Archives: musicians_main
Young, Webster English (1932-2003)
Born in Columbia, SC (Lexington County); cornetist/trumpeter; later resided in Washington, DC; played and recorded with many of the giants of jazz from the 1940s and 1950s including Lester Young, Mal Waldron, John Coltrane (1957), Jackie McLean, Ray Draper, and others; he played in the Air Force Band with Hampton Hawes in DC (1956); he has several albums under his name including Plays the Miles Davis Songbook (volumes 1-3) and For Lady(Prestige, 1957); “Millie’s Pad” is one of his compositions; he taught jazz improvisation and was the 1984 musical director of Lettumplay, Washington, D.C.’s jazz preservation organization and youth jazz ensemble; Young died in 2003 in Portland, OR at the age of 71 following a battle with brain cancer.
Williams, Sandy (1906-1991)
Born in Summerville, SC; trombonist; moved to Washington, D.C. as a child and played his first gig with the Miller Brothers in D.C. and with small bands led by Sidney Bechet, where Williams is said to have done some of his finest work; his first recording with Bechet was in 1940, and in 1945 he played with Bechet’s band at a Town Hall concert celebrating the Blue Note record label; he also played in the pit band in D.C. at the Lincoln Theater; he later joined Claude Hopkins (1927-1930), Horace and Fletcher Henderson (1929-33), and then Chick Webb until 1940 after Webb’s death and under the leadership of Ella Fitzgerald; in 1943, he played with the Duke Ellington Orchestra, and with Coleman Hawkins, Lucky Millinder, Benny Carter, Cootie Williams, “Hot Lips” Page, Don Redman, and Roy Eldridge, periodically; Williams toured with Rex Stewart in Europe (1947-48) and later played with Dixieland groups; a fine trombonist of the Jimmy Harrison school who never got the chance to break through and become the prominent figure he could have been partly because of persistent health problems during the 1950s and subsequent dental problems during the 1960s; Williams died in 1991 in New York City.
Williams, John C., Jr.
Born in Orangeburg, SC; baritone saxophonist; graduate of South Carolina State University; played and recorded with Sarah Vaughan, the Manhattan Transfer, Diane Schuur, Lena Horne, Joe Williams, Tito Puente, and most notably with the Count Basie Orchestra for more than two decades (1980s-present); some of Williams’ first recordings with the Basie Orchestra can be found in a collection titled, The Golden Years (Pablo, 1972-1983) – playing on these recordings with Williams are Charlestonians and South Carolinians, Freddie Green, Pete Minger, Dizzy Gillespie, and Norman Keenan.
White, Amos Mordechai (b. 1889)
Graduate of Avery – was in 9th grade with Edmund Thornton Jenkins; entered the Jenkins Orphanage in 1900 and played trumpet with Jenkins Orphanage Bands regularly until 1913; toured with bands in France in World War I; lived and played in New Orleans during the 1920s; worked with The Alabamians, toured with Mamie Smith, recorded with Tiny Parham and Frank “Big Boy” Goudie; played gigs and led marching bands through the 1960s in California.
Ulmer, “Blood” James (b. 1942)
Born in St. Matthews, SC; guitarist; Ulmer began his career playing in funk bands, first in Pittsburgh (1959-64) and later around Columbus, OH (1964-67); he gigged at Minton’s Playhouse and played with Art Blakey, recorded with Rashied Ali’s Quintet (1973), and worked with Ornette Coleman, Ulmer’s main influence; he recorded in the 1970s and 1980s, and recorded three sessions for Columbia (1981) which gained him wide exposure; he collaborated with the Music Revelation Ensemble (tenor saxophonist, David Murray, bassist, Amin Ali, and drummer, Ronald Shannon Jackson) and they produced several albums over two decades; his work with Phalanx (tenor saxophonist, George Adams, bassist, Sirone, and drummer, Rashied Ali) catapulted him into free jazz expressionism that made him successful; in recent years (1980s-1990s), his work has evolved from free jazz to more structured music though his work in the 1990s with Music Revelation Ensemble still hints at his earlier style; his recordings are numerous includingMemphis Blood: The Sun Sessions, No Escape From the Blues (2003), Birthright (2005), and ten solo originals and two covers of classic repertoire.
