Now we’re at Part IIIa and the Pre-World War II Jazz Blues artists of this series. This section appears to be very interesting; filled with many well known artists that you will most likely recognize. So, let’s get started . . .
Part IIIa: Pre-World War II Jazz Blues:
Name Birth Date Death Date
Albert Ammons (September 23, 1907 – December 2, 1949) was an American pianist. Ammons was a player of boogie-woogie, a bluesy jazz style popular from the late 1930s into the mid 1940s.
Born Albert C. Ammons in Chicago, Illinois, his parents were pianists, and he had learned to play by the age of ten. He also played percussion in the drum and bugle corps as a teenager and was soon performing with bands on the Chicago club scene. After World War I he became interested in the blues, learning by listening to Chicago pianists Hersal Thomas and the brothers Alonzo and Jimmy Yancey. In the early to mid 1920s Ammons worked as a cab driver for the Silver Taxicab Company. In 1924 he met a fellow taxi driver who also played piano, Meade Lux Lewis. Soon the two players began working as a team, performing at club parties. Ammons started his own band at the Club DeLisa in 1934 and remained at the club for the next two years.
During that time he played with a five piece unit that included Guy Kelly, Dalbert Bright, Jimmy Hoskins, and Israel Crosby. Ammons also recorded as Albert Ammons's Rhythm Kings for Decca Records in 1936. The Rhythm Kings' version of "Swanee River Boogie" sold a million copies. Ammons moved from Chicago to New York, where he teamed up with another pianist, Pete Johnson. The two performed regularly at the Café Society, occasionally joined by Meade Lux Lewis, and performed with other noted jazz artists such as Benny Goodman and Harry James.
In 1938 Ammons appeared at Carnegie Hall with Johnson and Lewis, an event that helped launch the boogie-woogie craze. Record producer Alfred Lion who had attended John H. Hammond's From Spirituals to Swing concert on December 23, 1938, which had introduced Ammons and Lewis, two weeks later started Blue Note Records, recording nine Ammons solos including "The Blues" and "Boogie Woogie Stomp", eight by Lewis and a pair of duets in a one-day session in a rented studio.
In 1941, Ammon's boogie music was accompanied by drawn-on-film animation in the short film Boogie-Doodle by Norman McLaren. Ammons played himself in the movie Boogie-Woogie Dream (1944), with Lena Horne and Pete Johnson. As a sideman with Sippie Wallace in the 1940s Ammons recorded a session with his son, the tenor saxophonist Gene Ammons. Although the boogie-woogie fad began to die down in 1945 Ammons had no difficulty securing work. He continued to tour as a solo artist and between 1946 and 1949 recorded his last sides for Mercury Records with bassist Israel Crosby.
Ammons's played at President Harry S. Truman's inauguration in 1949. He died on December 2, 1949 in Chicago and was interred at the Lincoln Cemetery, at Kedzie Avenue in Blue Island, Worth Township, Cook County, Illinois.
Albert Ammons 1907 1949
Louis Armstrong (August 4, 1901 – July 6, 1971), nicknamed Satchmo or Pops, was an American jazz trumpeter and singer from New Orleans, Louisiana.
Coming to prominence in the 1920s as an "inventive" cornet and trumpet player, Armstrong was a foundational influence in jazz, shifting the music's focus from collective improvisation to solo performance. With his instantly recognizable deep and distinctive gravelly voice, resembling the sound of a trumpet, Armstrong was also an influential singer, demonstrating great dexterity as an improviser, bending the lyrics and melody of a song for expressive purposes. He was also greatly skilled at scat singing (vocalizing using sounds and syllables instead of actual lyrics).
Renowned for his charismatic stage presence and voice almost as much as for his trumpet-playing, Armstrong's influence extends well beyond jazz music, and by the end of his career in the 1960s, he was widely regarded as a profound influence on popular music in general. Armstrong was one of the first truly popular African-American entertainers to "cross over," whose skin-color was secondary to his music in an America that was severely racially divided. It allowed him socially acceptable access to the upper echelons of American society that were highly restricted for a black man. While he rarely publicly politicized his race, often to the dismay of fellow African-Americans, he was privately a strong supporter of the Civil Rights movement in America.
Following a highly successful small-group jazz concert at New York Town Hall on May 17, 1947, featuring Armstrong with trombonist/singer Jack Teagarden, Armstrong's manager Joe Glaser dissolved the Armstrong big band on August 13, 1947 and established a six-piece small group featuring Armstrong with (initially) Teagarden, Earl Hines and other top swing and dixieland musicians, most of them ex-big band leaders. The new group was announced at the opening of Billy Berg's Supper Club.
