Daily Dose Of Jazz…

Sterling Belmont “Bozo” Bose was born on September 23, 1906 in Florence, Alabama and his style was heavily influenced by Bix Beiderbecke and changed little over the course of his life.

His early experience came with Dixieland jazz bands in his native Alabama before moving to St. Louis, Missouri in 1923. He played with the Crescent City Jazzers, the Arcadian Serenaders, and the Jean Goldkette’s Orchestra in 1927-28 after the departure of Beiderbecke. Following this he worked in the house band at radio station WGN in Chicago, Illinois before joining Ben Pollack from 1930 to 1933. He also worked with Eddie Sheasby in Chicago.

Moving to New York City in 1933, Bose had many gigs in the city during the 1930s to the mid 1940s, including time with Joe Haymes, Tommy Dorsey, Ray Noble, Benny Goodman, Lana Webster, Glenn Miller, Bob Crosby, Bobby Hackett, Bob Zurke, Jack Teagarden, Bud Freeman, George Brunies, Bobby Sherwood, Miff Mole, Art Hodes, Horace Heidt, and ending with Tiny Hill in 1946.

Following this period he did some further freelancing for the next two years in Chicago and New York, and finally moved to Florida in 1948, setting up his own bands there. Suffering from an extended period of illness in the 1950s, trumpeter and cornetist Sterling Bose, whose nickname was Bozo, eventually committed suicide in June of 1958. in St. Petersburg, Florida.

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