Jazz Artists Who Have Nicknames

[patricia]

I think on the first page of this bohemoth of a thread I profiled, at the request of Pete C., Slam Stewart. So, it's only fair, though long overdue, that I now give some space to Slam's other half.

SLIM [bulee] GAILLARD was born in 1916, either in Detroit, or in Santa Clara, Cuba, depending on who you ask.

He teamed with Slam Stewart as a comic variety act in the mid-1930's and they were a sensation.

Slim presented his routines in what was an invented style he called "vout", which was a kind of Spanish-inspired jive-talk which finished off every other word with "oreenee". [well, you had to be there.]

His songs tended to revolve mostly around food, such as "Avocado Seed Soup Symphony", Matzoh Balls" and "Yip Roc Heresy", which was inspired by an offering on an Armenian menu. Sometimes he veered into the mystic world of machinery and created such gems as "Cement Mixer" and "Poppety Pop". But my favourites are the sheer nonsense titles, like "Ya Ha Ha", "Laughing in Rhythm" and of course the monster hit, "Flat Foot Floogie".

By the time he teamed up with Stewart, Gaillard had already appeared films, such as "Star Spangled Rhythm" and "Hellzapoppin' "

In 1947 Gaillard had a few personal things going on, not the least of which was a pending divorce and he tapped it light for a while, working as an MC from time to time, as well as as a comedian and a singer.

Then, in the 1960's he was running a motel, then bought an orange farm near Seattle.

Then, there was a revival of his work and he made several TV appearances, including a role on "Roots - The Next Generation".

He also toured the UK to sellout crouds in the eighties. He played guitar, played the piano with the backs of his hands [!] and sang his old hits.

Slim was a looker and had a wonderful voice, both speaking and singing as well as a kind of surreal comedic approach to performing which appealed to audiences, throughout his long career.

But, in 1991 Slim contracted cancer and it was all over. He was eighty though, so he had certainly given his all to life and to entertaining.

His last recorded performance was with the Dream Warriors in 1990.

Please look for "Legendary McVouty [1945-46 Hep] which is side-splittingly funny. As a bonus, there is a guest appearance by Harry The Hipster Gibson. I really like this collection.

Edited May 3, 2004 by patricia

[EKE BBB]

SLIM GAILLARD (not Stewart )

[EKE BBB]

SONNY STITT

Vintage photo!

[patricia]

SLIM GAILLARD (not Stewart )

I blush. . I don't know what I was thinking and I've corrected my grevious error. SLIM GAILLARD

Gorgeous photo of Sonny, EKE BBB. WOW!!!

Thank you!!

[patricia]

And now, we have "SNOOKY" [Eugene Howard] YOUNG, who was born in Dayton Ohio, in 1919.

At five years old, Snooky took up the trumpet.

Later, he played in the Wilberforce College Band, although he never attended the college as an undergraduate.

In the mid-thirties, Young was with Clarence "Chic" Carter's territory band, playing in Michigan, then went with Jimmie Luncefords orchestra in 1939.

Snooky was with Lunceford for three years and he had a feature with that band, "Uptown Blues", which was very well-known.

In the early forties, he joined Count Basie's organization. He went from there to Lee Young's band, Les Hite's band, then back to Basie, then with Gerald Wilson and then BACK to Basie in 1945.

Snooky replaced Basie's high-note man, Al Killian and stayed for two years.

But, he left Basie's band in 1947, forming his own well-respected, top-class band., in Dayton, Ohio, and was very successful for the next ten years.

This band included featured players, such as Slam Stewart and Booty Ward.

Then, in 1957 Young once again joined Count Basie's orchestra and stayed for the next five years.

The next phase for Snooky was as a studio player and, in 1979 he finally produced a wonderful solo album "Horn Of Plenty" for Concord.

The album which Snooky recorded in 1979 is really worth looking for and listening to. It is a collection which has Snooky, playing trumpet and fluglehorn, in a quartet with Ross Tomkins on piano, John Collins on guitar and the great Jake Hanna on drums.

SNOOKY YOUNG, as far as I know, is still with us, although he would be eighty-five years old now.

[EKE BBB]

SNOOKY YOUNG

Carson Smith ( b ) and Snooky Young (t) at the 1987 Gibson Jazz Party, Denver Colorado

Edited May 4, 2004 by EKE BBB

[patricia]

Next up is a drummer, CHARLES "BOBO" SHAW, who was born in Pope, Mississippi in 1947.

