Jazz Artists Who Have Nicknames

[patricia]

I was facinated by how much I was able to learn, randomly, about jazz artists, both from the past and the present, by starting with whether or not they had a nickname and going from there.

To look at ALL artists and study their work was simply a a task too vast. Zeroing in on the nickname angle made it more, well, half-vast.

It was interesting to me just how many, both obscure and well-known players had a nickname.

Although many do, it's not nearly as common as it is with blues artists, almost all of whom seem to have had one.

In any case, I'll start this thread and see where it goes. At the very least, I hope it will jog people's memory and at worst............well....

................................................

The first artist, by nickname, will be TRUMMY [James Osbourne] YOUNG.

Trummy was born in Savannah Georgia on January 12, 1912 and grew up in Washington, studying trumpet first. He moved onto trombone, playing what has been described as a high-noted style, which was revolutionary in the late 1920's.

In fact, he said of that period, "People used to say I was crazy and ask what I was trying to do."

But, in 1933, Trummy was hired by Earl Hines, who was a sympathetic bandleader, who could see the potential of Trummy's style of playing.

Trummy's style is said to have been based on Louis Armstrong's, combined with Jimmy Harrison's. He said at the time, "I worked very hard on a sharper, brilliant sound."

Young played in Jimmy Lunceford's band in the early forties and added a freshness to the group, with his up front style.

As a result, Young became a figurehead for trombonists everywhere. Dicky Wells said, "He really brought a modern turn to the trombone and it was unusual for a trombone player to be featured, as he was."

Trummy also had an effervescent personality and was a perfect cornerman for his leader. Unfortunately, in 1943 Young left Lunceford's band, due to low wages.

He then worked for Norman Granz's Jazz At The Philharmonic, before moving to Hawaii, where he lived and played.

In 1952, Young was heard by Louis Armstrong, in Hawaii and spent the next thirteen years with Armstrong's All Stars.

Young was happy with the All Stars and adored Louis. He said, "I try to keep him happy. Louis has got more soul than anyone I ever met in my life."

The rough road life with the All Stars, unfortunately caused him to quit in 1964. He moved back to Hawaii. He then re-emerged with Dick Gibson's Colorado parties, special events and major Jazz Festivals, including the one in Nice.

The innovative trombone player, TRUMMY YOUNG died in September of 1984, never retiring. He was seventy-two years old and had spent his whole life doing what he did best, playing JAZZ.

Edited March 10, 2004 by patricia

[Peter Johnson]

Thanks for starting this up, Patricia!

I don't have a lot of reference books, but I'll see if I can find a few folks to comment on.

[patricia]

Thanks for starting this up, Patricia!

I don't have a lot of reference books,  but I'll see if I can find a few folks to comment on.

Thanks Peter. That would be great! If you, and anyone else who can add to the list of bios, by nickname, do, it will be even better. I will try to contribute as much as I can, but group participation is always richer.

In the meantime, may I draw your attention to "PAPA" JACK LAINE?

Papa Jack, who played drums, as well as being a fine alto horn player and leader, was born at the very beginning of the emergence of jazz as a musical artform, not surprisingly, in New Orleans.

His nickname was given to him because he was a father figure to many of the young white New Orleans jazzmen.

He formed his own ragtime band in 1888. Soon after, he was leading his Reliance Brass Bands.

A number of the great names in early white jazz, like Nick La Rocca and Tom Brown worked with Laine, as did many of the best so-called "Creoles of Colour", such as Achille Baquet, who played clarinet.

Because the demand for his services was intense, Laine for a long time exercised a virtual monopoly on supplying music to white, upper-class New Orleans society, all over the neighbouring Gulf Coast states.

Amazingly, Laine played Ragtime by ear!!

He had an extremely successful career, until 1917 when he retired. That, of course, does not mean that he stopped playing jazz. Not at all.

When the revival of Ragtime took place in the 1940's and the 1950's, Laine again took the spotlight and performed as a revered and familiar figure.

In the 1950's PAPA JACK LAINE's records, "Papa Laine's Children" were re-issued on various labels, bringing his music to a whole new generation.

PAPA JACK LAINE died in June of 1966.

