Biography
Although Elmer Schoebel remains a minor figure in jazz annals, several of the pieces he wrote went on to become enduring standards, among them “Bugle Call Rag,” “Farewell Blues,” “Nobody’s Sweetheart,” “Copenhagen,” and “Prince of Wails.” He launched his professional life by supplying piano accompaniment for silent films in Champaign, Illinois, later supporting an assortment of vaudeville and stage performers. By 1920 he had joined Chicago’s 20th Century Jazz Band. His widest recognition as a performer came from the recordings and engagements he shared with the New Orleans Rhythm Kings in 1922–1923. After that association ended, Schoebel formed his own ensemble, traveled to New York in 1925 as a member of Isham Jones’ Orchestra, and then returned to Chicago, where he worked briefly with Louis Panico and Art Kassel while also supplying arrangements to Melrose Publishing House. During the 1930s he concentrated on writing, eventually serving as chief musical arranger for Warner Bros’ New York publishing division. Occasional performances resumed in the late 1940s, including stints with Conrad Janis’ Band and Blue Steele’s Rhythm Rebels in 1958, as well as leadership of small groups in St. Petersburg, Florida. He continued to play until his death, yet remained largely overlooked even as his compositions stayed in circulation. The only session issued under his own name produced the two 1929 recordings of “Copenhagen” and “Prince of Wails.”