This group was called Louis Armstrong and his All Stars and included at various times Earl "Fatha" Hines, Barney Bigard, Edmond Hall, Jack Teagarden, Trummy Young, Arvell Shaw, Billy Kyle, Marty Napoleon, Big Sid Catlett, Cozy Cole, Tyree Glenn, Barrett Deems, Joe Darensbourg and the Filipino-American percussionist, Danny Barcelona. During this period, Armstrong made many recordings and appeared in over thirty films. He was the first jazz musician to appear on the cover of Time Magazine on February 21, 1949.
In 1964, he recorded his biggest-selling record, "Hello, Dolly!" The song went to #1 on the pop chart, making Armstrong (age 63) the oldest person to ever accomplish that feat. In the process, Armstrong dislodged The Beatles from the #1 position they had occupied for 14 consecutive weeks with three different songs.
Armstrong kept up his busy tour schedule until a few years before his death in 1971. In his later years he would sometimes play some of his numerous gigs by rote, but other times would enliven the most mundane gig with his vigorous playing, often to the astonishment of his band. He also toured Africa, Europe, and Asia under sponsorship of the US State Department with great success, earning the nickname "Ambassador Satch." While failing health restricted his schedule in his last years, within those limitations he continued playing until the day he died.
Armstrong died of a heart attack in his sleep on July 6, 1971, a month before his 70th birthday, and 11 months after playing a famous show at the Waldorf-Astoria's Empire Room. He was residing in Corona, Queens, New York City, at the time of his death. He was interred in Flushing Cemetery, Flushing, in Queens, New York City.
His honorary pallbearers included Bing Crosby, Ella Fitzgerald, Dizzy Gillespie, Pearl Bailey, Count Basie, Harry James, Frank Sinatra, Ed Sullivan, Earl Wilson, Alan King, Johnny Carson and David Frost. Peggy Lee sang The Lord's Prayer at the services while Al Hibbler sang "Nobody Knows the Trouble I've Seen" and Fred Robbins, a long-time friend, gave the eulogy.
Louis Armstrong 1901 1971
Sidney Bechet (May 14, 1897 – May 14, 1959) was an American jazz saxophonist, clarinetist, and composer.
He was one of the first important soloists in jazz (beating cornetist and trumpeter Louis Armstrong to the recording studio by several months and later playing duets with Armstrong), and was perhaps the first notable jazz saxophonist. Forceful delivery, well-constructed improvisations, and a distinctive, wide vibrato characterized Bechet's playing.
Bechet's erratic temperament hampered his career, however, and not until the late 1940s did he earn wide acclaim
Sidney Bechet's primary instruments were the clarinet and the soprano sax. His playing style is intense and passionate, and had a wide vibrato. He was also known to be very proficient with his instruments and a master at improvisation (both individual and collective). Bechet liked to have his sound dominate in a performance, and trumpeters found it very difficult to play alongside him.
Bechet's song Si tu vois ma mère was prominently featured in the Woody Allen film Midnight in Paris (2011).
Sidney Bechet 1897 1959
Leroy Carr (March 27, 1905 – April 29, 1935) was an American blues singer, songwriter and pianist, who developed a laid-back, crooning technique and whose popularity and style influenced such artists as Nat King Cole and Ray Charles. He first became famous for "How Long, How Long Blues" on Vocalion Records in 1928.
Carr was born in Nashville, Tennessee. Although his recording career was cut short by an early death, Carr left behind a large body of work. He had a long-time partnership with guitarist Scrapper Blackwell. His light bluesy piano combined with Blackwell's melodic jazz guitar to attract a sophisticated black audience. Carr's vocal style moved blues singing toward an urban sophistication, influencing such singers as T-Bone Walker, Charles Brown, Amos Milburn, Jimmy Witherspoon, Ray Charles among others.
Count Basie and Jimmy Rushing used some of Carr's songs and Basie's band shows the influence of Carr's piano style.
His music has been covered by notable artists such as Robert Johnson, Ray Charles, Big Bill Broonzy, Moon Mullican, Champion Jack Dupree, Lonnie Donegan and Memphis Slim.
Carr died of nephritis shortly after his thirtieth birthday.
Leroy Carr 1905 1935
Walter Davis (March 1, 1912 – October 22, 1963) was an African American blues singer and pianist.
Davis had a rich singing voice that was as expressive as the best of the Delta blues vocalists. His best-known recording, a version of the train blues standard "Sunnyland Blues", which he released in 1931, is more notable for the warmth and poignancy of his singing than for his piano playing. Two more of his best known songs were "Ashes In My Whiskey" and "Blue Blues".