Edited February 26, 2004 by patricia

[Pete C]

Patricia, are you writing those bios? If not, please give proper citation/credit.

[patricia]

Patricia, are you writing those bios?  If not, please give proper citation/credit.

I am consolodating information from various sources in my own words. I suppose it would be easier to lift entire biographies, as they appear, from one source, but I choose not to do that, but simply use facts of their lives and some quotes from those who worked with them.

The sources are websites, biographies and jazz history collections. They are not cut and pasted, or re-printed verbatum, but condensed, re-worked and presented in a conversational way.

I was unaware that using available information to write about historical jazz artists was violating copyright. Is that what you're suggesting?

Edited February 25, 2004 by patricia

[Pete C]

I was unaware that using available information to write about historical jazz artists was violating copyright. Is that what you're suggesting?

Not at all. But since you didn't make it clear that it was your work, and the work is of publishable quality, I just wanted to make sure you hadn't neglected attribution. I'm not accusing you of this, but people cut and paste things without attribution all the time, not realizing that the same courtesies to the original author/source should be adhered to even in informal settings. I'm definitely not suggesting that you need a bibliography or footnotes in this case.

Anyway, thanks for the research & excellent writing! Carry on.

[patricia]

I was unaware that using available information to write about historical jazz artists was violating copyright.  Is that what you're suggesting?

Not at all. But since you didn't make it clear that it was your work, and the work is of publishable quality, I just wanted to make sure you hadn't neglected attribution. I'm not accusing you of this, but people cut and paste things without attribution all the time, not realizing that the same courtesies to the original author/source should be adhered to even in informal settings. I'm definitely not suggesting that you need a bibliography or footnotes in this case.

Anyway, thanks for the research & excellent writing! Carry on.

OK. Actually, my mother would be pleased that I am finally using my education to some advantage. I have also assisted in the gathering of information and the locating of interviewees, for a few friends who were working toward their own degrees. I love doing it, and hope that what I write here is interesting.

I will indeed credit the source, if I use a quote. I also hope that others who contribute to the thread will too.

So far, the only quotes were those from artists who worked with the honouree and they appear [obviously] the same way, no matter what the source.

Thank you for the compliment and your interest though.

Edited February 26, 2004 by patricia

[Pete C]

Do you take requests?

Slam Stewart.

[patricia]

Do you take requests?

Slam Stewart.

Hi Pete,

No, I don't, but I'll make an exception in your case, since Slim and Slam were an interesting and entertaining act.

As many know, Slim Gaillard and Slam Stewart first got together as Slim and Slam as an act in 1936, having met at a Harlem Club, called Jock's Place. They recorded a hit record together, "Flat Fleet Floogie" which was a huge hit in 1937.

SLAM [Leo] STEWART had studied at the Boston Conservatory where he heard violionist, Ray Perry, who was a huge influence on Stewart. Perry was singing in unison with his bowed lines and Slam borrowed the idea, which was singing an octive up from the bass.

Peanuts Holland had hired Slam in 1936 and Stewart developed the idea during his time with Holland's group.

Stewart often ran his own trio which, when it played the Three Deuces, included Art Tatum, as well as featured a very young Erroll Garner. Errol wrote bass features for the group during the three years he was with Stewart.

The very unusual sound that Stewart played set him apart and he also provided an amusing, whimsical quality which was copied by others, notably, Coleridge Good and Major Holley.

This is not to say that Slam Stewart was simply comic relief. He was a fine musician, in his own right and was well respected by his peers, working easily with the artists who played with him.

He became very well known, having appeared in "Stormy Weather" in 1943 and also won the Metronome poll in 1946.

During the 1950's and 1960's Slam continued to work and he was associated with Tatum, Garner, Beryl Booker, Roy Eldridge and Rose Murphy.

A completely different from small group jazz style was exhibited, as he played with the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra in the 1970's. He also taught master classes, as well as playing on the Today show and writing instructional tutors. He was featured with the New York Jazz Repertory Company in the 1970's as well.

By the time the 1980's rolled in, he was still as busy as ever, until December of 1987 when he died.

Edited February 27, 2004 by patricia

[neveronfriday]

Patricia,

I enjoyed this in its first incarnation but was often distracted. This is a MUCH better setting. I'll enjoy reading this.

