Weintraubs Syncopators

1920s German Jazz Band

German hot jazz dance orchestra active in 1920s/30s Weimar Republic Berlin. Founded by Stefan Weintraub and Horst Graff in 1924 as "Tanzkapelle Stefan Weintraub", they became very popular in cabarets and theaters. Stefan Weintraub moved from piano to drums when Friedrich Hollaender joined them as pianist in 1926. All the members were multi-instrumentalists. They started to work with Franz Wachsmann, who often substituted for Friedrich Hollaender. They worked in early sound movies ("Der Blaue Engel" with Marlene Dietrich) and with many popular singers of the period. After the Nazi takeover in 1933, this band of mainly Jewish musicians decided to move away from Germany and continued touring in Western and Eastern Europe and farther East to Japan and China. They arrived in Sydney, Australia, in 1937. The band broadcast 1938-1939, but the decision of some of them to stay brought them into conflict with the aggressively protectionist Musicians' Union of Australia. They disbanded in 1940 when three members were interned as "enemy aliens" but were released after a short time. Several members stayed on in Australia after WWII and were active in music, such as Leo Weiss (known as Leo White (4)) and Stefan Weintraub (d. Sydney Sept, 1981).