The California Ramblers

The California Ramblers were a popular and prolific jazz group from the 1920s, that recorded hundreds of songs under many different record labels throughout the 1920's. Three of the members of the band, Red Nichols, Jimmy Dorsey, and Tommy Dorsey, would go on to front big bands in later decades. [http://www.songfacts.com/detail.php?id=4502]

The original bandmembers were from Ohio, but chose the name "California Ramblers" because they thought people would be less inclined to listen to a jazz band from the Midwest. The "Ramblers" came from the name of one of the venues where they had played, the "Ramblers Inn" in Pelham, New York. The band was instantly successful, and would remain well-known throughout the decade. Perhaps the most prolific recording group in the 1920's [http://www.parabrisas.com/d_californiaramblers.php] , the Ramblers recorded originally for Columbia Records, and then, in conjunction with their manager Ed Kirkebey, agreed to waive all royalties to Columbia for the right to record for other companies under different names. [http://nfo.net/usa/c1.html] They recorded for nearly every independent label in the U.S., Canada and the U.K., using over 100 unique aliases. [http://www.parabrisas.com/d_californiaramblers_n.php List of pseudonyms]

Influence

The California Ramblers were the first group to record the classic song "Has Anybody Seen My Gal?," in 1925, and many people in or associated with the band - Red Nichols, Jimmy Dorsey, Tommy Dorsey, Elwood Madeo Jr., and manager Ed Kirkebey - became some of the most famous and influential figures of the Big band era.