Jacques Wolfe was born in Botoşani

Botosani

Botoșani is the capital city of Botoșani County, in northern Moldavia, Romania. Today, it is best known as the birthplace of many celebrated Romanians, including Mihai Eminescu and Nicolae Iorga.- Origin of the name :...

, Romania

Romania

Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeastern Europe, on the Lower Danube, within and outside the Carpathian arch, bordering on the Black Sea...

, on April 29, 1896. His family emigrated to New York while he was a very young child. He displayed musical talent as a youngster and at 16, he entered the Institute of Musical Art, now known as Juilliard School. During World War I, he was stationed at Governor’s Island, where he played clarinet in a military band. Transferred south, Wolfe made his first direct contact with African-American music. He was fascinated with the genre and did extensive research on the history of black folk songs and spirituals. He became inspired to write his own music based on the style. His spirituals and “work songs” became very popular in sheet music form in the early 1930s. In 1934 Wolfe collaborated with poet Langston Hughes

Langston Hughes

James Mercer Langston Hughes was an American poet, social activist, novelist, playwright, and columnist. He was one of the earliest innovators of the then-new literary art form jazz poetry. Hughes is best known for his work during the Harlem Renaissance...

 to write “Sad Song in de Air,” published by Robbins Music Corp.

Jacques Wolfe is credited with writing "Short'nin' Bread" in 1928. The song is a vaudeville "blackface

Blackface

Blackface is a form of theatrical makeup used in minstrel shows, and later vaudeville, in which performers create a stereotyped caricature of a black person. The practice gained popularity during the 19th century and contributed to the proliferation of stereotypes such as the "happy-go-lucky darky...

" song written for stage during blackface shows. The music was published by Harold Flammer and distributed by G. Schirmer in New York

New York

New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...

.

Also set "Three Negro Poems" by Clement Wood to music for "medium or low voice and piano." Published in 1928 by G. Schirmer, the three songs are entitled: Debil-Foot, De Glory Road and Gwine to Hebb'n. De Glory Road appears dedicated to Paul Robeson

Paul Robeson

Paul Leroy Robeson was an American concert singer , recording artist, actor, athlete, scholar who was an advocate for the Civil Rights Movement in the first half of the twentieth century...

.

Wolfe wrote the music for the 1931 film “The Prodigal” and in 1938, composed the music for a Broadway musical based on Roark Bradford’s “John Henry,” starring Paul Robeson in the title role. The musical opened in January 1940 and, some reviewers thought because of a weak script, closed five days later.

In later life, Wolfe lived in Miami and turned his interest to photography.