Biography of james european

Today’s post was written by Bob Nowatzki, Archives Technician in Research Services at the National Archives in College Park, Maryland.

The musical career of American jazz bandleader, composer, and arranger James Reese Europe (1881-1919) was as influential and unique as it was tragically short. He played a leading role in introducing early jazz music into the U.S. military as a lieutenant during World War I in the all-Black 369th Infantry Regiment (known as the “Harlem Hellfighters”), in which he served as a band leader. In addition, he promoted jazz – the music genre created by African Americans – in France while his regiment was attached to the French Army as part of the American Expeditionary Forces during the war. Europe’s concerts before audiences of French, British, and American military personnel was the birth of European interest in jazz music.

Born to Loraine Saxon and Henry Jefferson Europe in Mobile, Alabama on February 22, 1881, James moved with his parents and four siblings to Washington, DC when he was ten years old. In 1904 he moved to New York City, where in 1910 he formed an organization of African American musicians called the Clef Club in Harlem. The Clef Club Orchestra, the first all-Black orchestra in the U.S., consisted of 125 musicians, and it took New York City by storm when it performed a concert at Carnegie Hall in 1912. In the following years Europe recorded music for Victor Talking Machine Company. While this syncopated music was more like ragtime music than early jazz, it clearly was a precursor to the music that later became known as jazz and that was associated with New Orleans-based musical legends such as Sidney Bechet, Buddy Bolden, “King” Oliver, “Kid” Ory, and Louis Armstrong. In 1913 Europe formed Europe’s Society Orchestra (which included the famous jazz dancers Vernon and Irene Castle) in New York City as well as the 369th Infantry Regiment’s “Hellfighters Band” in France. Reese and his band returned with the 369th to

American jazz musician and US Army officer (1880–1919)

Musical artist

James Reese Europe (February 22, 1880 – May 9, 1919) was an American ragtime and early jazzbandleader, arranger, and composer. He was the leading figure on the African-American music scene of New York City in the 1910s. Eubie Blake called him the "Martin Luther King of music".

Early life

Europe was born in Mobile, Alabama, to Henry Jefferson Europe (1848–1899) and Loraine Saxon (maiden; 1849–1930). His family – which included four siblings, Minnie Europe (Mrs. George Mayfield; 1868–1931), Ida S. Europe (1870–1919), John Newton Europe (1875–1932), and Mary Loraine (1883–1947) – moved to Washington, D.C., when he was 10 years old.

Europe moved to New York in 1904. He had a son, James Reese Europe Jr (1917–2001) with Bessie Simms (1888–1931).

Band leader

In 1910, Europe organized the Clef Club, a society for Black Americans in the music industry. In 1912, the club made history when it played a concert at Carnegie Hall for the benefit of the Colored Music Settlement School. The Clef Club Orchestra, while not a jazz band, was the first band to play proto-jazz at Carnegie Hall. It is difficult to overstate the importance of that event in the history of jazz in the United States – it was 12 years before the Paul Whiteman and George Gershwin concert at Aeolian Hall, and 26 years before Benny Goodman's famed concert at Carnegie Hall. The Clef Club's performances played music written solely by Black composers, including Harry T. Burleigh and Samuel Coleridge-Taylor. Europe's orchestra also included Will Marion Cook, who had not been in Carnegie Hall since his own performance as solo violinist in 1896. Cook was the first black composer to launch full musical productions, fully scored with a cast and story every bit as classical as any Victor Herbert operetta. In the words of Gunther Schulle

James Reese Europe, one of the first African Americans to record music in the United States, was born on February 22, 1881 in Mobile, Alabama

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to Henry and Lorraine Europe.  When he was ten, his family moved to Washington D.C.

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where he began to study violin with Enrico Hurlei, the assistant director of the Marine Corps Band.  In 1904, Reese moved to New York to continue his musical studies.

In 1910, Europe founded one of the most well known African American organizations during that time, The Clef Club, a part union and part fraternal organization which owned a building on West 53rd Street.  Europe was the Clef Club’s first elected president as well as the conductor of its symphony orchestra.  The Clef Club Orchestra appeared at Carnegie Hall for the first time on May 2, 1912 and later in 1913 and 1914.  The Carnegie Hall concerts gave the Clef Club Orchestra respectability in upper class circles and as a result, they were engaged to play at many of the most elite functions in New York, London (UK), Paris (France), and on yachts traveling worldwide.  The Orchestra generated over $100,000 in bookings during the period.  In 1913 Europe also made the first of a series of phonograph records for the Victor Talking Machine Company.

At the beginning of World War I, Reese joined New York Army National Guard as a private but shortly after passing the officer’s exam was commissioned as a Lieutenant.  He was assigned to the all-black 369th U.S. Infantry Regiment popularly known as the Harlem Hellfighters.  When his musical background became known he was asked by his commanding officer, Colonel William Hayward, to form a military band as part of his combat unit.  Hayward told Europe to get musicians wherever he could, and Reese did just that.  Europe knew tha

James Reese Europe and Band Mobile native James Reese Europe (1880-1919) was an accomplished orchestra conductor, bandleader, and composer of popular songs, marches, and dance music during the early twentieth century. A key figure in the transformation of orchestral ragtime into jazz, Europe was an effective champion of African American musical performers and composers and helped to gain acceptance for them in the United States and abroad. As a result, he was an important influence on the evolution of American music at a pivotal time in the nation's history.

Born in Mobile on February 22, 1880, James Reese Europe was the fourth of five children of Henry and Lorraine Europe, who were themselves native to Alabama's port city. Lorraine was the freeborn daughter of one of the earliest African American members of the Episcopal Church of Mobile, whereas her husband, Henry, who had been born into slavery before the Civil War, was active in the Baptist Church and employed by the Internal Revenue Service with the Port of Mobile.

At the end of Reconstruction, Henry Europe accepted a position with the National Postal Service in Washington, D.C., and in 1889 the family moved to the nation's capital. Music was important to the Europe family, and all the children received instruction in classical piano and violin. James's first formal music teacher was the young violinist Joseph Douglass, grandson of the abolitionist Frederick Douglass, and he also studied composition with a former member of the Leipzig Conservatory and with an assistant director of the U.S. Marine Corps Band. After graduating from high school and deciding upon a career in music, Europe left Washington in 1902 or early 1903 for New York City, where the prospects for black professional musicians and entertainers were brighter. Over the next eight years, Europe became well known as a composer of popular songs and instrumentals and as a successful musical director for a number of major shows that featured such