List of Capt. Dyett's students at DuSable H.S.

[Larry Kart]

Taken from a FB post by Allan Chase:

The list of Dyett's DuSable High School music program alumni is virtually a "Who's Who" of Chicago jazz. Among Dyett's students were:

Nat "King" Cole (b. 1917)-piano, voice
Von Freeman (b. 1922)-tenor saxophone
Bruz Freeman (birthdate unknown)-drums
George Freeman (birthdate unknown)-guitar
Bennie Green (b. 1923)-trombone
Dorothy Donegan (b. 1924)-piano
Dinah Washington (b. 1924)-voice
Martha Davis (birthdate unknown)-piano, voice
Gene Ammons (b. 1925)-tenor saxophone
*Victor Sproles (b. 1927)-bass
Bo Diddley (Ellas McDaniel) (b. 1928)-violin, guitar
E. "Prince" Shell (b. 1928)-valve trombone, piano, arranger
Johnny Griffin (b. 1928)-tenor saxophone
*Laurdine "Pat" Patrick (b. 1929)-saxophones, flute
Richard Davis (b. 1929)-bass
John Jenkins (b. 1931)-alto saxophone
Clifford Jordan (b. 1931)-tenor saxophone
*John Gilmore (b. 1931)-tenor saxophone, clarinet
*Robert Barry (b. 1932)-drums
Leroy Jenkins (b. 1932)-violin (flute and alto sax in high school)
Donald Rafael Garrett (b. 1932)-bass (clarinet or saxophone in high school?)
*Richard Evans (b. 1933)-bass, arranger
*Charles Davis (b. 1933)-baritone saxophone
*Julian Priester (b. 1935)-trombone, arranger
*Ronnie Boykins (b. 1935)-bass
Eddie Harris (b. 1936)-tenor saxophone
Andrew Hill (b. 1937)-piano (mellophone in high school)
Joseph Jarman (b. 1937)-saxophones
Wilbur Campbell (birthdate unknown)-drums
(* Musicians who later recorded with Sun Ra.)"

[jlhoots]

Pretty amazing.

[Chuck Nessa]

Before DuSable, he taught at Wendell Phillips High School. Milt Hinton was his student there.

Edit to say Milt told me Nat Cole started at Phillips and moved to DuSable in 1935 when Dyett transferred.

Edited March 31, 2015 by Chuck Nessa

[Justin V]

That is an impressive list. I'd like to see a list of Cass Tech alumni as well.

I did notice that Andrew Hill's birth year was listed incorrectly as 1937; I believe that it was only after his death that it was discovered that he was actually born in 1931.

Edited March 31, 2015 by Justin V

[JSngry]

Different world...

But nevertheless, never underestimate the value that one teacher can bring to an individual, a community, a world. If that list were even 1/10th of what it is (and I suspect it is even longer when dug deeper), that would be impressive as hell. As it is...damn.

[clifford_thornton]

holy moly.

[johnblitweiler]

Before DuSable, he taught at Wendell Phillips High School. Milt Hinton was his student there.

Edit to say Milt told me Nat Cole started at Phillips and moved to DuSable in 1935 when Dyett transferred.

At Wendell Phillips Capt. Dyett assisted the bandmaster Major N. Clark Smith. DuSable is where Dyett himself became a bandmaster.

[johnblitweiler]

Fred Hopkins and Mwata Bowden were Dyett students during his last years at DuSable. John Young and Freddie Below were Dyett students and Redd Foxx performed in some of Dyett's shows at DuSable.

How about a list of famous students of that famous high school teacher in Los Angeles who taught C. Mingus, Dexter Gordon, Anthony Ortega, Don Cherry, Billy Higgins and so on?

[johnblitweiler]

The main thing here is, Wendell Phillips was the first black high school in Chicago and DuSable (opened in the 1930s) was the second. Dyett's success as a teacher is to some extent a result of this city's segregation.

Under the allegedly reformed Chicago Public Schools, what remains of DuSable High School is 200 or 300 students in the old building. 1 or 2 or maybe more other high schools are also at the old building. I believe Walter Dyett Elementary School, in Washington Park, was not opened until after Dyett's death. Mayor Rahm Emanuel's current school board closed Dyett School last year.

[uli]

john, do you know if DuSable still teaches music? . last i know maybe 4 or 5 years ago. David Boykin was teaching there and alredy then there was talk it may no survive.