Cheers!

[brownie]

Patricia,

I enjoyed this in its first incarnation but was often distracted. This is a MUCH better setting. I'll enjoy reading this.

Cheers!

So am I...

Patricia, now that you have taken one request, here is mine: Zutty Singleton.

[patricia]

Patricia,

I enjoyed this in its first incarnation but was often distracted. This is a MUCH better setting. I'll enjoy reading this.

Cheers!

So am I...

Patricia, now that you have taken one request, here is mine: Zutty Singleton.

Hi Brownie!! Distracted, you say?? I smile.

A drummer at the turn of the last century, ZUTTY SINGLETON, was born in Bunkie Louisiana in 1898.

For those of you who love drum solos, Zutty is considered to be the originator of them, as well as a developer of innovative effects, such as the use of clicking temple bells and of the tiny choke cymbols. Those, like me, who love brushes can thank Zutty and his use of the tip and ride cymbol was copied by drummers who came later, such as Cliff Leeman and Stan Greig.

Singleton was one of the personalities of the great jazz era and was held in great regard by Louis Armstrong. Zutty was the drummer on Armstrong's "My Monday Date" and also "West End Blues". Temple blocks and choke cymbols can be heard of both those records.

Zutty was dropped by Armstrong, who was leading a band at Connie's Inn, but it wasn't because of a lack of talent, but rather, like Sid Catlett, that Zutty was too much of a leader.

Like Catlett, Zutty Singleton was able to adapt his style from Dixieland to BeBop, so his career simply took another creative turn when the new jazz fashion evolved.

His work is evident on Slim Gaillard's "Slim's Jam" and he also worked behind Dizzy Gillespie and Charlie Parker.

Singleton did not think of drums as simply punctuation, but as musical instruments in their own right.

One small stumble, some say, in his career was his move from New York to Chicago in the mid-thirties. He moved to Chicago to work with Carroll Dickerson, who was on the downside of his career. But he did work with Roy Eldridge, one of the up-and-comers, before moving back to New York in 1937.

Zutty stayed in New York to lead various bands, then moved out to Los Angeles in 1943, taking his quartet to Billy Berg's.

Singleton made the first of three films, "Stormy Weather", that year with Bill Robinson, Fats Waller and Lena Horne.

The two other films were "New Orleans", in 1946 with Armstrong and Billie Holiday and "Turned Up Toes" in 1949.

Eddie Condon and Nappy Lamare's bands used Zutty in the fifties and he also played in Europe with Bill Coleman and Mezz Mezzrow, as well as others. He came back to New York and worked clubs until the late 1960's.

ZUTTY SINGLETON died in July of 1975.

Edited February 28, 2004 by patricia

[BERIGAN]

Patricia, you know you want to do one on.....................

.............................

,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

Ish Kabibble !

Actually, he is more interesting than you might think at first...

[EKE BBB]

Great thread, patricia. Another good chance to read your valuable bios!

May I suggest BEAN/HAWK? Or should I suggest a drummer?

[patricia]

Great thread, patricia. Another good chance to read your valuable bios!

May I suggest BEAN/HAWK? Or should I suggest a drummer? 

Busted, EKE BBB!!! This is yet another avenue of approach to present bios in a random way. This way, well-known, as well as not so well-known artists get a chance to be known and honoured.

Thanks guys. Yes, this is a more comfortable form. I'll try to profile a variety of artists and not concentrate on my favourites. Bias may, from time to time be evident, but I make no apologies. We like what we like.

Re-grouping.

...................................

Bean/Hawk were two nicknames of the fabulous tenor sax player, COLEMAN HAWKINS. The "Hawk" part is an abbreviation of his surname, but I don't know where the "Bean" part came from. Does anyone??

In any case, Hawkins was described by the great Lester Young this way. "He's the person who played the saxophone who woke you up and let you know there was a tenor saxophone". High praise, coming from Young, who was a rival during the first thirty years of jazz history.

Coleman Hawkins was, for about forty-five years, considered to have maintained his seniority as THE BEST, because of his creation of an omnipotent vocabulary for his instrument.

Before Hawkins was twelve, he was playing to school audiences and later was playing regularly in Chicago on weekends in his early teens.

