Anton Lada

{{short description|Ragtime and jazz drummer}}

File:Louisiana Five Screen Portrait.jpg]]

Anton Lada (September 25, 1890 – August 28, 1944){{Cite web|url=https://librariesaustralia.nla.gov.au/search/display?dbid=auth&id=49864515|title=Lada, Anton, 1890–1944 – Full record view – Libraries Australia Search|website=Librariesaustralia.nla.gov.au}} was a ragtime, jazz and dance musician.{{Cite web|url=http://www.worldcat.org/identities/lccn-no95-034319/|title=Lada, Anton 1890–1944 [WorldCat Identities]|website=Worldcat.org}} He was a drummer. He played with and was the manager of the Louisiana Five.{{Cite web|url=https://www.loc.gov/audio/?fa=subject:african+americans%7Ccontributor:lada,+%5Banton%5D%7Conline-format:audio%7Csubject:popular+songs+of+the+day%7Cpartof:performing+arts+encyclopedia%7Ccontributor:louisiana+five%7Caccess-restricted:false&c=25&all=true|title=Search results from Audio Recording, African Americans, Lada, [Anton], Audio, Popular Songs of the Day, Performing Arts Encyclopedia, Louisiana Five, Available Online|first1=[anton|last1=lada|first2=louisiana|last2=five|website=Library of Congress}} He recorded on Columbia Records and toured.{{Cite web|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5ZRQAAAAYAAJ&q=anton+lada&pg=RA3-PA25|title=Music Trades|date=February 17, 1921|publisher=Music Trades Corporation|via=Google Books}} Lada performed for dancing and vaudeville shows and made a series of recordings for Emerson Records, Edison Records, and Columbia Records.

He is credited as co-composer of a number of tunes with Spencer Williams, most successfully the "Arkansas Blues".

After the breakup of his first Louisiana Five, he formed a series of his own bands before launching a new "Original Louisiana Five" band and moving to Hollywood to do film scores.{{Cite web|url=https://drumsinthetwenties.com/2019/11/12/heroes-16-anton-lada-1890-1944/|title=Heroes #16: Anton Lada, 1890–1944|date=November 12, 2019}}

Lada was born in Prague in the Kingdom of Bohemia and moved with his family to Chicago as a child.

Lada formed various bands and made recordings with them.{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_J9HAAAAMAAJ&q=anton+lada&pg=PA996|title=Jazz and Ragtime Records (1897–1942): L-Z, index|first=Brian|last=Rust|date=February 16, 2002|publisher=Mainspring Press|isbn=9780967181929|via=Google Books}}{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kHUYAAAAIAAJ&q=anton+lada&pg=PA1007|title=The American Dance Band Discography 1917-1942: Irving Aaronson to Arthur Lange|first=Brian|last=Rust|date=February 16, 1975|publisher=Arlington House|isbn=9780870002489|via=Google Books}}

He composed "Let Us Be Sweethearts Again" with Ernie Erdman in 1921.{{Cite journal|url=https://digitalcommons.conncoll.edu/sheetmusic/834|title=Let Us Be Sweethearts Again|first1=Ernie|last1=Erdman|first2=Anton|last2=Lada|date=January 1, 1921|journal=Historic Sheet Music Collection}} He copyrighted "Neglected Blues" with Williams.{{Cite web|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yk8hAQAAIAAJ&q=anton+lada&pg=RA4-PA68|title=Catalog of Copyright Entries: Third series|date=February 16, 1948|via=Google Books}}

Harry L. Alford arranged some of his songs.{{which|date=November 2023}}