Introduction
Charles F. Dornberger (June 5, 1898—February 8, 1944) was an American American saxophonist and bandleader. He also played clarinet, piano, and accordion.
Early life
Charles Dornberger was born on June 5, 1898, in New York, in a family originally from Germany. He had two elder siblings. His mother, Pauline, was from the Alsace-Lorraine region, a former territory of the German Empire, located in modern-day France.
Career
A self-taught musician, Dornberger met celebrated composer Paul Whiteman during service in the U.S. Navy in 1918; Dornberger was a pilot and Whiteman was training musicians for the Naval Training Camp Symphony. After the war ended, Whiteman returned to San Francisco and organized a dance orchestra in December 1919. Dornberger joined the orchestra as a saxophonist alongside pianist Charles Caldwell, trombonist Buster Johnson, tuba player J. K. Wallace, trumpeter Henry Busse, drummer Harold McDonald, saxophonist Leslie Canfield, and banjoist Mike Pingitore. The ensemble played regularly at the Alexandria Hotel in Los Angeles, California,
Dornberger left the orchestra the following spring as he began his tour to the East Coast.
In 1923, Dornberger formed his own orchestra, Charles Dornberger Orchestra, and scored a record contract with Victor Talking Machine Company. That year, the orchestra released a ragtime jazz track "Oh! Sister, Ain't That Hot!" on Victor.
In 1927, his orchestra covered "Tiger Rag" on a compilation album titled The Roaring Twenties on ABC Records. A 1917 jazz standard, "Tiger Rag" has also been covered by many other celebrated artists such as Louis Armstrong, Bix Beiderbecke, Ray Noble, Art Tatum, and Andre Kostelanetz. Other notable musicians on The Roaring Twenties were—Isham Jones ("Doo Wacka Doo"), Harry Reser ("Ukelele Lady"), Al Jolson ("When The Red, Red Robin Comes Bob, Bob Bobbin' Along"), Johnny Marvin ("There's A Rainbow Round My Shoulder"), Eddie Walters ("H'Lo Baby"), Bix Beiderbecke and Bing Crosby ("Changes"), Red Nichols("The Varsity Drag"), Helen Kane ("That's My Weakness Now"), Eddie Cantor("Makin' Whoopee!"), Cliff Edwards ("Singin' In The Rain"), and Chick Endor ("Sunny Side Up").
Charles Dornberger's orchestra had a fair amount of success and played at various theatres, hotels, restaurants, and ballrooms, including the Congress Hotel in Chicago; Signal Mountain Inn in Chattanooga, Tennessee; Roseland Ballroom in New York; and the Hollywood Restaurant. They were very popular in Canada. From 1922 to 1932, he made 54 recordings (most of them for Victor), but many of them were never issued.
Dornberger eventually retired from the music business and opened a bar called "The Circus Tent" in Santa Ana, California, in September 1938.
Death
Dornberger was a trained pilot (he had served as a pilot during World War I). On February 8, 1944, he was killed when the plane he was flying crashed in Reno, Nevada. On the plane, there was also a woman, Ethelwyn Kidwell, who was injured. There is varying information as to whether she was a flight student or whether she was his girlfriend (Dornberger was married but had separated from his wife at the time).