Biography
Born around the 1890s in the United States, Ace Brigode died on 3 February 1960, also in the USA. His ensemble, known as Ace Brigode’s Virginians, ranged between ten and fifteen pieces and featured musicians and vocalists such as Fred Brohez, Happy Masefield, Gene Fogarty, Johnny Poston, Eddie Allen, Billy Hayes, Teddy King, Abe Lincoln, Don Juille, Dillion Ober, Cliff Gamet, Bud Lincoln, Al Tresize, Frank Skinner, Ray Welch, Ignaz Berber, Charlie Sexton, Bob Kinsley, Max Pitt and additional players. The name reflected their origins in Charleston, West Virginia, where the group was assembled during the early 1920s under Brigode’s leadership on alto saxophone and clarinet. Late in that decade the Virginians obtained a recording deal with MCA Records, after which they appeared in leading ballrooms and hotels during nationwide tours that also brought regular airplay on broadcasts including The White Rose Gasoline Show and the Jersey Cereal Show. Additional sides continued to appear on Edison, Harmony, Columbia Records and OKeh Records until the unit essentially dissolved at the end of World War II. Following his last engagements as a leader in Salt Lake City, Brigode accepted a position as publicity and promotions manager for the Chippewa Lake Park hotel in Cleveland. His death in 1960 prompted renewed interest in the dance band’s signature number, “Carry Me Back To Old Virginny.”
Singles
