Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Hot Lips Page was born Oran Thaddeus Page on January 27, 1908 in Dallas, Texas. His main trumpet influence was Louis Armstrong as well as early influence from Harry Smith and Benno Kennedy. In his early teens he moved to Corsicana, Texas and traveled across the Southwest and toured as far East as Atlanta and north to New York City. He played in circuses and minstrel shows and backed blues singers Ma Rainey, Bessie Smith and Ida Cox.
In 1926 he caught the eye of the bassist Walter Page (no relation) who had recently assumed leadership of the Oklahoma City Blue Devils and by 1928 was playing and touring. In 1931 he left to join the Bennie Moten Orchestra in Kansas City.
Hot Lips went on to occasionally appear as vocalist, emcee and trumpet soloist with Count Basie’s Reno Club orchestra after Moten’s sudden death disbanded the group. It was during this period that Page embarked upon a solo career, playing with small pick up bands from Kansas City. At the behest of Armstrong’s manager Joe Glaser, he moved to New York City in 1936.
His career as a bandleader got off to an auspicious start in 1937 with sold-out appearances and an extended run at Harlem’s Smalls Paradise, but struggling by 1939 he was struggling to maintain a regular working band, he led small combos and bands on 52nd Street through the Fifties. Page was known as “Mr. After Hours” to his many friends for his ability to take on all comers in late night jam sessions, recorded for the Mezzrow-Bechet Septet in 1945, as Pappa Snow White, with Mezz Mezzrow, Sidney Bechet, Pops Foster, Chu Berry, Sid Catlett and vocalist Pleasant Joe.
Over the course of his short career Hot Lips made over 200 recordings, most as a leader, for Bluebird, Vocalion, Decca and Harmony Records, among others. He toured extensively throughout the southern and northeast states and Canada, led as many as thirteen different big bands, appeared with Bud Freeman and Artie Shaw, recording over 40 sides with the latter. His band backed the singer Wynonie Harris was the leader of the Apollo Theater, recorded duets with Pearl Bailey on The Hucklebuck and Baby It’s Cold Outside and twice toured Europe.
Known as Hot Lips to the public and Lips by fellow musicians, the bandleader and trumpeter heralded as one of the giants of the Swing Era and a founder of what became rhythm and blues, passed away due to mysterious circumstances in New York on November 5, 1954 at the age of 46.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Jerry Blake was born Jacinto Chabania on January 23, 1908 in Gary, Indiana and grew up in Nashville, Tennessee. He began his musical education playing violin before switching to reeds.
In 1924 he toured with the Sells-Fioto Circus Band but was left stranded in Chicago. Making the best of the situation, he joined Al Wynn’s band, then played with Bobby Lee and Charlie Turner. He then toured Europe in 1928-29 as a member of Sam Wooding’s ensemble.
Back in the States in the 1930s Jerry played in the US with Chick Webb,Zack Whyte and Don Redman, then was off to Europe again with Willie Lewis from 1934 to 1935. After his return home he spent time performing with Claude Hopkins, Fletcher Henderson and Cab Calloway, acting as the latter’s musical director during his 1938-42 stint.
In the early 1940s Blake played with Count Basie, Earl Hines, Lionel Hampton and Redman again. Sometime around 1943 he had a mental breakdown and never played again for the rest of his life, most of which he spent in institutions. Alto saxophonist and clarinetist Jerry Blake, who never recorded as a leader, passed away on December 31, 1961.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Israel Crosby was January 19, 1919 in Chicago, Illinois and was best known as the double-bassist in the Ahmad Jamal Trio from 1957 to 1962, but recorded eighteen albums with him from 1951 to 1967.
A close contemporary of Jimmy Blanton, Israel has been considered less as a pioneer, but rather for his interactive playing in Jamal’s trio and that of George Shearing. His playing exhibited how easily and fluently he displayed a modern approach to jazz double bass.
He is credited with taking the first recorded bass solo at age 16 on his 1935 recording of “Blues of Israel” with drummer Gene Krupa on the Prestige label. Beyond Jamal, Shearing and Krupa, Crosby performed and recorded with Albert Ammons, Charlie Christian, Vic Dickerson, Roy Eldridge, Herb Ellis, Edmond Hall, Coleman Hawkins, Fletcher Henderson, Horace Henderson, Sam Jones, Meade Lux Lewis, Jess Stacy and Earl Washington.
A consummate sideman, bassist Israel Crosby passed away on August 11, 1962 of a heart attack just two months after joining the Shearing Quintet.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Jimmy “Craw” Crawford was born on January 14, 1910 in Memphis, Tennessee. For nearly 14 years from 1928 to 1942 he was the drummer of the Jimmie Lunceford big band. Playing with a strong, solid pulsation, his style became a classic trademark of the Lunceford sound and was a key factor in establishing the unique Lunceford beat.
In the 1950s, Crawford worked as a pit drummer on Broadway. He also recorded with numerous notable artists such as Ella Fitzgerald, Dizzy Gillespie, Count Basie, Sy Oliver, Bing Crosby, Benny Goodman, Kenny Burrell, Quincy Jones, Eddie Heywood and Frank Sinatra among others.
Swing era drummer Jimmy Crawford, who was notably Paul Motian’s favorite drummer, passed away on January 28, 1980 in New York City.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Percy Gaston Humphrey was born January 13, 1905 in New Orleans, Louisiana. He was the son of clarinetist Willie Eli Humphrey and the younger brother of clarinetist Willie and trombonist Earl. He learned the musical basics of New Orleans jazz from his grandfather “Professor” Jim Humphrey.
For more than thirty years he was leader of the Eureka Brass Band founded by trumpeter Willie Wilson and played alongside Willie Parker, John Casimir and George Lewis. After Wilson got ill, Alcide Landry, Joseph “Red” Clark and Dominique “T-Boy” Remy each temporarily led the group until 1946 when Percy took over until the demise of the band in 1975. He also played in the band of pianist Sweet Emma Barrett.
For years he led his own jazz band Percy Humphrey and His Crescent City Joymakers. He played regularly at Preservation Hall from its opening in the early Sixties until shortly before his death. He traveled and performed internationally with the Preservation Hall Jazz Band as well as his own bands.
As a leader and sideman of the various groups he recorded prolifically with Pax, Alamac, Folkways, Jazzology and Sounds of New Orleans. A 1951 album, New Orleans Parade, features Humphrey with trombonists Charles “Sunny” Henry and Albert Warner and saxophonist Emmanuel Paul. Their 1962 sessions, Jazz at Preservation Hall, Volume 1: the Eureka Brass Band of New Orleans, on Atlantic Records with his borhter Willie, Kid Sheik Cola, Pete Bocage, Alber Warner and Oscar “Chicken” Henry, Emanuel Pail, Wilbert “Bird” Tilman, Josiah “Cie” Frazier and Robert “Son Fewclothes” Lewis.
After 1975, Percy revived the name occasionally for festival performances and other appearances. Trumpeter and bandleader Percy Humphrey continued to lead his own band until his passing in New Orleans on July 22, 1995 at the age of ninety .His last gig was at the annual New Orleans jazz festival in April, three months before his death.
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