Born in Hamburg, Germany, on February 17, 1898, Alex Hyde became a U.S. citizen while still an infant, after emigrating with his parents. Tutored by a professional violinist, he performed in New York cafés and worked for a while with Mike Denzi's Red Devils. Hyde is said to have visited Germany immediately after WWI, entertaining U.S. military personnel in the occupied Rhineland. During the early '20s, Hyde led one of Paul Whiteman's numerous offshoot bands, the Romance of Rhythm Orchestra. Hyde's first recordings were made with this group in Montreal in 1923 and subsequently issued on the Victor label. His next move was to relocate to London, England, where from December 1923 throughout much of 1924, Hyde led a British jazz band at the Piccadilly Hotel, sharing the bill with Jack Hylton. On May 1, 1924, Alex Hyde's Orchestra made its debut at the Tivoli Variete in Hanover, Germany, but this engagement soon teetered on the brink of financial disaster. Just as the unpaid ensemble was about to dissolve, a Russian dancer by the name of Ivan Bankoff paid all of Hyde's debts and took the band under his wing. Alex Hyde's New York Orchestra now took Berlin by storm and stood the German public on its ear with a species of corny, "doo-wacka-doo" hot novelty dance music. Hyde's enormous popularity has been attributed to snappy arrangements and the introduction of buzzer mutes and Besson B flat trumpets in an environment where only rotary valve C trumpets had been regularly used. After playing Munich's Deutches Theater in June 1924, Hyde disbanded, sailed for the U.S., and returned to Germany in 1925 with a much better, more authentic hot jazz ensemble. This put him in Berlin at about the same time as Sam Wooding's Chocolate Dandies. By the end of the 1920s and throughout the 1930s, Hyde assembled and produced a series of all-female orchestras. He then retired from music to co-manage an insurance company with his brothers and passed away in Santa Monica, CA, on July 7, 1956. ~ arwulf arwulf, All Music Guide