Weintraub’s Syncopators

At their top beginning around 1928 the Weintraub Syncopators was the premiere hot jazz band in Germany. The group was produced with the pianist Stefan Weintraub and saxophonist/clarinetist Horst Graff in 1924. In 1927 pianist and arranger Friedrich Hollander had taken over command as Weintraub transferred to drums. They produced their initial recordings another season, and in 1930 made an appearance in the film The Blue Angel with Marlene Dietrich, with whom in addition they documented. The band–most of whom had been Jewish–was compelled into exile as the Nazis increased to power. The proved helpful abroad during a lot of the ‘30s, touring throughout European countries, Asia, and the center East before settling in Australia in 1937. The performed in Australia until that nation was attracted into WWII, when–in a cruelly ironic twist–they had been detained by the federal government as foe aliens. The Syncopators had been as famous for their comic shows as their instrumental virtuosity.