150 Years of Harry Yerkes

But who was he, you ask? Harry Yerkes (1872-1954) was initially a marimba player and xylophone player, but through a good bit of entrepreneurial cunning he was able to parlay that into becoming an important man in show business in the early years of the 20th century. First, he invented a system of mechanical bells and chime that made him a good bit of dough. What he is best known for though is managing and recording a series of popular prototypical jazz bands from roughly 1917 to 1924, with names like the Yerkes’ Jazarimba Orchestra, Yerkes’ Marimbaphone Band, the Yerkes Novelty Five, the Yerkes Happy Six, Yerkes’ S. S. Flotilla Orchestra. In addition to recording, many of these outfits also performed live dates in vaudeville, nightclubs and dance halls. Yerkes also released his own solo recordings through 1923. He was an executive at Columbia, recorded for Edison and Vocalion, and started his own label Yerkes Dance Records.

For more on show biz history, pleaseconsult No Applause, Just Throw Money: The Book That Made Vaudeville Famous,