Austin Wylie 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...

 bandleader.

Wylie led a dance band in the 1920s and early 1930s which operated as a territory band

Territory band

Territory bands were dance bands that crisscrossed specific regions of the United States from the 1920s through the 1960s. Beginning in the 1920s, the bands typically had 8 to 12 musicians. These bands typically played one-nighters, 6 or 7 nights a week at venues like VFW halls, Elks Lodges,...

 based out of Cleveland, Ohio

Cleveland, Ohio

Cleveland is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and is the county seat of Cuyahoga County, the most populous county in the state. The city is located in northeastern Ohio on the southern shore of Lake Erie, approximately west of the Pennsylvania border...

, though he also broadcast on national radio. The band was sometimes billed as the Golden Pheasant Orchestra. A number of noted jazz musicians played in Wylie's orchestra, such as Jack Jenney

Jack Jenney

Truman Eliot "Jack" Jenney was a jazz trombonist who might be best known for instrumental versions of the song Stardust. Born in Mason City, Iowa, Jenney played with his father's band from age 11, his father was a musician and music teacher, but his first professional work began with Austin Wylie...

, Tony Pastor

Tony Pastor (bandleader)

Tony Pastor was an Italian American novelty singer and tenor saxophonist, who played tenor sax with John Cavallaro , Irving Aaronson , Austin Wylie , Smith Ballew , Joe Venuti, Paul Fredricks, Vincent Lopez, and Artie Shaw's first and second orchestras...

, Nate Kazebier

Nate Kazebier

Nate Kazebier was an American jazz trumpeter.Kazebier started on trumpet at age nine. His early experience was in territory bands in the Midwest, with Austin Wylie, Jan Garber, and Slats Randall. In 1935-36 he played in Benny Goodman's band, then moved to California, where he played with Ray...

, Spud Murphy

Spud Murphy

Lyle Stephanovic, better known as Spud Murphy was an American jazz multi-instrumentalist, bandleader, and arranger....

, Bill Stegmeyer

Bill Stegmeyer

Bill Stegmeyer was an American jazz clarinetist and arranger.Stegmeyer attended Transylvania College from 1934 to 1936, and following his studies played with Austin Wylie , Glenn Miller , and Bob Crosby...

, Joe Bishop

Joe Bishop

Joe Bishop was an American jazz multi-instrumentalist and composer.Bishop learned piano, trumpet, and tuba when young, and also played flugelhorn and mellophone. He attended Hendrix College, and played professionally with the Louisiana Ramblers in 1927, including in Mexico...

, Billy Butterfield

Billy Butterfield

Billy Butterfield was a band leader, jazz trumpeter, flugelhornist and cornetist.He studied cornet with Frank Simons, but later switched to studying medicine. He did not give up on music and quit medicine after finding success as a trumpeter. Early in his career he played in the band of Austin Wylie...

, Johnnie Davis

Johnnie Davis

Johnnie Davis, also billed as Johnny Davis and Johnnie "Scat" Davis, was an American actor and singer....

, Vaughn Monroe

Vaughn Monroe

Vaughn Wilton Monroe was an American baritone singer, trumpeter and big band leader and actor, most popular in the 1940s and 1950s. He has two stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for recording and radio.-Biography:...

, Claude Thornhill

Claude Thornhill

Claude Thornhill was an American pianist, arranger, composer, and bandleader...

, and Artie Shaw

Artie Shaw

Arthur Jacob Arshawsky , better known as Artie Shaw, was an American jazz clarinetist, composer, and bandleader. He was also the author of both fiction and non-fiction writings....

.

Shaw also served as arranger and director for the group. After Shaw formed his own band later in the 1930s, Wylie acted as his manager. He died in Crile Veterans Hospital in 1947 at the age of 54.