Welcome to the “Jazz Age”

“One thing I like about jazz, kid, is that I don’t know what’s going to happen next. Do you?”

Bix Biederbeck

The 1920's saw huge social transformations in western society. This decade of economic prosperity encompassed women's suffrage, art deco, and not coincidentally, the rise of Jazz. This new form of music, which (of course) was considered decadent by the older generation, was fresh and alive—and so very easy to dance to. The Charleston, first introduced about 1923, can be considered the father (or mother) of swing dancing.

So popular was this new form of music that it came to dominate all forms of entertainment—the public just couldn't get enough. Dance clubs sprang up, new dances were invented, and old favorites were rewritten in the new style. Large scale radio broadcasts—another technology introduced in this age—broadcast jazz throughout the western world.

Those were heady days for musicians. The music was hip, the pay fairly good, and the musicians got to do what they do best, which is get up the crack of noon, play a few gigs, and give everybody nicknames. Good names too—names that stuck. In fact, any musician worth his horn had a nickname.

The Palace

The Palace Hot Society Orchestra reflects the jazz band as it was during the twenties. The band is made up of three reed players (playing saxes and clarinets), four brass players (trumpets, trombone and tuba), three rhythm players (banjo, piano and drums) and some "optional" color players (violins or other instruments). During this decade, there were no electric amps, so guitars and bass would have to wait another ten years or so.

The Palace Musicians

Manager, Director, Librarian
"Smilin’" Jim Strickland
Reeds	Brass
Richard "Faster!" Bunter: Soprano/Alto Sax, Clarinet	Randy "Lockjaw" Jones: Trumpet/Cornet
Tom "Toots" Stipulkowsky: Soprano/Tenor Sax, Clarinet	Ray "Screamin'" Linaweaver: Trumpet
Larry "Tavelin' Man" Cossid: Sop/Alto/Bari Sax, Clarinet	Rick "Hot Lips" Perl: Trombone
	Jim "Hats" Wade: Tuba, St. Bass, Vocals
Rhythm	Color
Charlie "Tip Toe" Myerson: Banjo/Guitar
Barbara "Boop-boop" Reed: Piano, Vocals	Jean "Nighthawk" Maxey: Clarinet
Lloyd "Butch" McCausland: Drums

The Palace Alumni

Bruce Edmiston (Reeds), John Eyre (Reeds), John Stenger (Reeds), Joanie Collins (Violin), Tracy Miller (Reeds), Diz Mullin (Trumpet & Vocals), Bob Burns (Trumpet), Hershey Bell (Trombone), Brian Dalton (Violin), Todd Temanson (Banjo & Guitar), Randy Caplan (Reeds), Dan Willard (Reeds), Debbie Baldwin-May (Violin), Spike Evans (Reeds), Larry Jones (Trombone), Karl Keller (Clarinet), Henry Nava (Reeds), Chris Norman (Violin), Mike Wheeler (Trombone), Mike Wallace (Trombone), Scott Yawger (Trumpet), John Herbert (Trumpet).

The Palace Book

The Palace has an extensive collection of 20’s arrangements which includes some of the standards of the period like Charleston, King Porter Stomp, Blue Skies and the obscure (Here Comes the Hot Tamale Man, Brainstorm, If I Give up the Saxophone (will you come back to me?). See our play list for more.

The Palace Recording

"When You're Smiling, a Tribute to Larry Shay" was recorded by the Palace in 2004 and is available through CD Baby. From the liner notes:

“When You’re Smiling” What better way to look at the world, and when Larry Shay wrote this with Mark Fisher and Joe Goodwin in 1929, things were looking up. World War One was 10 years in the past, the music business was booming and PROHIBITION was coming to an end. No one was looking for the depression that would take charge of the next decade. This song would certainly be a “lifter-upper” for those next years that were the thirties.