Bob Chester was an American jazz

Jazz

Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...

 and pop music bandleader and tenor saxophonist.

Chester's stepfather ran General Motors

General Motors

General Motors Company , commonly known as GM, formerly incorporated as General Motors Corporation, is an American multinational automotive corporation headquartered in Detroit, Michigan and the world's second-largest automaker in 2010...

's Fisher Body Works. He began his career as a sideman under Irving Aaronson

Irving Aaronson

Irving A. Aaronson was an American jazz pianist and big band leader.Born in New York, USA, Irving Aaronson learned piano from Alfred Sendry at the David Mannes School for music...

, Ben Bernie

Ben Bernie

Ben Bernie , born Bernard Anzelevitz, was an American jazz violinist and radio personality, often introduced as The Old Maestro. He was noted for his showmanship and memorable bits of snappy dialogue....

, and Ben Pollack

Ben Pollack

Ben Pollack was a drummer and bandleader from the mid 1920s through the swing era. His eye for talent led him to either discover or employ, at one time or another, musicians such as Benny Goodman, Jack Teagarden, Glenn Miller, Jimmy McPartland and Harry James...

. He formed his own group in Detroit in 1939, with a Glenn Miller

Glenn Miller

Alton Glenn Miller was an American jazz musician , arranger, composer, and bandleader in the swing era. He was one of the best-selling recording artists from 1939 to 1943, leading one of the best known "Big Bands"...

-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

Tommy Dorsey

Thomas Francis "Tommy" Dorsey, Jr. was an American jazz trombonist, trumpeter, composer, and bandleader of the Big Band era. He was known as "The Sentimental Gentleman of Swing", due to his smooth-toned trombone playing. He was the younger brother of bandleader Jimmy Dorsey...

 and with arrangements by David Rose

David Rose

David Rose was a British-born American songwriter, composer, arranger, pianist, and orchestra leader. His most famous compositions were "The Stripper", "Holiday for Strings", and "Calypso Melody"...

. This ensemble fared much better, recording for Bluebird Records

Bluebird Records

Bluebird Records is a sub-label of RCA Victor Records originally created in 1932 to counter the American Record Company in the "3 records for a dollar" market. Along with ARC's Perfect Records, Melotone Records and Romeo Records, and the independent US Decca label, Bluebird became one of the best...

.

Chester's group, billed "The New Sensation of the Nation," had its own radio show on CBS

CBS

CBS Broadcasting Inc. is a major US commercial broadcasting television network, which started as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System. The network is sometimes referred to as the "Eye Network" in reference to the shape of...

 briefly in the fall of 1939. The fifteen-minute program aired from the Hotel van Cleve in Dayton, Ohio

Dayton, Ohio

Dayton is the 6th largest city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Montgomery County, the fifth most populous county in the state. The population was 141,527 at the 2010 census. The Dayton Metropolitan Statistical Area had a population of 841,502 in the 2010 census...

 late on Thursday nights (actually 12:30 am Friday morning, Eastern Time); the September 21, 1939 edition can be heard on the famous One Day In Radio tapes, archived by Washington D.C. station WJSV

WJSV

-Educational WJSV :WJSV is a student-run radio station in Morristown, New Jersey. WJSV is run by students of Morristown High School and owned by the Morris School District. WJSV, first bought by the Morris School District in 1971, generally broadcasts Monday through Friday from 7:30 am to 10:00 pm...

.

Chester's orchestra included trumpeters Alec Fila, Nick Travis

Nick Travis

Nick Travis was an American jazz trumpeter.Travis started playing professionally at age 15, playing in the early 1940s with Johnny McGhee, Vido Musso , Mitch Ayres, and Woody Herman...

, and Conrad Gozzo

Conrad Gozzo

Conrad J. Gozzo was an American trumpet player born in New Britain Connecticut on February 6, 1922. Gozzo was a member of the NBC Hollywood staff orchestra at the time of his death on October 8, 1964...

, saxophonists Herbie Steward

Herbie Steward

Herbert Steward , is an American jazz saxophonist.He is best known for being the tenor saxophone player in Four Brothers, part of Woody Herman's Second Herd.-Discography:...

 and Peanuts Hucko

Peanuts Hucko

Michael Andrew "Peanuts" Hucko was an American big band musician. His primary instrument was the clarinet.-Early life and education:...

, drummer Irv Kluger

Irv Kluger

Irving "Irv" Kluger - is an American jazz drummer.Kluger played violin early in life before settling on drums; his first professional gigs came at age 15. He played with Georgie Auld in 1942-43, then with Bob Chester, Freddie Slack, Dizzy Gillespie , Boyd Raeburn , Bobby Byrne and Herbie Fields...

, and trombonist Bill Harris

Bill Harris (musician)

Bill Harris was a jazz trombonist.-Biography:Early in his career, Harris performed with Benny Goodman, Charlie Barnet, and Eddie Condon. He is renowned for his broad, thick tone and quick vibrato that remained for the duration of each tone. He went on to join Woody Herman's First Herd in 1944...

. His female singers included Dodie O'Neill, Kathleen Lane

Kathleen Lane

Kathleen Lane, sometimes billed as Kitty Lane, was a Big Band singer in the 1930s and 40s.-Life and career:She joined Glenn Miller’s unsuccessful first band in May or June 1937, replacing Vi Mele. She recorded five songs with Miller in November and December; "Sweet Stranger" made Metronomes Best...

, and Betty Bradley; among his male singers were Gene Howard

Gene Howard

Gene Howard is a former American football cornerback in the National Football League. He was drafted by the New Orleans Saints in the seventh round of the 1968 NFL Draft. He played college football at Langston University.Howard also played for the Los Angeles Rams....

, Bill Darnell, Joe Harris

Joe Harris

Joe Harris may refer to:* Joe Harris , English cricketer in the 1740s and 1750s* Joe Harris , mathematician* Joe Harris , American first baseman in Major League Baseball...

, Stu Brayton, Hall Stewart, Peter Marshall

Peter Marshall

Peter Marshall may refer to:* Peter Marshall , British author whose works include Demanding The Impossible: A History of Anarchism and Europe's Lost Civilization...

, and Bob Haymes

Bob Haymes

Robert Haymes , also known under the stage names Robert Stanton and Bob Stanton, was an American singer, songwriter, actor and radio and television host. He is best remembered today for co-writing the song "That's All", considered part of the Great American Songbook...

.

The orchestra disbanded in the mid-1940s, due in part to the shrinking market for big band

Big band

A big band is a type of musical ensemble associated with jazz and the Swing Era typically consisting of rhythm, brass, and woodwind instruments totaling approximately twelve to twenty-five musicians...

sound. 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.