alle Musiker und Plattenfirmen von 1920 bis heute.'' Hannibal Verlag: Höfen 2008, {{DEFAULTSORT:Schachmeister, Efim 1894 births 1944 deaths German jazz violinists Jewish Argentine musicians Jewish violinists German male violinists Jewish emigrants from Nazi Germany to Argentina Musicians from Kyiv 20th-century German violinists 20th-century German male musicians German male jazz musicians Emigrants from the Russian Empire to Germany