Daily Dose Of Jazz…
John “Jack” Purvis was born in Kokomo, Indiana on December 11, 1906 and became uncontrollable after his mother’s death in 1912. This resulted in being sent to a reform school, but while there, he discovered that he had an uncanny musical ability, and soon became proficient enough to play both the trombone and trumpet professionally. Leaving the reformatory he continued his high school education, while playing paying gigs on the side. One of the earliest jobs he had as a musician was with a band led by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. Not long afterward, he worked with the dance band of Hal Denman.
After high school he worked in Indiana for a time then went to Lexington, Kentucky where he played with the Original Kentucky NightHawks. Around this time he learned to fly planes. In 1926 he was with Bud Rice and toured New England. The remainder of 1926 and the beginning of 1927 was with Whitey Kaufman’s Original Pennsylvanians. For a short time he played trumpet with Arnold Johnson’s orchestra, and by July 1928 he traveled to France with George Carhart’s band. A brush with the law forced him to return to New York City in 1928.
From 1929 on he joined Hal Kemp’s band and recorded with Kemp, Smith Ballew, Ted Wallace, Rube Bloom, the California Ramblers, and Roy Wilson’s Georgia Crackers. He led a couple of racially mixed recording sessions including the likes of J.C. Higginbotham, and Adrian Rollini. He worked with the Dorsey Brothers, Fletcher Henderson, Fred Waring, Charlie Barnet. the New Orleans Symphony Orchestra.
Moving to Los Angeles, California he found success with radio broadcasting, worked with the George Stoll Orchestra as a writer, and arranged for Warner Bros. Studios. He composed Legends of Haiti for a one hundred and ten piece orchestra.
Arrested in Texas in 1937, he spent a total of nine years in prison for robbery and breaking parole. After his final release he worked at non-musical careers which included working as a chef, aviator, carpenter, radio repairman and a mercenary. One of the earliest trumpeters to incorporate the innovations pioneered by Louis Armstrong in the late 1920s.
His mental stability was always in question, having attempted suicide on several occasions. Trumpeter Jack Purvis, who played trombone, harp, andcomposed Dismal Dan and Down Georgia Way, passed away on March 30, 1962.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Born in Boggs, Oklahoma on December 7, 1906, George James began his career late in the 1920s, in the bands of Charlie Creath and Johnny Neal. Moving to Chicago, Illinois in 1928, he played with Jimmie Noone, Sammy Stewart, Ida Marples, Jabbo Smith, and Bert Hall.
In 1931 on into 1932 he toured with Louis Armstrong, then remained in New York City at the end of the tour. He went on to join the Savoy Bearcats and, later, Charlie Turner’s Arcadians. Fats Waller assumed leadership of the Arcadians in the middle of the decade, and James played under him until 1937.
Finishing the Thirties decade playing in the Blackbirds Revue, in the early 1940s George worked with James P. Johnson, Benny Carter, Teddy Wilson, and Lucky Millinder. He led his own band in 1943-44 and later in the decade he played with Claude Hopkins and Noble Sissle.
He was active both as a leader and a sideman into the 1970s, playing with Clyde Bernhardt and the Harlem Blues and Jazz Band in that decade. Saxophonist, clarinetist, and flautist George James passed away on January 30, 1995 in Columbus, Ohio.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Fulton “Fidgy” McGrath was born in Superior, Wisconsin on December 6, 1907. He played with Red Nichols early in the 1930s, then joined the band of the Dorsey boys and worked on their studio recordings and radio broadcasts.. Additionally he worked extensively as a studio musician and in radio orchestras.
From 1935-37 McGrath played in Lennie Hayton’s radio ensemble, before playing later in the decade with Bunny Berigan, Joe Venuti, and Chauncey Morehouse. After spending time in an NBC orchestra, he moved to the West Coast around 1943, where he became a first-call studio musician who worked on film soundtracks in Hollywood.
His compositions include Shim Sham Shimmy and Mandy Is Two, the latter of which was recorded by Billie Holiday.
Pianist and songwriter Fidgy McGrath passed away at the age of 51 on January 1, 1958 in Los Angeles, California.
Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Herman Autrey was born into a musical family on December 4, 1904 in Evergreen, Alabama. He played alto horn before taking up trumpet as a teenager and performed locally in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and Florida. After Florida, he went on to work in Washington, DC, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and New York City, where he played with Charlie Johnson in 1933.
He became well known through Fats Waller, who hired him in 1934 after signing a contract with Victor Records. He played with the drummer Harry Dial, guitarist Al Casey, and reedist Gene Sedric. Autrey went on to record extensively with Waller, Fletcher Henderson, and Claude Hopkins.
Into the 1940s Herman worked as a sideman with Stuff Smith, Sammy Price, and Una Mae Carlisle and his ensembles sometimes included pianist Herbie Nichols. By the early 1950s he was hurt in a car crash, sidelining his career for a year. He played with Saints & Sinners in the 1960s, including on their 1968/69 tours of Europe. In 1969, he played with Buzzy Drootin’s Jazz Family, which included Benny Morton, Herb Hall, pianist Sonny Drootin, and bassist Eddie Gibbs.
In the Seventies, he began to lose his playing capacity and spent more time as a vocalist. Trumpeter Herman Autrey passed away on June 14, 1980 in New York, at the age of 75.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Edward Otha South, born November 27, 1904 in Louisiana, Missouri, studied classical music in Budapest, Hungary, Paris, France and Chicago, Illinois. In the 1920s he was a member of jazz orchestras led by Charlie Elgar, Erskine Tate, and Jimmy Wade.
In the early 1930s Eddie led a band that included Milt Hinton and Everett Barksdale. In 1937 he recorded in Paris with Stephane Grappelli, Django Reinhardt, and Michel Warlop. In 1945 he worked for the studio band at WMGM in New York City. During the 1950s, he was a guest on television with Fran Allison and Dave Garroway and on WGN in Chicago.
South was among hundreds of artists whose material was destroyed in the 2008 Universal fire. On September 2, 2020, The New York Times consulted violinist Mazz Swift, who selected Eddie South’s performance of Black Gypsy for a feature on 5 Minutes That Will Make You Love the Violin.
Violinist Eddie South passed away on April 25, 1962 in Chicago, Illinois.
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