He heard the greats of the period, such as Stomp Evans, Buster Bailey, who had amazing speed, and Happy Caldwell.

He also headlined for Sophie Tucker, and one of his favourites, Ted Lewis.

Mamie Smith's Jazz Hounds used Hawkins in their touring group in 1921. He was around twenty at the time.

By 1924 he was playing with Fletcher Henderson's group and stayed with Henderson for ten years. He was a star!!!

Coleman became a close friend of Jimmy Harrison. He dressed beautifully, drove fast cars and was described as a kind of Atilla of the jazz saxophone, ruthlessly cutting anyone who was brave enough to challenge him.

In 1934, he felt he had nowhere to go with Henderson's band and sent a telegram addressed to "Jack Hylton, London, England" and on March 29 he landed in England to begin a five year period of touring Europe with Hylton's band. He played the fabled Palladium during that time and also toured Holland, France, Switzerland, Sweden and Denmark.

As many jazz artists discovered [much like Miles Davis and Charlie Parker] Hawkins did not experience the what he descibed as downgrading of him, because of his race, in Europe, but became homesick, moving back to Chicago in 1939.

Hawkins described his return to Chicago this way. "Fletcher was playing. He knew I was out in the audience and sent a waiter with a note saying 'Don't you think it's about time the leave of absence is over?' and signed his name at the bottom." That was good enough for Hawkins.

The side which is probably the one most associated with his name, "Body And Soul" was recorded for RCA Victor in 1939.

His career was clickin' along and he went on to be involved with BeBop and, unlike some of the earlier artists, such as the great Dave Tough and Roy Eldridge who were somewhat pummelled by the evolution of the genre, Hawkins was challenged by it.

By 1943 he was leading sextet with Don Byas, Thelonious Monk and trumpeter Benny Harris.

He was also very interested in the emerging careers of Fats Navarro, Oscar Pettiford, Max Roach and the great Dizzy Gillespie.

Norman Granz also used Hawkins in his series of concerts, Jazz At The Philharmonic in 1946, where he played with Lester Young.

His career never really seemed to suffer any decline, as innovation became the cornerstone of jazz and his style stood up to the younger players on the scene, such as Stan Getz and Zoot Sims.

As the 1960's came over the horizon, Hawkins was still at the top of his form, ever flexible and playing with much younger men. Those included Thad Jones and Sonny Rollins.

It was amazing to me that even the advent of rock and roll didn't slow him down. He said of r&r, "Rock doesn't sound too bad, but I don't think the right people are playing it yet." He continued to forge ahead, until May of 1969, when worn down by a reputed diet of lentil soup and brandy, he threw off this mortal coil and died, leaving a legacy matched by few.

Berigan, please tell us more about ISH KABIBBLE. Just saying it, makes me smile.

Edited February 27, 2004 by patricia

[TedR]

What a unique thread! Thanks patricia. I know you said you don't take requests, but I'll throw this into the mix: Hezekiah Leroy Gordon "Stuff" Smith.

[TedR]

I would like to know more about how they got their nicknames. One of my favorite characters from a novel is "Nickname" Demur (from Philp Roth's Great American Novel). He tried things like touching his baseball cap a lot so people might call him "Cappie" and so forth. Nothing stuck so they called him "Nickname".

[brownie]

Patricia, many thanks on behalf of Zutty...

[patricia]

I would like to know more about how they got their nicknames. One of my favorite characters from a novel is "Nickname" Demur (from Philp Roth's Great American Novel). He tried things like touching his baseball cap a lot so people might call him "Cappie" and so forth. Nothing stuck so they called him "Nickname".

Love it!!

One thing about nicknames is that they are almost never something one bestows on oneself. They are usually given because of a charming [or not] eccentricity or characteristic, over which the recipient has no control. That, to me, is what makes them unique. They are never requested successfully, but are usually expressions of affection. They become an integral part of the personality.

............................

Quite often, for example in "STUFF" [Hezekiah Leroy Gordon] SMITH's case, aren't we glad that his real name was supplanted? It wouldn't have had nearly the appeal.

Stuff Smith, born in Portsmouth Ohio in 1909, played jazz violin, as well as doing some credible singing.