He was also billed as 'Hooker Joe'.
Davis was born on a farm in Grenada, Mississippi, United States, and ran away from home at about 13 years of age, landing in St. Louis, Missouri. During the period from the late 1920s through the early 1950s he played club dates in the South and the lower Midwest, often with guitarist Henry Townsend and fellow pianist Peetie Wheatstraw, and recorded prolifically. Roosevelt Sykes accompanied him on his first records (1930–33); thereafter he had the ability or confidence to play for himself.
He was among the most productive and popular recording artists in blues, cutting about 180 sides between 1930 and 1952, several of which ("M&O Blues", "Angel Child" and "Come Back Baby") have been taken up by other singers.
Davis appears to have stopped performing professionally around 1953. Suffering from health problems, primarily a stroke, he settled in St. Louis, Missouri, supporting himself as a night clerk at a hotel and as a preacher. He died in St. Louis in 1963, aged 51.
He was posthumously inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame in 2005.
Davis is no relation to the jazz pianist, Walter Davis, Jr.
Walter Davis 1912 1963
Johnny Dodds (April 12, 1892 – August 8, 1940) was an American New Orleans based jazz clarinetist and alto saxophonist, best known for his recordings under his own name and with bands such as those of Joe "King" Oliver, Jelly Roll Morton, Lovie Austin and Louis Armstrong. Dodds (pronounced "dots") was also the older brother of drummer Warren "Baby" Dodds. The pair worked together in the New Orleans Bootblacks in 1926.
Born in Waveland, Mississippi, United States, he moved to New Orleans in his youth, and studied clarinet with Lorenzo Tio. He played with the bands of Frankie Duson, Kid Ory, and Joe "King" Oliver. Dodds went to Chicago and played with Oliver's Creole Jazz Band, with which he first recorded in 1923. Dodds also worked frequently with his good friend Natty Dominique during this period, a professional relationship that would last a lifetime. After the breakup of Oliver's band in 1924, Dodds replaced Alcide Nunez as the house clarinetist and bandleader of Kelly's Stables. He recorded with numerous small groups in Chicago, most notably Louis Armstrong's Hot 5 and Hot 7, and Jelly Roll Morton's Red Hot Peppers.
Noted for his professionalism and virtuosity as a musician, and his heartfelt, heavily blues-laden style, Dodds was an important influence on later clarinetists, notably Benny Goodman.
Dodds did not record for most of the 1930s, affected by ill health. He died of a heart attack in Chicago, in August 1940.
In 1987, Dodds was inducted into the Down Beat Jazz Hall of Fame.
Johnny Dodds 1892 1940
Birth: Dec. 24, 1898 | New Orleans, Orleans Parish, Louisiana, USA
Death: Feb. 14, 1959 | Chicago, Cook County, Illinois, USA
Jazz Drummer. He was the younger brother of jazz clarinetist Johnny Dodds. Baby Dodds was one of first great drummers of Jazz and the brother of Johnny Dodds. Baby got his start playing in parades in New Orleans, occasionally with Frankie Dusen's Eagle Band. He played briefly with his brother in Kid Ory's Band, but was embarrassed when all the musicians walked off stage because of his poor playing. This incident spurred him on to become a better musician. He played in several other bands in New Orleans before joining Fate Marable's riverboat band in 1918.
While working on the riverboat he played with Louis Armstrong, Johnny St. Cyr, Pops Foster, among others. He stayed in Marable's band until King Oliver asked him to join his band in San Francisco in 1921. Dodds followed Oliver to Chicago and was the drummer in King Oliver's Creole Jazz Band. After the breakup of that band Dodds worked with Honore Dutrey at the Dreamland in Chicago and with several other bands in the city.
From 1927 to 1929 Baby Dodds played in his brothers' band at Kelly's Stables along with Freddie Keppard. He was the drummer on many of the classic Chicago Jazz recordings of Jelly Roll Morton's Red Hot Peppers and Louis Armstrong's Hot Seven. Throughout the Depression, Baby played in many of the small groups led by his brother Johnny Dodds and helped run a taxi cab company in Chicago. When his brother died in 1940, he went on to play with Jimmy Noone, and with Bunk Johnson. After 1949 Dodds had a series of strokes that left him partially paralyzed, but still managed to play from time to time up until his death.
bio by: Chuck Kearns
Search Amazon for Warren Dodds
Burial: Lincoln Cemetery | Blue Island | Cook County, Illinois, USA
Warren “Baby” Dodds c.1909 1992
William Thomas Dupree, best known as Champion Jack Dupree, was an American blues pianist. His birth date is disputed, given as July 4, July 10, and July 23, in the years 1908, 1909, or 1910. He died on January 21, 1992
Champion Jack Dupree was the embodiment of the New Orleans blues and boogie woogie pianist, a barrelhouse "professor". His father was from the Belgian Congo and his mother was part African American and Cherokee. He was orphaned at the age of two, and sent to the New Orleans Home for Colored Waifs (also the alma mater of Louis Armstrong).
