Bernard Etté

Etté was the son of a hairdresser and studied music formally at the Louis Spohr Conservatory in Kassel.

He initially worked with Carl Robrecht as an instrumentalist, playing piano and banjo in addition to violin.

[1] During the 1930s, as the Nazi party rose to power, Etté shifted away from jazz to light music, leading a large orchestra; during World War II he played for wounded soldiers on behalf of the Nationalsozialistische Volkswohlfahrt in 1940 and for prison overseers at Auschwitz in 1944.

After the war, he moved to the United States and attempted a new career, but was unsuccessful in adapting to new stylistic trends.

By the end of the 1950s he had quit actively playing music, and lived out his last years in an old folk's home.