Thompson, “Lucky” Eli (1924-2005)
Born in Columbia, SC; jazz saxophonist; early in his career (before age 21), he played with Erskine Hawkins’ Alabama State Collegians, and played tenor saxophone with Billy Eckstine (including Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie and Art Blakey) and Count Basie; he later played with Lionel Hampton, Slam Stewart, Dinah Washington, Milt Jackson, Eddie Barclay, Stan Kenton, Charles Mingus, Buddy Collette and Miles Davis among others, and can be heard on hundreds of jazz recordings; he led his own band at the Savoy Ballroom and performed at the Nice Jazz Festival; considered a great jazz saxophonist, he abruptly quit in the early 1970’s giving his instruments to a dentist to pay a bill; he dropped out of public view and the Los Angeles Times reported that it was widely believed he was homeless; he spoke out against what he considered the unfair control of the jazz business by record companies, music publishers and booking agents and was blacklisted — partly for these reasons, he left the United States to live in Paris (1957-1962) and Lausanne, Switzerland (1968-1970); he frequented New York occasionally, taught music at Dartmouth (1973-1974), lived on Ontario’s Manitoulin Island, in Savannah, and settled in Seattle in the late 1980s; he died at Seattle’s Columbia City Assisted Living Center.
Smith, “Willie” William McLeish (1910-1967)
Born in Charleston; Avery Graduate, 1921; his mother, Maude Smith was the head of music at Avery; oral accounts are that he gigged with the Jenkins Orphanage Band in the mid-1920s; met Jimmie Lunceford at Fisk University, where he graduated with a chemistry degree, and joined his band in 1929-42 as an alto saxophonist; in the 1930s, he was ranked as third among alto saxophonists behind Johnny Hodges and Benny Carter and had a distinctive sound and swinging style that catapulted the Jimmie Lunceford Orchestra; as a multi-instrumentalist, he also performed vocals on “Rhythm Is Our Business” – his best-known recording, played clarinet solos and arranged tunes for Lunceford; he also played/recorded with Harry James’s big band from the mid-1940s through the early 1950s and back again from 1954-1964; he joined Duke Ellington in 1951 and began the Ellington saxophone lineage; also played with Charlie Barnet, Charlie Parker, Billie Holiday and Norman Granz’s Jazz at the Philharmonic (where he was featured on recordings); played local gigs in Los Angeles and Las Vegas with Johnny Rivers, and recorded under his name in 1965; he passed away from cancer in Los Angeles.
Smith, “Jabbo” Cladys (1908-1991)
Trumpeter, songwriter; born in Pembroke, Georgia and died in New York City; entered the Jenkins Orphanage in 1915, studied music, and played with the bands from 1918 until 1925; trumpeter with Sidney Bechet, James P. Johnson, Cecil Scott, Erskine Hawkins, Fats Waller and Earl “Fatha” Hines, and recorded with Perry Bradford; recorded “Black and Tan Fantasy” with Duke Ellington (1927); in Charlie Johnson’s Paradise Ten, house band for New York’s Smalls Paradise (owned by Ed Smalls of Charleston); played in the show, “Keep Shufflin’” with James P. Johnson and Fats Waller; his high point were his 1929 recordings with Jabbo Smith’s Rhythm Aces; worked in Chicago and Detroit from 1930-35 and was with Claude Hopkins from 1936-38; was only occasionally active musically in the 1940s, 1950s and 1960s; played with the Preservation Hall Band and during the late 1970s, was featured in the New York musical, One Mo’ Time; a brilliant soloist whom Brunswick Records signed as an alternate Louis Armstrong; Smith recorded 19 albums with Brunswick and also recorded for Decca Records (“How Could Cupid Be So Stupid” and “More Rain More Rest”); considered the rival of Louis Armstrong but his skill could not be sustained because of his numerous vices.