[Hot Ptah]

When I took jazz history classes from Richard Davis at the University of Wisconsin in the late 1970s and early 1980s, he often spoke warmly of Captain Dyett.

By the way, Richard Davis played live with Sun Ra in the late 1940s, and recorded with him on the live Sun Ra All Stars albums from the 1980s (with Don Cherry, Lester Bowie, Archie Shepp, John Gilmore, Marshall Allen, Philly Joe Jones, Don Moye and Clifford Jarvis), so he should have an asterisk by his name too.

[uli]

just read this in a Robert Barry interview

RB: DuSable High School. We had a marching band, swing band, concert band. Captain Walter Dyett was a phenomenal teacher. He taught all the guys that wound up coming out of Chicago: Nat King Cole, Benny Green, Johnny Griffin, Wilbur Campbell, Irma Thompson, Gene Ammons, John Gilmore, Clifford Jordan, Julian Priester, Richard Evans, myself. He was a positive thinker. You couldn’t mention the word can’t in his presence. He’d go into a rage and would physically throw you. [Laughs] He’d take you by your collar or by the seat of your pants — somebody open the door and boom! He’d say, “Don’t never come back here until you lose that word.” And he’d say, “You are what you eat and you are what you think you are.” He used to keep a .38 on the desk. Everybody would carry knives. He’d say, “You guys think you’re bad with your knives and your switchblades — I got something for you!” [Laughs] Walter Dyett — he was something else.

http://stopsmilingonline.com/story_detail.php?id=1002

[l p]

By the way, Richard Davis played live with Sun Ra in the late 1940s, and recorded with him on the live Sun Ra All Stars albums from the 1980s (with Don Cherry, Lester Bowie, Archie Shepp, John Gilmore, Marshall Allen, Philly Joe Jones, Don Moye and Clifford Jarvis), so he should have an asterisk by his name too.

he's on only one sun ra album, it was recorded on the short fall 1983 all-stars program which took place in the middle of a sun ra tour with the arkestra.

Stars that Shine Darkly (aka Hiroshima and Outer Reach Intensity-Energy) - Montreux 11/83.

(with Don Cherry, Lester Bowie, Archie Shepp, John Gilmore, Marshall Allen, Eloe Omoe, Philly Joe Jones, Clifford Jarvis)

http://wayback.archive.org/web/20060222085325/http://www.dpo.uab.edu/~moudry/disc_d.htm#103.

there was a bootleg (transparancy label) box set released of the other 4 dates available from this line-up (all oct/nov 1983)

"Sun Ra All Stars ‎– Milan, Zurich, West Berlin, Paris"

http://www.discogs.com/Sun-Ra-All-Stars-Milan-Zurich-West-Berlin-Paris/release/1437001

and the same label released the video that exists of most of the berlin show on

"Sun Ra Arkestra, Volume 2: Live In East Berlin 1986 and West Berlin 1983"

the video can probably be found on youtube.

Edited April 1, 2015 by l p

[paul secor]

For one man to have touched that many young people who became who they became - amazing.

[BeBop]

That is an impressive list. I'd like to see a list of Cass Tech alumni as well.

Just what I was thinking. A few from Wikipedia:

