# Bob Chester

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{{More footnotes needed|date=November 2012}}
{{short description|American jazz musician (1908–1966)}}
{{Infobox musical artist
| name            = Bob Chester
| image           = Bob Chester, June 1947 (Gottlieb 01231).jpg
| caption         = Bob Chester, photographed by [William P. Gottlieb](/source/William_P._Gottlieb), June 1946
| image_size      = 240px
| birth_name      =
| alias           =
| birth_date      = {{birth date|1908|03|20}}
| birth_place     = [Detroit](/source/Detroit), [Michigan](/source/Michigan), United States   
| death_date      = {{Death date and age|mf=yes|1966|10|29|1908|03|20}}
| death_place     = Detroit, Michigan, United States   
| instrument      = [Saxophone](/source/Saxophone)
| genre           = [Jazz](/source/Jazz)
| occupation      = [Musician](/source/Musician)<br />[Bandleader](/source/Bandleader)
| years_active    = 1930s–1950s
| label           = [Bluebird](/source/Bluebird_Records)
| past_member_of = [Tommy Dorsey](/source/Tommy_Dorsey)
| website         = 
}}

'''Bob Chester''' (March 20, 1908 – October 29, 1966)<ref name="Chirps">{{Cite web|url=https://bandchirps.com/band/bob-chester|title=Bob Chester|website=BandChirps.com|access-date=August 19, 2021}}</ref> was an American [jazz](/source/jazz) and pop music [bandleader](/source/bandleader) and tenor saxophonist.

Chester was born in [Detroit](/source/Detroit), [Michigan](/source/Michigan), United States.<ref name="Chirps"/> His stepfather ran [General Motors](/source/General_Motors)'s Fisher Body Works.<ref name="Chirps"/> He began his career as a [sideman](/source/sideman) under [Irving Aaronson](/source/Irving_Aaronson), [Ben Bernie](/source/Ben_Bernie), and [Ben Pollack](/source/Ben_Pollack).<ref name="AMG">{{Cite web|url=https://www.allmusic.com/artist/bob-chester-mn0000761570|title=Bob Chester &#124; Biography & History|website=[AllMusic](/source/AllMusic)|access-date=August 19, 2021}}</ref> He formed his own group in Detroit in the mid-1930s,<ref name="AMG"/> with a [Glenn Miller](/source/Glenn_Miller)-influenced sound. This band was unsuccessful in local engagements and quickly dissolved. He then put together a new band on the East Coast under the direction of [Tommy Dorsey](/source/Tommy_Dorsey) and with arrangements by [David Rose](/source/David_Rose_(musician)).<ref name="AMG"/> This ensemble fared much better, recording for [Bluebird Records](/source/Bluebird_Records).

Chester's group, billed "The New Sensation of the Nation," had its own radio show on [CBS](/source/CBS) briefly in the fall of 1939. The twenty-five-minute program aired from the [Hotel Van Cleve](/source/The_Hotel_Van_Cleve) in [Dayton, Ohio](/source/Dayton%2C_Ohio) late on Thursday nights (actually 12:30 am Friday morning, [Eastern Time](/source/Eastern_Time_Zone)); the September 21, 1939 edition can be heard on the [One Day In Radio](/source/WJSV_broadcast_day) tapes, archived by [Washington D.C.](/source/Washington_D.C.) station [WJSV](/source/WFED).

Chester's Bluebird records have proved excellent sellers, both for retail dealers and coin phonograph operators such as "From Maine to California"; "Wait Till the Sun Shines, Nellie"; "Madeliaine"; and two songs from "Banjo Eyes" - "Not a Care in the World" and "A Nickel to My Name".<ref>''[Billboard](/source/Billboard_(magazine))'', February 21, 1942</ref> His only national hit was "[With the Wind and the Rain in Your Hair](/source/With_the_Wind_and_the_Rain_in_Your_Hair)" (b/w "I Walk With Music"; Bluebird 10614), which featured Dolores O'Neill on vocals and went to No. 18 on the chart in April 1940.

Chester's orchestra included trumpeters Alec Fila, [Nick Travis](/source/Nick_Travis), [Lou Mucci](/source/Lou_Mucci), and [Conrad Gozzo](/source/Conrad_Gozzo), saxophonists [Herbie Steward](/source/Herbie_Steward) and [Peanuts Hucko](/source/Peanuts_Hucko), drummer [Irv Kluger](/source/Irv_Kluger), and trombonist [Bill Harris](/source/Bill_Harris_(trombonist)).<ref name="AMG"/> His female singers included [Dolores O'Neill](/source/Dolores_O'Neill), [Kathleen Lane](/source/Kathleen_Lane), and [Betty Bradley](/source/Betty_Bradley); among his male singers were [Gene Howard](/source/Gene_Howard), [Peter Marshall](/source/Peter_Marshall_(entertainer)), [Bob Haymes](/source/Bob_Haymes), and [Al Stuart](/source/Al_Stuart).<ref name="AMG"/>

The orchestra disbanded in the mid-1940s, due in part to the shrinking market for [big band](/source/big_band) sound.<ref name="AMG"/> After a stint as a [disc jockey](/source/disc_jockey) at [WKMH](/source/WDTW_(AM)) radio, Chester assembled another band for a short time in the early 1950s, but after it failed he retired from music and returned to Detroit, to work for the rest of his life in auto manufacturing.<ref name="AMG"/>

Bob Chester died in October 1966, at the age of 58.<ref name="Chirps"/>

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20070208195853/http://www.parabrisas.com/d_chesterb.php Bob Chester] at Parabrisas.com

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Chester, Bob}}
Category:1908 births
Category:1966 deaths
Category:American jazz bandleaders
Category:American jazz tenor saxophonists
Category:American male saxophonists
Category:American big band bandleaders
Category:20th-century American saxophonists
Category:20th-century American male musicians
Category:American male jazz musicians
Category:Bluebird Records artists

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Bob Chester](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bob_Chester) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bob_Chester?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.