Editing Ben Pollack

{{short description|American swing drummer and bandleader (1903–1971)}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=December 2014}}
{{Infobox musical artist
| name            = Ben Pollack
| image           = Benpollackcalif2.jpg
| landscape       = yes
| caption         = Pollack and His Californians, Chicago, 1926: (L-R) [[Glenn Miller]], [[Benny Goodman]], [[Gil Rodin]], Harry Green, Ben Pollack, [[Fud Livingston]], Al Harris, Harry Goodman, Vic Briedis, Lou Kastler
| birth_name      =
| birth_date      = {{birth date|1903|06|22}}
| birth_place     = [[Chicago]], Illinois, U.S.
| death_date      = {{death date and age|1971|06|07|1903|06|22}}
| death_place     = {{nowrap|[[Palm Springs, California]], U.S.}}
| genre           = {{flatlist|
*[[Jazz]]
*[[dixieland]]
*[[swing music|swing]]
*[[big band]]}}
| occupation      = Musician, bandleader
| instrument      = Drums
| years_active    = 1923–1971
| label           = {{flatlist|
*[[Banner Records|Banner]]
*[[Cameo Records|Cameo]]
*[[Domino Records (1924)|Domino]]
*[[Lincoln Records|Lincoln]]
*[[Perfect Records|Perfect]]
*[[Romeo Records|Romeo]]
*[[Bluebird Records|Bluebird]]
*[[Brunswick Records|Brunswick]]
*[[Vocalion Records|Vocalion]]}}
| associated_acts = {{flatlist|
*Harry Bastin Band
*[[New Orleans Rhythm Kings]]}}
}}

<ref>{{Cite web |title=Join Ancestry® |url=https://www.ancestry.ca/offers/join?dbid=5186&gsfn&gsln&h=272518&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.ancestry.ca%2Fdiscoveryui-content%2Fsearch%2Fcollections%2F5186%2Frecords%2F272518 |access-date=2025-03-10 |website=www.ancestry.ca}}</ref>'''Benjamin "Ben" Pollack''' (June 22, 1903 – June 7, 1971)<ref name="LarkinJazz">{{cite book|title=[[Encyclopedia of Popular Music|The Guinness Who's Who of Jazz]]|editor=[[Colin Larkin (writer)|Colin Larkin]]|publisher=[[Guinness Publishing]]|date=1992|edition=First|isbn=0-85112-580-8|pages=323/4}}</ref> was an American drummer and bandleader from the mid-1920s through the [[swing music|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".<ref name="mg">{{cite news|title='Father of Swing' Ben Pollack dies|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1946&dat=19710609&id=_ZguAAAAIBAJ&pg=2502,2201762&hl=en|access-date=2 June 2016|work=The Montreal Gazette|agency=Associated Press|date=June 9, 1971|page=36}}</ref>

==Music career==
{{Moresources|section|date=August 2023}}
===Early years===
Pollack was born in [[Chicago]], learned to play drums in high school and formed groups on the side, performing professionally in his teens.<ref name="Rust">{{Cite AV media notes |title=Futuristic Rhythm: Ben Pollack and his Park Central Orachestra - 1928 to 1929 |title-link= |last=Rust |first=Brian |author-link= |first2= |last2= |author-link2= |others= |url= |date=1982 |access-date= |chapter= |page= |pages= |at= |type= |publisher=Saville |id=SVL 154 |location= }}</ref> He joined the [[New Orleans Rhythm Kings]] in Chicago in 1923 and later joined the Los Angeles-based [[Harry Bastin]] Band.<ref name="Rust" /><ref name="Eder">{{cite web|last1=Eder|first1=Bruce|title=Ben Pollack {{!}} Biography & History|url=https://www.allmusic.com/artist/ben-pollack-mn0000137077/biography|website=[[AllMusic]]|access-date=November 14, 2016}}</ref> 

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,<ref name="Rust" /><ref>{{cite news|title=(Ballroom Pickering Park ad)|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/5463610/the_san_bernardino_county_sun/|newspaper=[[The San Bernardino County Sun]]|date=September 1, 1925|location=California, San Bernardino|page=4|via = [[Newspapers.com]]|access-date = June 2, 2016}} {{Open access}}</ref> there in 1925, also known as ben Pollack and his Californians,<ref name="Rust" /> which had some performances broadcast on [[WLW]] radio in [[Cincinnati]], [[Ohio]].<ref>{{cite news|title=(radio listing)|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/5463660/the_journal_news/|newspaper=The Journal News|date=March 5, 1926|location=Ohio, Hamilton|page=15|via = [[Newspapers.com]]|access-date = June 2, 2016}} {{Open access}}</ref>

Over time the band included [[Benny Goodman]], [[Glenn Miller]], [[Jack Teagarden]], and [[Jimmy McPartland]].<ref name="Rust" /><ref name="Eder" /> One of the earliest members of his band was [[Gil Rodin]], a saxophonist whose business acumen served him well later as an executive for the [[Music Corporation of America]].

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 Records|Banner]], [[Perfect Records|Perfect]], [[Domino Records (1924)|Domino]], [[Cameo Records|Cameo]], [[Lincoln Records|Lincoln]], [[Romeo Records|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.<ref name="LarkinJazz"/> To this end, he signed [[Ray Bauduc]] to handle the drumming chores.<ref name="LarkinJazz"/> 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.<ref name="Rust" /> 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 Teagarden|Charlie]], on trumpet. [[Eddie Miller (jazz saxophonist)|Eddie Miller]] was also signed as a [[tenor saxophone|tenor saxophonist]] in 1930.

