Stefan Weintraub (1897 – 10 September 1981), nicknamed "Steps", was a German jazz musician (piano, drums), bandleader of the Weintraubs Syncopators and Australian mechanic.
Life and career
Born in Breslau, Weintraub began an apprenticeship in the pharmacy trade in 1913 after finishing school in his hometown and was drafted for military service in 1916. After returning from the Great War, he moved to Berlin, where he worked in the food industry. Jazz, the new American dance music, fascinated him; Weintraub was so talented as a pianist that he could effortlessly play tracks. Together with Horst Graff, a Berliner eight years younger, who played the saxophone and also possessed organisational talent, he founded the Tanzkapelle Stefan Weintraub, which soon received the name Weintraubs Syncopators. In 1924, the five-member band performed for the first time.
The Weintraubs Syncopators had such success that its members became professional musicians and expanded the band. Among the members was the chemistry student Ansco Bruinier, who had received cello lessons, but also played the trumpet, saxophone and susaphone and was proficient in artificial whistling as well as singing. His brother Franz S. Bruinier was Bertolt Brecht's first composer. As a pianist and composer, Franz Bruinier participated in musical-literary events, the so-called MA (for "Monday Evening"), in which he involved the Syncopators. It was here that Friedrich Hollaender got to know the group and involved them in the revues he supervised, taking on the piano part himself. As early as 1927, the band therefore appeared in Max Reinhardt's revues "Was sie wollen", "Hetärengespräche", "Das bist du", "Das spricht Bände" and "Bei uns um die Gedächtniskirche rum". When Hollaender joined the band, Stefan Weintraub switched from piano to drums. The band name on the bass drum was now "Weintraubs Syncopators".
What was fascinating about Weintraub's Syncopators was their musical and stylistic versatility between classical parody, Latin American dances, Viennese waltzes, French cabaret chansons, swing music and Chicago jazz: the individual musicians changed several instruments in one title; between the pieces they also changed their clothes to match the respective theme. They also entertained the audience by imitating animal voices, using other instruments, unusual equipment such as kitchen utensils as instruments, or by assuming unusual positions (e.g. lying on the floor) to play. They combined theatrical, grotesque and clownish elements with musical entertainment and jazz in such a virtuoso way that Weintraub's Syncopators were soon recognised as the most sought-after stage show orchestra in Berlin. In the revue "Bitte einsteigen" they appeared as accompanists and fellow players of Josephine Baker at the Theater des Westens. In 1928, the first recordings were made. The band at that time consisted of Friedrich Hollaender (piano), Stefan Weintraub (drums), Paul Aronovici (trumpet), John Kaiser (trombone), Horst Graff (clarinet, alto saxophone), Freddy Wise (tenor saxophone, bass saxophone and clarinet), Cyril "Baby" Schulvater (banjo and guitar) and Ansco Bruinier (trumpet, tuba and bass). Stefan Weintraub had the skills of a bandleader and provided the artistic and the human cohesion between the different musicians.