"Cobblestones" Bob Deikman's Orchestra (Gennett, 1927)

Robert Lee “Bob” Deikman, p, dir. Kermit Simmons, t, v / Harland Arnold tb / Augustus Curry and Charles Dupere, as, ss, cl / Harold Cain, ts, ss, cl / Frank Rich, bj / Serge Fockles or Ray Snyder, d / I. A. Zay, bb.
Gennett Recording Laboratories
Richmond, IN 14 Nov. 1927
GEX-941-A “Cobble Stones” (Sidney Clare-Lew Pollock) - v. Kermit Simmons Gnt 6325
Transferred with 3.0ML lateral stylus via 3.0ML VM95SP cartridge and an Audiotechnica AT-LP120 Turntable. Declicked and given light EQ by Colin Hancock. Disc from Colin Hancock Collection. Discographical Information from Rust’s “American Dance Band Discography” and “Jazz Records,” DAHR, Newspapers.com, Matthew Rivera, and Colin Hancock.
Robert Lee “Bob” Deikman was born on April 11, 1903 in Lima to Leo and Bell Deikman, two Ohioans themselves. It’s not known when he picked up the piano, but at the age of 16 or so Deikman quit school to become a full time musician. His first band was known as the “Knote Knockers” but this was changed to “Bob Deikman’s Music Masters” around 1921. By the following year the five piece band consisted of two saxophonists, a banjo, a drummer, and Deikman on piano, and could be found playing at the city’s Winter Garden dance hall.
Though it’s not known how consistent this lineup was, it seems that by 1924 all that had really changed was the addition of a trumpeter, and a listing of the personnel that year gave Ray Bowman on trumpet, Michael Hauer and Harold Cain on reeds, Charles Bishop on banjo and violin, Ray Snyder on drums and Deikman on piano. The band built quite a following during this time and by 1925 they were at nine pieces with the addition of a tuba, third saxophone, and trombone. They also began playing out of town more, including regular shows in Avon and Akron. Deikman also played regular Friday night shows for the Lima Elks Club, and even travelled to Cincinnati on occasion for WLW radio engagements, broadening their fanbase. That spring the band finally got the chance to record, cutting their first sides for Gennett acoustically in Richmond, only about an hour and a half south of Lima. The band proudly advertised themselves as “Lima’s Only Recording Orchestra” and their popularity in the midwest skyrocketed. Their lineup around the time of the first session included Deikman on piano, Raymond Zint on trumpet and vocals, Harlan Arnold on trombone, Gilbert Miller and M. M. Johnson on reeds, William Davis on banjo and steel guitar, Ray Snyder on drums, and Cliff Selig on brass bass, string bass, and saxophone.
For the rest of the 20s, the band continued to flip flop seasonally between summer lakeside gigs on Lake Erie and winter gigs back in Lima. Deikman also took on the job of band booker, getting the orchestra many smaller private event gigs. In 1926, the band reogranized, adding trumpeter and vocalist Kermit Simmons, who provided many of the band’s vocals on their subsequent Gennett recordings made electrically, and taking a gig at the Danceland Ballroom. The full lineup in 1927 was Deikman on piano, Simmons on trumpet and vocals, Harland Arnold on trombone, Augustus Curry, Charles Dupere, and Harold Cain on reeds, Frank Rich on banjo, Serge Fockles on drums, and I. A. Zay on brass bass. In 1928 Deikman took over leadership of the Elk’s Ballroom which he often rented out for other events and used as a home-base for his event planning business.
In the 1930s the band was hired by the state of Ohio to play the summers at the Gordon State Park Pier Ballroom, lucrative work to have during the depression. Vocalist Carl Young was also added around this time, and in an effort draw up more business in 1931 Deikman rebranded the Elks into the “Palais Royale.” Gigs at Springfield’s Terrace Gardens and Country Club, Bryan’s Wayne Park, and Sidney’s Sandy beach helped the band scrape through the hardest years of the depression, as did a short stint broadcasting for NBC. By the end of the decade, Deikman was mostly performing waltzes and old hits, and had to take a job working at the Lima Locomotive works to support himself. In 1939 he briefly stopped leading his band, jumping ship with drummer Ray Snyder (from his original grou) to play with saxophonist Art Mowery’s lounge band. This didn’t last long though, and by the early 40s Deikman was once again trying lead his own group. But with the death of one bandmate and the swearing in as a judge of another, Deikman was done bandleading by the 50s. He relocated to Dayton, working in the Frigidaire division of General Motors before his retirement. He died there on April 17, 1975.