The Wolverine Orchestra

The Wolverine Orchestra (sometimes referred to as "The Original Wolverines") was the premier Midwestern territory jazz band of the mid-'20s, and is remembered primarily as the group in which jazz legend Bix Beiderbecke generally became known to audiences. Although over time it changed hands, leaders, and its entire personnel, there was a "Wolverine Orchestra" active in the American Midwest through 1931, and a continuous thread can be drawn forward from the group that featured Beiderbecke through all the other ensembles up to that date. The same cannot be said for the many, man...