Golden Gate Orchestra

The Golden Gate Orchestra was a dance band that used elements of jazz, à la Paul Whiteman, and recorded for Edison during the mid-'20s. They specialized in popular music of the period, doing highly danceable renditions of tunes such as "The Charleston," "Manhattan," and "Hallelujah," and aimed their records primarily at white audiences. The latter fact has always made them suspect as a true jazz ensemble in the minds of many scholars, but that output also made them important in helping to popularize jazz. The Golden Gate Orchestra was, in fact, an offshoot/alias for the Califo...