Biography
Vic Berton emerged as an inventive percussionist during jazz’s formative period and grew up amid a household rich in musical talent. Accounts indicate that he appeared in a pit orchestra by the time he reached seven, after his professional violinist father introduced him to the instrument around age five. The youngster also explored piano and drums, the latter skill earning him a 1903 position with the Alhambra Theatre pit orchestra in Milwaukee. He concentrated on tympani study while most contemporaries played children’s games.
By sixteen he performed with the Milwaukee and Chicago symphony orchestras and, during the First World War, joined John Philip Sousa’s navy band. In the early 1920s Berton worked Chicago engagements alongside Art Kahn, Paul Beise, and Arnold Johnson, later directing his own ensemble at the Merry Gardens club. In 1924 he assumed management of the Wolverines, the ensemble linked to trumpeter Bix Beiderbecke, though his own participation remained sporadic. From the mid-decade onward he collaborated with Roger Wolfe Kahn, Don Vorhees, and Red Nichols while maintaining a heavy schedule as a studio session player. His final eastern engagement before relocating to the West Coast was a brief 1927 tenure with bandleader Paul Whiteman.
In Los Angeles, Berton joined Abe Lyman and pursued steady film-studio employment. Paramount Pictures engaged him, and for a time he served as the studio’s musical director. He also ranked among the principal percussionists of the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra. During the 1940s he worked as a studio musician for 20th Century Fox, meaning any prominent percussive sounds on that studio’s soundtracks from the period may well have originated with him.
Relative to many contemporaries, Berton’s recorded legacy has received comparatively thorough documentation. Reissues of early jazz material now present his contributions in steadily improving fidelity. He also composed actively, co-authoring numerous jazz themes and arrangements; among them, the plaintive “Sobbin’ Blues” became a staple of the New Orleans repertory. His brother Ralph Berton likewise pursued a career as a jazz drummer and later chronicled the music in print.
By sixteen he performed with the Milwaukee and Chicago symphony orchestras and, during the First World War, joined John Philip Sousa’s navy band. In the early 1920s Berton worked Chicago engagements alongside Art Kahn, Paul Beise, and Arnold Johnson, later directing his own ensemble at the Merry Gardens club. In 1924 he assumed management of the Wolverines, the ensemble linked to trumpeter Bix Beiderbecke, though his own participation remained sporadic. From the mid-decade onward he collaborated with Roger Wolfe Kahn, Don Vorhees, and Red Nichols while maintaining a heavy schedule as a studio session player. His final eastern engagement before relocating to the West Coast was a brief 1927 tenure with bandleader Paul Whiteman.
In Los Angeles, Berton joined Abe Lyman and pursued steady film-studio employment. Paramount Pictures engaged him, and for a time he served as the studio’s musical director. He also ranked among the principal percussionists of the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra. During the 1940s he worked as a studio musician for 20th Century Fox, meaning any prominent percussive sounds on that studio’s soundtracks from the period may well have originated with him.
Relative to many contemporaries, Berton’s recorded legacy has received comparatively thorough documentation. Reissues of early jazz material now present his contributions in steadily improving fidelity. He also composed actively, co-authoring numerous jazz themes and arrangements; among them, the plaintive “Sobbin’ Blues” became a staple of the New Orleans repertory. His brother Ralph Berton likewise pursued a career as a jazz drummer and later chronicled the music in print.