Description

JACQUES JACOBS (AMSTERDAM, 31 OCTOBER, 1872 – BROUWHUIS, 12 AUGUST, 1963)

Jacques Jacobs was a violinist and band leader. He mentored Percy Grainger. He branched into marketing music. His older brother was the Dutch comedian Eduard Jacobs.

Jacques was the youngest of three born to Hijman Jacobs and Judik Hamburger. His father died in the same year Jacques was born. Judik’s family were musicians. Judik raised him, and his older brother musically. They were proficient with most instruments, but Ezechiel would gravitate to the piano and cabaret, while Jacques preferred the violin and classical music. Their sister died aged three. Ezechiel would claim that their father had been a jewel merchant, and he had been in the family business before adopting stage music. Jacques married a slightly older woman, Elizabeth Hurwitz, in 1896 and moved to London where he led the band of the Trocadero Restaurant. He started when the Trocadero began.

In London, Jacques started a family with a boy (Henry) and then a girl (Sarine). In the early 1900s, Percy Grainger went to London and began a five-decade association with Jacques as a mentor. They toured Australia and South Africa. Jacques diversified, managing bands that played for silent pictures. Percy Grainger praised Jacques’ stage performance, referring to his extraordinary memory for playing classical music. Jacques was an early adopter of technology and some of his music still exists on vinyl and is retained by the British Library national sound archive of 1914.

Jacques went on to establish a business in producing sheet music for light classics and popular music. He reestablished on the US East Coast. A Trocadero establishment seemed to have been built where he was living. The London Trocadero closed within two years of Jacques’ death.

TRACKLIST

1. Faust (Wieniansk) Berliner 7919 1859 6-4-99
2. Pizzicata from Sylvia Berliner 7921 1855 6-4-99
3. Salut d’Amour (Elgar) G&T 7941 113 N -4-01
4. Serenata (Moszkowski) G&T 7945 936 G-N -01
5. Violin Concerto Finale (Mendelssohn) G&T 7917 1850 5-4-99
6. Zigeumerweisen (Sarasate) Berliner 7906 569 29-12-98
7. Jacques Jacobs’ Ensemble Espana Waltz Instrumental (Waldteufel) Columbia 02560 98301 1926
8. Jacques Jacobs’ Ensemble Wiener Blut (Vienna life) (Strauss) Columbia 02556 98306 1926
9. Jacques Jacobs’ Ensemble L’Estudiantina (Waldteufel) Columbia 02560 98300 1926
10. Jacques Jacobs’ Ensemble Sobre los olas Over the Waves (Rosas) Columbia 02556 98298 1926