Fred Elizalde

Federico "Fred" Elizalde (December 12, 1907, Manila - January 16, 1979, Manila) was a Filipino pianist, composer, conductor, and bandleader.

Elizale studied at the Madrid Conservatory and then at St. Joseph's College, London and Stanford University in the 1920s. He took composition lessons under Ernst Bloch at Stanford, and gave up law temporarily for music, leaving the school in 1926. He then embarked on a career as a jazz bandleader, leading the Stanford University Band at the Biltmore Hotel in Los Angeles while he studied composition. He recorded with the Cinderella Roof Orchestra in 1926, then returned to England, where he entered Cambridge University in the fall as a law student. This lasted only a year; soon after reaching England, Elizalde formed a new band which became highly successful and influential on the development of British jazz music in the late 1920s. Elizalde criticized British dance music for its Viennese qualities, and sought to bring more American principles of rhythm to the British scene. He recorded with his band in 1927 under several ensemble names for Brunswick and Decca. In his run at the Savoy Hotel in London, his band featured many of the best players in early British jazz, including Norman Payne, Jack Jackson, and Harry Hayes, as well as Americans such as Chelsea Quealey, Bobby Davis, Fud Livingston, Adrian Rollini, and Arthur Rollini. The band was voted best popular dance orchestra in "Melody Maker" in 1928. Concomitantly, Elizalde also composed works which melded jazz and European concert music elements, including "The Heart of a Nigger" (1927) and "Bataclan" (1929).

Elizalde broke up his band in 1929 just after a poorly received tour in Scotland and the onset of the Great Depression, which necessitated the return Stateside of many of his American sidemen. He led a new group at the Duchess Theater in London in 1930, but later that year returned to Manila to accept a position as conductor of the Manila Symphony Orchestra. He conducted in the 1930s in Biarritz, Paris, and Madrid, and recorded for the last time in 1933 on a brief return trip to Britain. While in Spain he studied under Manuel de Falla and fought in a Basque regiment under Francisco Franco during the Spanish Civil War.

He fell ill during the war and returned to Manila, then moved to France, where he lived under confinement in a house near Bayonne under the German occupation. During this time he composed extensively; works include an opera on the life of Paul Gauguin, a violin concerto, a string quartet, and a piano concerto. In 1948 he returned once again to Manila, where he conducted the Manila SO again, founded the Manila Little Symphony Orchestra, and became president of the national radio broadcasting company. He did some conducting in Japan but did little work outside of the Philippines through his 1974 retirement. Outside of music, he was an excellent sharpshooter and won gold medals as captain of the Philippines shooting team in the 1954 Asiad.

References

*Starkie/Fox/Shipton, "Fred Elizalde". "The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians" online.