Frank Etheridge's Travelogue

Frank Etheridge's Traveloque

Frank Etheridge was born on December 18, 1897, in New York. He began playing music from a young age when his mother, Albertine, secured piano lessons for him. He performed in New York City, New York, St. Augustine, Florida, Chicago, Illinois, and numerous other American cities. In 1927, he signed a contract with the Erskine Tate’s Vendome Symphony Orchestra to play in Shanghai. After thirteen months in China, he paired up with Albert Nicholas and traveled to Singapore and Cairo. You can explore a map of his travels here. His musical career took him to Paris, Berlin, and other European cities during the interwar period. Over the course of his life, he played with jazz greats like Noble Sissle, Valadia Snow, Jack Carter, Louis Douglas, and more. In this video, Etheridge plays the banjo in Noble Sissle's Orchestra.



While traveling abroad, Etheridge played in interracial orchestras and for mixed audiences. Many African American jazz musicians preferred the race relations in European countries or Egypt to America's Jim Crow laws. While living abroad did not mean they avoided any racial discrimination, they had more opportunities and more freedom of movement. 

 

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