Harry Kandel

American clarinetist and bandleader, one of the pioneers of modern klezmer music, born 1885 in Lemberg, Galicia - died 1943 in Philadelphia, USA. He first served in Russian army bands, before moving to the USA in 1905. He began to work on the vaudeville circuit with the Great Lafayette Band, then appeared on Buffalo Bill's Wild West show. He moved to Philadelphia in 1913 and played in John Philips Sousa's band. In 1916 he formed his own group, Harry Kandel's Famous Inlet Orchestra. Under the name "Kandel's Orchestra" this orchestra began recording for the Victor label in 1917. In addition, Kandel's orchestra used the pseudonym Polska Orkiestra Tancowa to release Polish titles, a polka and several mazurkas, that they recorded in 1918. After recording for Victor for 7 years, Kandel himself became a Victor dealer. In 1924, he opened his own music store, the People's Talking Machine Company, at 502 South Fifth Street in Philadelphia. Three years later, he stopped recording so that he could focus more on running his successful store, but he continued performing on local radio station WRAX on shows that his store was sponsoring.