Smith, Chris (1879-1949)
Born in Charleston; traveled with a medicine show before settling down in New York; teamed up with his boyhood friend, Elmer Bowman (1879-1916) and began a successful two-man vaudeville team; he wrote songs for successful black entertainers and vaudeville including the lyricist, Cecil Mack (R.C. McPherson); his first songwriting success was “Good Morning, Carrie”; other songs he composed and in collaboration with others were “All in Down and Out” (1906), “Down Among the Sugar Cane” and “You’re in the Right Church but the Wrong Pew” (both in 1908) with Cecil Mack – the latter of which was made popular by Bert Williams (some speculate that this tune may well have been the source of “You’ve Got the Right String Baby but the Wrong Yo-Yo”; with lyricist, Jim Burris, he wrote “There’s a Big Cry-Baby in the Moon,” “Come After Breakfast,” “Bring ‘Long Your Lunch and Leave ‘Fore Supper Time,” and “Transmagnificanbamdamuality (or C-A-T Spells Cat)”; with and for Bert Williams’ stage performances, he composed “Constantly,” and “If He Comes In, I’m Going Out”; composed the fox trot, “Ballin’ the Jack” (1913) with James Reese Europe (lyrics by Jim Burris) that created the dance craze; “Never Let the Same Bee Sting You Twice” and “San Francisco Blues,” his first commercial ventures that placed him in the league with W.C. Handy; “I’ve Got My Habits On” (1921 with Jimmy Durante); and “If You Sheik on Your Mama, Your Mama’s Gonna Sheba on You” (1924); his songs were also recorded by Sidney Bechet, Louis Armstrong and Clarence Williams; Smith’s “Lookin’ for Another Sweetie” (1929) was recorded by Fats Waller & His Buddies but was stolen and reappeared with new lyrics under the title “I’m Confessin’ (That I Love You),” now credited to Doc Daughtery, Al J. Neiburg and Ellis Reynolds; after this disappointment, little is known about Smith’s life; he passed away in New York City.
Smalls, “Cliff” Clifton (1918-2008)
Pianist, trombonist, composer and conductor for six decades; born in Charleston, attended Burke High School, and lived in a neighborhood of Charlston known as “Back the Green”; his father, Edward Smalls, a Charleston carpenter and musician, taught Smalls classical music at a young age – his father played the organ and piano for Charleston’s Central Baptist Church, and brothers Archie and Edward Smalls, Jr. were also musicians; while in high school, he joined the Carolina Cotton Pickers and toured extensively with the band – probable personnel during his tenure were Cat Anderson, John Williams, and Thad Seabrook, and Joseph Williams on trumpet; Leroy Hardeson and Eugene Earle on trombone; Booker Starks, Lew Williams, Addison White, and Aaron Harvey on saxophones; Cliff Smalls (piano); W.J. Edwards (guitar); Len Thurman (bass); and Otis Walker (drums); studied piano, music theory and composition at Kansas City Conservatory; in a unique doubling position, he played trombone and was the relief piano player with Earl “Fatha” Hines (1942-46); played/recorded with Jimmy Lunceford Orchestra in Detroit, Billy Eckstine, Louis Jordan, Earl Bostic, Bennie Green, Erskine Hawkins Orchestra, Lucky Millinder, and Cab Calloway; served as music director/arranger for Eartha Kitt, Ella Fitzgerald, Sy Oliver, Sammy Davis, Jr., Smokey Robinson and the Miracles, Clyde McPhatter and Brook Benton (late 1950s-mid-1960s); his discography includes Ella Fitzgerald: Newport Jazz Festival at Carnegie Hall and A Portrait of Julian Dash with Charlestonian, St. Julian Bennett Dash, among others; his solo album, The Man I Love was recorded in 1979; led the Cliff Smalls Septet in Brooklyn utilizing young jazz musicians along with seasoned regulars until his health declined.