Jo Jones said of Stuff, that he " was the cat who took the apron-strings off the fiddle" which I think is a terrific way of describing the unique style which Smith demonstrated on an instrument which I don't think of, immediatly, as a jazz instrument.

His style, I think, is reminiscent of that of Venuti's, so I wasn't surprised when I discovered that those old records were one of Smith's chief influences.

He explained his approach to the fiddle as being similar to the way a drummer hits a cymbol.

Smith's start came with Alphonso Trent's orchestra and he played both sweet and hot features, including comedy "point" numbers.

He married, settled in Buffalo and got together with Jonah Jones, one of my favorites and began a life-long friendship.

They were booked by Dick Stabile into the Onyx Club on 52nd St. in 1936. The well-known hits, "I'se A Muggin'" and "If You're A Viper" were gigantic hits of that period.

Stuff was not a mellow lad and was said to be rather difficult to deal with, looking after his own interests, which was not a bad approach, career-wise, but was misunderstood by many who worked with him.

He left the Onyx, to Joe Helbock's disappointment, to make a Hollywood film in 1938, called "Swing Street" and dragged his heels coming back.

Unfortunately, this break caused a bump in his career and jazz had moved on.

There was a plateau, although he continued to work with a trio in New York and also in Chicago.

Stuff opened a restaurant in Chicago, but his tempermental personality was still there and Billy Taylor said of him, "Stuff's trio at the Onyx in 1944 was one of the most rhythmic trios I ever heard. Their only records were made for Asch but they didn't show what the trio could do. They'd worked up some things for the session but then Stuff goofed and played some other things instead, as he was likely to do!"

By the 1950's Stuff was soloing, mostly and was California based.

His health was, sadly, not good and he had pneumonia, often and ulcers.

His drinking was becoming a problem and his liver was shot. This was most likely due to his not eating properly when he was drinking.

But, in the 1960's, Stuff arguably did his finest work, working like a demon, doing tours of Europe as well as playing concert halls and festivals. He swung hard, right up to the end, which came in September of 1967. A gigantic talent, silenced at fifty-eight. But, lucky for us, his recordings with his own band, as well as with Dizzy and with Paul Olsen and Svend Asmussen are still out there, for us to enjoy and marvel at.

He was, and still is a giant.

......................................

****Thanks Brownie.

Edited February 28, 2004 by patricia

[patricia]

And then there was CHARLIE "BIG" GREEN, who was born right on the turn of the last century, in 1900.

Another Fletcher Henderson alumnus, Green, who played trombone, had cut his musical teeth with tent and carnival shows in and around Omaha.

He has been characterized as one of the finest blues players of his time.

His solos with Henderson's band were remarkable and his sense of humour was marvelous.

His nickname was acquired because of his enormous appetite for food, drink and life itself. He was said to have been able to make a joke out of almost anything.

His bandmates loved to have him around because there was a kind of light around him, in that he could bring joy to any surroundings. There are people like that and

Big Green was one of them.

He recorded some memorable sides with Bessie Smith, one of which was "Trombone Cholly". Henderson was the pianist in residence at the Black Swan, accompanying blues artists who performed there in the twenties.

Big Green was a rare talent, able to play anything, in any key, read by sight, any score as well as being able to turn on a dime and play a waltz just as perfectly as he could play jazz.

Sparring was common among the musicians and Big Green loved the trysts, keeping a feud going between the tuba player, Ralph Escudero and himself. Louis Armstrong was impressed at Escudero's ability to double Green's parts on his tuba. Green also duelled with Jimmy Harrison.

Big Green left Henderson's band in 1930 and went with many other organizations, including Don Redman, Chick Webb, Benny Carter and many others.

One night, in February of 1936, BIG GREEN was working with Kaiser Marshall's band and being very drunk, passed out on his own doorstep and froze to death.

Such a sad end to the life and the career of a marvelous personality, and such a huge talent.

Edited February 26, 2004 by patricia

[patricia]

Next up we have SLIDE [Locksley] HAMPTON. Slide, no surprise, played the trombone, but he also played the tuba as well as being a great arranger.

He was born in 1932 in Jeannette PA.