===Breakup and reformation===
The band broke up in 1935.<ref name="Rust" /> Many of its members soon formed a group led by [[Bob Crosby]], brother of [[Bing Crosby]].<ref name="LarkinJazz"/><ref name="Rust" />

Pollack formed a new band with [[Harry James]] and [[Irving Fazola]].<ref name="LarkinJazz"/> With James he wrote the hit "Peckin'". In the early 1940s, he organized a band led by comedian [[Chico Marx]]. He started [[Jewel Records (Hollywood record label)|Jewel Records]], opened restaurants in Hollywood and Palm Springs, appeared as himself in the movie ''[[The Benny Goodman Story]]'', and made a cameo in ''[[The Glenn Miller Story]]''.<ref name="Rust" />

Pollack's bands from the 1920s through the 1940s included [[Benny Goodman]], [[Bud Freeman]], [[Dick Cathcart]], [[Eddie Miller (jazz saxophonist)|Eddie Miller]], [[Frank Teschemacher]], [[Freddie Slack]], [[Glenn Miller]], [[Charlie Spivak]],  [[Harry James]], [[Irving Fazola]], [[Jack Teagarden]], [[Jimmy McPartland]], [[Joe Marsala]], [[Matty Matlock]], [[Muggsy Spanier]], and [[Yank Lawson]].<ref name="Eder" />

==Personal life==
Pollack and Doris Robbins, who had no children, were divorced in 1957.<ref name=mg/> In later years, after suffering a series of financial losses, Pollack grew despondent and hanged himself in his home in Palm Springs in 1971.<ref name=mg/><ref>{{cite web|url=https://syncopatedtimes.com/ben-pollack-1903-1971/|title=Ben Pollack (1903-1971)|date=April 30, 2020 |access-date=April 30, 2020}}</ref> 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."<ref>{{cite news|title=(Aaron's advertisement)|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/5463761/the_daily_courier/|work=The Daily Courier|date=February 3, 1927|location=Pennsylvania, Connellsville|page=3|via = [[Newspapers.com]]|access-date = June 2, 2016}} {{Open access}}</ref>

Pollack left Victor in late 1929 and recorded for [[Hit of the Week]] (1930), the dime store labels ([[Banner Records|Banner]], [[Cameo Records|Cameo]], [[Domino Records (1924)|Domino]], [[Lincoln Records|Lincoln]], [[Perfect Records|Perfect]], [[Romeo Records|Romeo]]) (1930–1931), Victor (1933), [[Columbia Records|Columbia]] (1933–1934), [[Brunswick Records|Brunswick]], [[Vocalion]] and Variety (1936–37), and [[Decca Records|Decca]] (1937–1938).

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".

==Compositions==
Pollack co-wrote the jazz standard "[[Tin Roof Blues]]" in 1923 when he was a member of the [[New Orleans Rhythm Kings]]. The band's trombonist [[George Brunies]] is also credited as a composer. In 1954, [[Jo Stafford]] recorded "[[Make Love to Me (1954 song)|Make Love to Me]]", which used Pollack's music from "Tin Roof Blues". "Make Love to Me" was No. 1 for three weeks in ''[[Billboard magazine|Billboard]]'' magazine and No. 2 in ''[[Cash Box magazine|Cashbox]]''. The song was also recorded by [[Anne Murray]] and [[B. B. King]].

==Filmography==
* ''[[Presenting Lily Mars]]'' (1943) – saxophonist in Bob Crosby's Orchestra (uncredited)
* ''[[Dark City (1950 film)|Dark City]]'' (1950) – bettor (uncredited)
* ''Disc Jockey'' (1951) – himself
* ''[[The Glenn Miller Story]]'' (1954) – himself
* ''[[The Benny Goodman Story]]'' (1956) – himself

==References==
{{reflist}}

==Notes==
* ''Jack Teagardenn's Music – His Career and Recordings'' by Howard J. Waters, Jr. (Walter C. Allen, 1960)
* ''Jazz Records 1897–1942'' by Brian Rust, 5th revised and enlarged edition (Storyville Publications, 1982)

==External links==
* [https://adp.library.ucsb.edu/names/103192 Ben Pollack recordings] at the [[Discography of American Historical Recordings]].
* [https://syncopatedtimes.com/ben-pollack-profile-in-jazz/ Ben Pollack: Profiles in Jazz] at The Syncopated Times
* [https://syncopatedtimes.com/ben-pollack-1903-1971/ Ben Pollack (1903-1971] at the Red Hot Jazz Archive

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pollack, Ben}}
[[Category:American jazz drummers]]
[[Category:Drummers from Chicago]]
[[Category:American jazz bandleaders]]
[[Category:Jewish American musicians]]
[[Category:American big band bandleaders]]
[[Category:Swing drummers]]
[[Category:Savoy Records artists]]
[[Category:Suicides by hanging in California]]
[[Category:Musicians from Palm Springs, California]]
[[Category:1903 births]]
[[Category:1971 suicides]]
[[Category:Jewish jazz musicians]]
[[Category:20th-century American drummers]]
[[Category:American male drummers]]
[[Category:Jazz musicians from Illinois]]
[[Category:Jazz musicians from California]]
[[Category:20th-century American male musicians]]
[[Category:American male jazz musicians]]
[[Category:New Orleans Rhythm Kings members]]
[[Category:Discovery Records artists]]
[[Category:20th-century American Jews]]
[[Category:1971 deaths]]
[[Category:Drummers from California]]