Stern Conservatory
Born in Kiev to Romanian Jewish parents, from 1910 to 1913 he studied music at the Stern Conservatory in Berlin. In 1915 he joined the Popescu Gypsy Band ("Zigeuner-Kapelle Popescu"). In 1923 he became bandleader, and the following year embarked on a German tour that ended in April 1925 with an engagement at the Hotel Excelsior in Berlin.