James Kok

Romanian violinist, bandleader and arranger, born January 24, 1902 in Cernauti, Romania [now Chernovtsy, Ukraine], died October 18, 1976 in Berlin, Germany. Worked and recorded in Germany from 1923 to 1935, and in Romania in 1935, then emigrated to Switzerland in 1939 and stayed there for two decades. Besides violin, Kok played the saxophone, the clarinet, and the piano; he was "[...] not an outstanding jazz soloist, but his bands (for which Kok made arrangements) played in the style of the Jimmie Lunceford and Casa Loma orchestras." (Rainer E. Lotz, The New Grove dictionary of jazz, 1988) Kok was most successful in Germany, specifically in Berlin, which was the European "fun capital" at the time. His father was one of the community leaders in Cernauti, Romania, James Kok's hometown, and an enthusiastic amateur violinist. After graduation James decided to drop medicine against his parents' wishes and devoted himself to music. During his studies at Prague Conservatory, he focussed on the violin, but also learned to play the clarinet, the saxophone and the piano. In order to avoid military service in Romania, Kok moved to Berlin in 1923. There he started his first dance band and was soon booked for profitable engagements in the most popular clubs and dance halls of the German capital. Tours took him to Hamburg, Dresden and Warnemünde as well as to Vienna and Basel. In 1931 he formed one of Berlin's most successful orchestras. Like many successful bandleaders, Kok employed some excellent musicians who were to become famous in later years such as Franz Grothe and Fritz Schulz-Reichel. After 1933 the happy party was over for James Kok and his "Tanzorchester" as both the Nazis and envious fellow musicians kept putting obstacles in the way. When they found out about Kok's 'non-Aryan' mother, he found himself blacklisted by the Reichsmusikkammer, was declared an "undesirable foreigner", and finally left Germany in 1935. Kok returned to Romania and bought his way out of military service. He immediately started a new band, which soon became a huge attraction at prestigious Bucharest locations. Radio broadcasts also helped him reach an enthusiastic audience. As his fame extended beyond Bucharest and his home country, Kok tried to go back on tour and finally managed to perform in Amsterdam, The Hague and Zurich. In 1939, when war broke out, Kok moved to Switzerland. When the war was over, the local authorities advised his Romanian musicians to leave the country. Kok immediately started a new band, this time with Swiss musicians. He remained successful until medical problems with his arm forced him to stop playing the violin. After a long stay with relatives in the USA, he moved back to Berlin in 1969.