Ben Pollack (June 22, 1903 – June 7, 1971)[1] was an American drummer and bandleader from the mid-1920s through the swing era. His eye for talent led him to employ musicians such as Benny Goodman, Jack Teagarden, Glenn Miller, Jimmy McPartland, and Harry James. This ability earned him the nickname the "Father of Swing".[2]
Pollack was born in Chicago, learned to play drums in high school and formed groups on the side, performing professionally in his teens.[3] He joined the New Orleans Rhythm Kings in Chicago in 1923 and later joined the Los Angeles-based Harry Bastin Band.[3][4]
In 1924, he returned to Chicago, where he played for several bands, including Art Kessel's, which ultimately led to his forming a band, the 12-piece Venice Ballroom Orchestra,[3][5] there in 1925, also known as ben Pollack and his Californians,[3] which had some performances broadcast on WLW radio in Cincinnati, Ohio.[6]
From about 1928, with involvement from Irving Mills, members of Pollack's band moonlighted at Plaza-ARC and recorded a vast quantity of hot dance and jazz for their dime store labels — Banner, Perfect, Domino, Cameo, Lincoln, Romeo — under the names Mills' Merry Makers, Goody's Good Timers, Kentucky Grasshoppers, Mills' Musical Clowns, The Lumberjacks, Dixie Daises, The Caroliners, The Whoopee Makers, The Hotsy Totsy Gang, Dixie Jazz Band, and Jimmy Bracken's Toe Ticklers. Combining Pollack's regular recordings with these side groups made Pollack's one of the more prolific bands of the 1920s and 1930s.
Pollack's band played in Chicago and moved to New York City in 1928, having obtained McPartland and Teagarden around that time. This outfit enjoyed immense success, playing for Broadway shows and winning an exclusive engagement at the Park Central Hotel. Pollack's band was involved in extensive recording activity at that time, using a variety of pseudonyms in the studios. The orchestra also made a Vitaphone short subject sound film.
Pollack, in the meantime, had fancied himself as more of a bandleader-singer type instead of a drummer.[1] To this end, he signed Ray Bauduc to handle the drumming chores.[1] The band was booked by the Park Central Hotel in New York, during which time they became known as Ben Pollack and his Park Central Orchestra.[3] Benny Goodman and Jimmy McPartland left the band in mid-1929. They were replaced by Matty Matlock on clarinet and Jack Teagarden's brother, Charlie, on trumpet. Eddie Miller was also signed as a tenor saxophonist in 1930.
Pollack and Doris Robbins, who had no children, were divorced in 1957.[2] In later years, after suffering a series of financial losses, Pollack grew despondent and hanged himself in his home in Palm Springs in 1971.[2][7] He was buried in the Hollywood Forever Cemetery.
Labels
In 1926, Pollack began recording for the Victor Talking Machine Company. A 1927 newspaper ad promoted "a new Victor organization – Ben Pollack and His Californians."[8]
Most of these records are listed in discographical books (such as Brian Rust's Jazz Records) as by Irving Mills. Jack Teagarden's Music lists them as a "Ben Pollack Unit".