• Dorothy Ashby, American jazz harpist and composer
• Geri Allen, American post bop jazz pianist
• Sean Anderson aka Big Sean; hip-hop artist signed to Kanye West's Label (G.O.O.D. Music)
• Kenny Burrell, American jazz guitarist
• Ellen Burstyn, Won Academy Award for Best Actress in Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore as Alice Hyatt, Tony Award Winner, Emmy Award Winner, Golden Globe Award Winner (did not graduate)
• Donald Byrd, American jazz and rhythm and blues trumpeter
• Regina Carter, American jazz violinist
• Ron Carter, American jazz double-bassist
• Paul Chambers, American jazz bassist
• Alice Coltrane, was an American jazz pianist, organist, harpist, composer, and the wife of John Coltrane.
• Muriel Costa-Greenspon, was an American mezzo-soprano who had a lengthy career at the New York City Opera between 1963 and 1993.
• Jerald Daemyon, American electric jazz violinist, composer and producer known for bringing technical refinement to violin improvisation
• Delores Ivory Davis, was internationally recognized for her performances in opera, oratorio, and performances with the Springfield (Mass.) Symphony, St. Paul Symphony, and Detroit Symphony Orchestra.
• Elizabeth Elkin Weiss, 1925-, a noted pioneer of radio serials and early television in Detroit, Elizabeth Weiss née Elkin became known for her chameleon-like voice performances. In 2014, she returned to the stage in a production of Brundibár at the Detroit Opera House. Also a highly skilled painter, Weiss majored in Commercial Art at Cass Tech.
• Carole Gist, 1990 Miss USA, first African American woman to win the Miss USA title
• Wardell Gray, was an American jazz tenor saxophonist who straddled the swing and bebop periods.
• David Alan Grier, actor, comedian
• J. C. Heard,^[36] was a United States swing, bop, and blues drummer.
• Major Holley, was an American jazz upright bassist.
• Ali Jackson (musician), American jazz drummer.
• Philip Johnson American Actor, leading role in the Lifetime Original Movie, America
• Ella Joyce, American actress
• Roland Hayes Lawrence, Musician/Songwriter, Social Activist
• Hugh Lawson (jazz pianist),^[36] was one of many talented Detroit jazz pianists of the 1950s
• Donyale Luna, was a model, cover girl and actress.
• Howard McGhee, was one of the first bebop jazz trumpeters, together with Dizzy Gillespie, Fats Navarro and Idrees Sulieman.
• Al McKibbon,^[36] was an American jazz double bassist, known for his work in bop, hard bop, and Latin jazz.
• Billy Mitchell (jazz musician),^[36] was an American jazz tenor saxophonist best known for his work with Woody Herman when he replaced Gene Ammons in his band.
• Kenya Moore, 1993 Miss USA
• Naima Mora, American fashion model, America's Next Top Model Winner (4th Season)
• J. Moss aka James Moss, grammy award winning, American gospel singer-songwriter, composer, arranger, and record producer
• Greg Phillinganes, (1974) session keyboardist
• Della Reese, comedian, actress, later famous for playing Tess, the leading role on the television show Touched by an Angel
• Frank Rosolino,^[37] was an American jazz trombonist.
• Diana Ross, singer, actress-Graduated 1962, one full semester ahead of her classmates. Ross' major as listed in the Cass Tech Triangle Yearbook was "Home economics." Ross studied costume design as her curriculum path. 2007 Kennedy Center Honors recipient.
• Donald Sinta, is an American classical saxophonist, educator, and administrator. In 1969 he was the first elected chair of the World Saxophone Congress.
• Cornelius Smith Jr., actor, 2010 NAACP Image Award winner for Outstanding Actor in a Daytime Drama Series
• Lucky Thompson,^[36] was a United States jazz tenor and soprano saxophonist.
• Lily Tomlin, comedian, actress. 2014 Kennedy Center Honors recipient. Winner of two Tony Awards, a Grammy Award, 5 Emmy Awards and a Daytime Emmy Award.
• Jack White, acclaimed musician and member of The White Stripes, The Raconteurs, and The Dead Weather.^[38]
• Gerald Wilson, influential Jazz trumpeter, Big Band leader and composer.

[Larry Kart]

That Lily Tomlin played some mean bongos.

[johnblitweiler]

just read this in a Robert Barry interview

RB: DuSable High School. We had a marching band, swing band, concert band. Captain Walter Dyett was a phenomenal teacher. He taught all the guys that wound up coming out of Chicago: Nat King Cole, Benny Green, Johnny Griffin, Wilbur Campbell, Irma Thompson, Gene Ammons, John Gilmore, Clifford Jordan, Julian Priester, Richard Evans, myself. He was a positive thinker. You couldn’t mention the word can’t in his presence. He’d go into a rage and would physically throw you. [Laughs] He’d take you by your collar or by the seat of your pants — somebody open the door and boom! He’d say, “Don’t never come back here until you lose that word.” And he’d say, “You are what you eat and you are what you think you are.” He used to keep a .38 on the desk. Everybody would carry knives. He’d say, “You guys think you’re bad with your knives and your switchblades — I got something for you!” [Laughs] Walter Dyett — he was something else.

http://stopsmilingonline.com/story_detail.php?id=1002

Uli, thanks for that link. Those are valuable interviews and Josh Abrams is a good interviewer.