Charlie Elgar

Anthony Charles "Charlie" Elgar ( born June 13, 1879 in New Orleans; † August 1973 in Chicago ) was a jazz bandleader and violinist in the Chicago of the 1920s.

He studied violin at the age of 12 at various music schools and played from 1903 to Bloom Theater Philharmonic Orchestra in Chicago. He then returned to New Orleans for a few years back before he went back to Chicago in 1913 and founded his own band. He worked there many musicians from New Orleans, said Manuel Perez. His quintet, he expanded the commitment from 1917 to 1922 in the Dreamland Ballroom in Chicago on a 15- man big band. The band went with the revue Plantation Days on European tour (without Elgar ). He was a member of the Southern Syncopated Orchestra of Will Marion Cook and with this on a European tour. After his return he again directed his own bands in Chicago ( like his Creole Band) and Milwaukee. According to Tom Lord 1926 he was involved as a bandleader and violinist with a record session. From 1930 he worked primarily as a teacher and in the musicians' union.

In his band played, among others, Lorenzo Tio, Louis Cottrell Sr., Barney Bigard, Ben Thigpen (the father of Ed Thigpen ), Darnell Howard and Omer Simeon.