His career first got attention in 1955, with his hiring by Buddy Johnson, followed by a period with Lionel Hampton in 1956.

He then moved on to Maynard Ferguson's band and stayed with it from 1957 to 1959.

After the stint with Ferguson's band he formed his own octet and led it from 1959-1962.

One of my very favourite singers, Lloyd Price used Hampton as his musical director and Slide also did free-lance work.

He went with Woody Herman and toured Europe with him in 1968.

Hampton liked Europe so much that he settled there and did arranging for radio studio bands as well as playing with various all-star bands.

Returning to New York in 1977 he formed yet another band, World Of Trombones, which was a twelve piece group.

Not only that, but he also involved himself in jazz education, which gave him great satisfaction.

Slide Hampton is one of the few left-handed trombonists who achieved greatness and possesses a fine melodic sense and an amazingly fluent technique.

Check out "Roots", recorded in 1985 for Criss Cross. This is a very good quintet session which included Clifford Jordan and one of my favourite pianists, Cedar Walton. The solos by Hampton are, by themselves, worth the price of admission. A fine player.

Edited February 27, 2004 by patricia

[patricia]

I would be remiss, if I didn't mention one of the few artists whose surname was a nickname, which is most unusual.

DAVE TOUGH [David Jarvis]was one of the most interesting and controversial drummers in Jazz.

Dave was born to upper middle-class parents in Oak Park Illinois in 1908.

He started out as an associate of the Austin School Gang in Chicago.

He was an intellectual and he read anything and everything he could get his hands on. One of the things that he studied extensively was playing the drums. He was almost uncomfortably brilliant in everything he set his hand to including drums.

He was most generous with the knowledge he gleaned about timing and dynamics, when it came to the art of playing drums and music in general.

Max Kaminsky said of Tough, "We all got some of that bite from Tough."

There was a movement in Chicago in the pre-1920's against bad commercial music and Dave was right at the forefront of it. One night in Chicago he stalked off the stage after eight bars, while playing with B.A. Rolfe's showband. He was vibrating with anger and never returned to the stage that night. He was never shy about making his opinions known.

Throughout the 1920's Tough was busy working with George Carhart's band and toured Europe as well as playing in Chicago and New York.

By the mid-thirties he had suffered at least one serious illness and he moved to New York. While there he worked with the most well-known bands, such as Tommy Dorsey's, Benny Goodman's, Bunny Berigan's, Summa Cum Laude and with Artie Shaw's army band in 1941.

Now comes the part that facinates me. Dave Tough was a gaunt, hollow-cheeked man who, according to Max Kaminsky, "was a sight to make the blood run cold."

He often wore khaki fatigues and was like a spectre of death on the hoof up on the bandstand. But, his talent was undeniable and transended his personal eccentricities.

Dave Tough was recognized as the drummer who could be compared to Sid Catlett and more talented than Gene Krupa, according to some, including me. He was a powerful, beautiful musician. Riveting, a perfect time-keeper and a spectacular soloist. He was capable of working in any surroundings.

In 1944 Tough joined Woody Herman's modern big band. This was a huge, traumatic event for Dave. Tough was yanked asunder by the advent of BeBop and was unable to be flexible and evolve with the direction jazz had taken as Sid Catlett had done, by just going along. Tough was a very sensitive man and this abrupt change in jazz almost broke his mind.

So intense was his anguish, that he would have fits, while with Herman, and sometimes even burst into tears. He would lash out at the other musicians, and was quoted as calling Georg Brunis and Wild Bill Davison "a clown and a gauleiter". I actually had to look up the meaning of "gauleiter".

Dave Tough was just completing a residency with Muggsy Spanier in 1948, when, drunk, he fell and fractured his skull and, sadly died.

So ended the life of the great DAVE TOUGH, who gave so much to jazz. He was just forty years old.

Edited March 10, 2004 by patricia

[patricia]

Next up, we have CHUBBY [Greig Stewart] JACKSON, a fine bass player, born in 1918, who played with the Herman band in the forties.

He began his musical life, playing the clarnet at sixteen. He then switched to bass and started his professional career with Charlie Barnet's organization in 1941.

In 1943 Chubby joined Woody Herman's band and stayed with it until 1946 and then again in 1948.

