Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Robert Alexander Scobey Jr. was born on December 9, 1916 in Tucumcari, New Mexico and began his career playing in dance orchestras and nightclubs in the 1930s. By 1938 he was working as second trumpeter for Lu Watters in the Yerba Buena Jazz Band. By 1949, he was leading his own band under the name Bob Scobey’s Frisco Band.
In the Fifties the group continued to play a three-year residency at the Victor & Roxie’s, growing their popularity. Clancy Hayes joined the band to sing, play banjo and contributed his own compositions such as Huggin’ and a Chalkin’. The collaboration recorded over two hundred tracks until he left in 1959 to follow a solo career.
The Frisco Band broadcasted in 1952 and 1953 on Rusty Draper’s television show. In 1953, Louis Armstrong sang with them at the Pasadena Civic Auditorium. From 1954-57, blues singer Lizzie Miles recorded and toured with the band.
In 1955, Scobey and his band played dates at San Quentin Prison and at the Rancho Grande in Lafayette, California. Two years later he recorded for Verve Records and RCA Victor, and on the latter Bing with a Beat recorded with Bing Crosby in 1957. From early in 1956, he toured colleges and universities and, in 1958, he recorded many of the student favorites and released the album College Classics.
While touring in 1960, he was reportedly drinking half and half or heavy cream to ease the pain in his stomach. Trumpeter Bob Scobey passed away from cancer on June 12, 1963 in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. His wife Jan posthumously produced a biography titled He Rambled!.
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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…
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…
Singleton Palmer was born on November 13, 1912 in St. Louis, Missouri and began playing cornet at age 11, and was actively playing gigs with the Mose Wiley Band in St. Louis by 14. 1928 saw him playing tuba, and joined Oliver Cobb’s Rhythm Kings in 1929. His first recordings were with Cobb in 1929, and he continued to perform with the band through 1934.
Following Cobb’s death in 1931, Eddie Johnson took over leadership for the band, renaming it the St. Louis Crackerjacks. He recorded with the band under Johnson’s leadership in 1932, and switched to string bass in 1933. The following year Palmer joined Dewey Jackson on the riverboats, performing with him until 1941.
Singleton took a job at Scullin Steel, where he joined the company’s 45-piece big band, which performed for the employees in the cafeteria during the daily lunch hour. Additionally he began performing with George Hudson’s first band in 1941, continuing until 1947. Toward the end of the decade he got higher-profile performing and recording opportunities, including with Clark Terry in 1947 and Jimmy Forrest in 1948. In 1947 he joined Count Basie’s 18-piece jazz band, touring for 3 years and recording 11 sides.
In 1950 Palmer left Basie’s group and started his own band, the Dixieland Six. He led this Dixieland jazz ensemble in jam sessions at the Universal Dance Hall on the DeBaliviere Strip, performed at Gaslight Square at the Opera House, and recorded six albums between 1960 and 1967. Late in his life he became a source for jazz historians, offering oral history testimonies of his early years in the music industry.
Multi-instrumentalist Singleton Palmer, who played bass, cornet and tuba, and recorded with blues musicians Big Joe Williams and Sonny Boy Williamson, passed away on March 8, 1993, St. Louis.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
John Henry Windhurst came into this world on November 5, 1926 in New York City, New York and was a self taught trumpeter. At the age of 15 he played his first public performance at Nick’s, and made his professional debut during the spring of 1944 at one of Eddie Condon’s concerts at the Town Hall, both venues in New York City. By eighteen he replaced Bunk Johnson in Sidney Bechet’s band for a Savoy Cafe gig in Boston, Massachusett, which launched his career as a trumpeter.
Going on to play with Art Hodes and James P. Johnson at the Jazz at Town Hall concert in 1946, Johnny then moved to the midwest and after a brief stint in the Chicago, Illinois jazz scene he returned to the Savoy Cafe as a member of Edmond Hall’s band. Eventually he moved west to experience the west coast jazz scene in California. However, his inability to read music forced him to decline gigs with Benny Goodman and Woody Herman, emphasizing his preference for informal jamming.
Over the years, he played with Louis Armstrong, Nappy Lamare, Eddie Condon. Ruby Braff,George Wettling, Jack Teagarden and Barbara Lea. He also led his own band, Riverboat Five, through Columbus, Ohio and Boston for several years, opting to play colleges and small venues instead of the most popular east coast venues and nightclubs.He also did some off-Broadway work with Conrad Janis in the musical Joy Ride.
Windhurst only made one recording with his swing quartet called Jazz at Columbus Avenue, for the Transition label in 1956. On the record label Jazzology, George Buck released The Imaginative Johnny Windhurst which showcased his unique trumpet style. The LP was recorded at a showcase in Massachusetts, where the decision to record it was made on the spot just as the show began. The spontaneous set flaunts his innovative playing on timeless numbers such as Back In Your Own Backyard, Strut Miss Lizzie and Lover Come Back to Me.
He eventually moved upstate to Poughkeepsie, New York with his mother, where he finished his career in a dixieland band at Frivolous Sal’s Last Chance Saloon. Trumpeter Johnny Windhurst passed away from a heart attack at the age of 54 on October 2, 1981 in Dutchess County, New York.
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