He taught himself piano there and later apprenticed with Tuts Washington and Willie Hall, whom he called his 'father' and from whom he learned "Junker's Blues". He was also "spy boy" for the Yellow Pocahontas tribe of Mardi Gras Indians and soon began playing in barrelhouses and other drinking establishments.
As a young man he began his life of travelling, living in Chicago, where he worked with Georgia Tom, and in Indianapolis, Indiana, where he met Scrapper Blackwell and Leroy Carr. Whilst he was always playing piano, he also worked as a cook, and in Detroit he met Joe Louis, who encouraged him to become a boxer. He ultimately fought in 107 bouts, winning Golden Gloves and other championships and picking up the nickname 'Champion Jack', which he used the rest of his life.
He returned to Chicago at the age of 30 and joined a circle of recording artists, including Big Bill Broonzy and Tampa Red, who introduced him to the record producer Lester Melrose, who claimed composer credit and publishing on many of Dupree's songs. Dupree's career was interrupted by military service in World War II. He was a cook in the United States Navy and spent two years as a Japanese prisoner of war.
His biggest commercial success was "Walkin' the Blues", which he recorded as a duet with Teddy McRae. This led to several national tours, and eventually to a European tour Dupree moved to Europe in 1960, first settling in Switzerland and then Denmark, England, Sweden and, finally, Germany. During the 1970s and 1980s he lived at Ovenden, in Halifax, England where a bronze plaque has been commissioned in his memory. Details of his time in Yorkshire, including the reminiscences of his family, are to be found at [www.smalltownsaturdaynight.co.uk] and in the book of the same name . A piano used by Dupree was recently re-discovered by pianist Matthew Bourne at Calderdale College in Halifax.
Dupree continued to record in Europe (with Kenn Lending Band, Louisiana Red and Axel Zwingenberger) and also made many live appearances there, also still working as a cook specializing in New Orleans cuisine. He returned to the United States from time to time and appeared at the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival.
Dupree died on January 21, 1992 in Hanover, Germany of cancer.
Champion Jack Dupree c.1909 1992
Ivory Joe Hunter (October 10, 1914 – November 8, 1974) was an American rhythm and blues singer, songwriter, and pianist. After a series of hits on the US R&B chart starting in the mid 1940s, he became more widely known for his hit recording, "Since I Met You Baby" (1956). He was billed as The Baron of the Boogie, and also known as The Happiest Man Alive. His musical output transgressed from R&B to blues, boogie-woogie, and country, and Hunter made a name in all of those genres. Uniquely, he was honored at the Monterey Jazz Festival and the Grand Ole Opry
Hunter was born in Kirbyville, Texas, United States. Ivory Joe Hunter was his birth name, not a nickname nor a stage name. As a youngster, Hunter developed an early interest in music from his father, Dave Hunter, who played guitar, and his gospel-singing mother. He was a talented pianist by the age of 13, and as a teenager, Hunter made his first recording for Alan Lomax and the Library of Congress in 1933
Hunter's "Empty Arms" and "Yes I Want You" also made the pop charts, and he had a minor hit with "City Lights" in 1959, just before his popularity began to decline. Hunter came back as a country singer in the late 1960s, making regular Grand Ole Opry appearances and recording an album titled I've Always Been Country.
Country singer Sonny James issued a version of "Since I Met You Baby" and it topped the country charts in 1969, paving the way for Hunter's album The Return of Ivory Joe Hunter and his appearance at the Monterey Jazz Festival. The Return of Ivory Joe Hunter was recorded in Memphis with a band that included Isaac Hayes, Gene "Bowlegs" Miller and Charles Chalmers. Jerry Lee Lewis covered "Since I Met You Baby" in 1969.
In 1974, lung cancer led to Hunter's death in Memphis, Tennessee at the age of 60. He was buried in his native Kirbyville.
Ivory Joe Hunter 1914 1974
Well this post was a very exciting to assemble but I learned an awful lot of new information about these blues/jazz artists. The next part in this series is continuation of this section called Pre-World War II Jazz Blues. As always, I hope you found this post inspiring and that you’re as anxious to go forward in this research as I am.
Until next time ~ ~ ~
Musician By Night . . .
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