Many remember Chubby as a cheerleader of sorts, because he would shout encouragement, onstage, while playing with the Herman band. This was before Mingus did the same thing.

He then went to Charlie Ventura's band in 1947, moving on, to lead his own big band, briefly in 1948 and 1949.

Studio work followed throughout the fifties and he also wrote songs and became something of a TV personality.

In 1963 he worked for a time with Harold Baker, as well as leading occasional groups in New York, Las Vegas, Los Angeles and Florida.

Then, in the late seventies he was still up and around, musically and played with Lionel Hampton's all-star band.

Jackson's work is still strongly associated with the Herman band and added a fresh aspect to their performances, mainly with his very vocal encouragement for the soloists. He was also known for his great scat-singing, which he continued to do, right up to his death at 84 years old, last year.

Chubby's son, Duffy Jackson is a fine drummer, who played with both Lionel Hampton's band and also Count Basie's in the early eighties.

Edited February 28, 2004 by patricia

[patricia]

Born in Trinidad in 1917, "CURLEY" [Dillon] RUSSELL played bass with Don Redman's big band in 1941. He moved on to Benny Carter's in 1943.

Dizzy Gillespie's band was the next to hire Curley, at BeBop's introduction to the jazz scene. Curley recorded with Dizzy, as well as with Charlie Parker in 1945, 1948 and 1950.

He then moved on to work with Tadd Dameron's group from 1947-1949 then with Buddy DeFranco's quartet after that.

His associations in the early to mid-fifties, as a bassist includes most of the greats of the time, He recorded with Bud Powell, Horace Silver, Thelonious Monk and Art Blakey when Clifford Brown was part of Blakey's group.

Russell, although he worked steadily, was not all that remarkable as a bassist in that he seemed to be uninterested in the possibilities of his instrument as melodically mobile. He was, however, an extremely propulsive rhythm player, which served him quite well. Because of his limitations though, he was never featured as a soloist and he dropped out of the jazz scene in the late fifties.

I included this bio, not only because Russell had a nickname, but also to illustrate that not all jazz artists are standouts, much like in any other profession. But, all musicians cannot be big stars. Some are simply technicians, who make it possible for others in the bands in which they play shine. CURLEY RUSSELL was one of those.

He died in 1986 at sixty-nine, having been out of the jazz scene for about thirty years.

Edited February 28, 2004 by patricia

[patricia]

Now, let's talk about "TOOTS"[Jean Baptiste] THIELEMANS. I had never thought of whistles as being jazz instruments, but as well as playing harmonica and guitar, Toots made the sound of jazz whistles an international craze in the sixties, when his composition, "Bluesette" became a worldwide hit.

But, long before his re-emergence, he had established his jazz credentials when he started playing harmonica at seventeen. His musical ability started at three, when he learned to play a homemade accordian.

While studying maths at college, he heard Django Reinhardt and was inspired to take up the guitar.

After the war, Thielmans gigged at American G.I. clubs where he became interested in the newly emerging BeBop.

He was befriended by Charlie Parker and was on the same bill at the Paris jazz festival in 1949.

Thielmans had visited the U.S. in the early fifties and sat in with various groups on 52nd St. He toured Europe with the Benny Goodman sextet, as well as working with Dinah Washington during that same period.

After playing with George Shearing's quintet until the autumn of 1959, he freelanced and worked as a studio musician.

In the 1960's he worked closely with Quincy Jones and two of the films on which he played on the soundtracks were "Midnight Cowboy" and "The Getaway" [the original, with Steve McQueen and Ali McGraw, not the travesty of a re-make.]

Ever since the 1970's Thielemans has done studio work and playing at jazz clubs, both in the U.S. and in Europe. His is the harmonica which is heard on "Sesame Street" 's theme.

Thielemans is mostly known for his work during the height if BeBop and his chief influence was said to be John Coltrane.

Toots' has a reputation as an even-tempered, friendly man, with an unwavering passion for jazz.

I found what Clifford Brown was quoted as saying about Thielemans very interesting. He said, "Toots, the way you play harmonica, they shouldn't call it a miscellaneous instrument." Nice.

Edited February 28, 2004 by patricia