Bobo studied drums with some of the most famous and well respected drummers in jazz, such as Joe Charles, Ben Thigpen and Charles Payne.

Shaw is also a fine trombone and bass player as well. I'm always interested in the many musicians, who are known for their skill on one instrument and are also often equally as skilled on other instruments as well.

Bobo has played with blues and R&B artists, such as Oliver Sain, Ike and Tina Turner and Albert King.

The collective called Black Artists Group was co-founded by Shaw . In the 1970's Shaw led a group of creative artists, which was comprised of saxophonists Julius Hemphill, Oliver Lake and Luther Thomas, the Bowie brother [a trumpeter and a trombonist]. The name of the group was the Human Arts Ensemble.

Bobo has appeared on a huge number of records, including Lester Bowie's "Rope A Dope", and he also recorded in 1984 with Billy Bang on his album "The Fire From Within" .

Although I'm pretty sure that Shaw is still up and around, I couldn't find anything about him after his work on the "...Fire..." collection.

Edited May 6, 2004 by patricia

[patricia]

And now we have "TOOTS" [Jean Baptiste] THIELEMANS, who was born in Brussels in 1922.

Toots, who is best known for his bringing the harmonica into the jazz idium, also plays guitar and whistles as well as being a composer.

Thielmans started playing music at the age of three, on a home made accordian.

The harmonica came later, at seventeen, at college, where he was studying maths.

The inspiration for his taking up the guitar came after hearing Django Reinhardt and after the war he played at American clubs and was seduced by the new development in jazz, Bebop.

In May, 1949, Toots shared the bill at the Paris international jazz festival with Charlie Parker. Parker had befriended him earlier in New York, on 52nd Street when Toots sat in with the Benny Goodman sextet.

In 1951 he moved to the U.S., working with Dinah Washington, then joining George Shearing's quintet in 1953, staying until 1959.

After that, Toots formed his own groups, but mostly worked freelance and as a studio musician.

His big break came in 1952 with his recoding of his composition, "Bluesette", which featured him on guitar and also whistling. There have been over a hundred versions of this recorded since.

Because of the huge success of Bluesette, Thielemans was once again discovered in the U.S. and studios were climbing all over each other for his services on guitar, and harmonica, as well as for his whistling virtuosity.

By the 1960's Toots was associated with the great Quincy Jones and he played on soundtracks, notably on "Midnight Cowboy" and "The Getaway".

He also can be heard on Quincy Jones' albums of the period.

Thieleman toured Russia in 1972 with a quartet.

Toots is an extremely versatile musician, his work ranging from pure bebop to whimsical work, such as that for the children's TV program, "Sesame Street".

Toots' work can probably be considered the most compelling reason that the harmonica has gained respect in the jazz genre.

As Clifford Brown once said to Toots, "Toots, the way you play harmonica, they shouldn't call it a miscellaneous instrument".

Check out "Man Bites Harmonica" [1957 OJC] to hear just a taste of Toots' approach to hard-bop. He is teamed up with Pepper Adams, Kenny Drew, Wilber Ware and Art Taylor. Wonderful!!!

Edited May 6, 2004 by patricia

[patricia]

Next up we have the clarinet player/leader, "MONTY SUNSHINE" [John Hyman] who was born in London in 1928.

Sunshine was a founder member of the Crane River Jazz Band, in 1949, moving on to being a star performer in Chris Barber's 1950's band.

Monty's clarinet was a huge factor in Barber's band's two gigantic hits, "Hushabye" and "Petite Fleur" in the late fifties.

In 1960, Monty left Barber's band and formed a strictly New Orleans-style band and released several solo albums. Monty jumped right in to a highly successful career with his group, which was large and performed a repertoire of this very distictive jazz.

I smiled when I read about a German record album cover which said, in part, "Although Humphrey Lyttelton has never reached the stardom achieved by Monty Sunshine..................."

The list of musicians who have worked with Sunshine is long and distinguished and includes, Rod Mason, Ian Hunter-Randall, Alan Gresty, Charlie Galbraith, Eddie Blashfield, John Beecham, Ken Barton, Barry Dew, Mick Ashman, Tony Baghot and Geoff Downs.

In 1994 Monty was still busily working away, still finding time to play reunion concerts with Barber. That year, he did almost nothing else, but play concerts marking their fortieth anniversary.

The only collection I could find was "Gotta Travel On" [1991 Timeless], but it's a good one. This is a collection of five live sessions, which featured the lead trumpet of Alan Gresty, as well as some great work on drums by Geoff Downs.

[EKE BBB]

MONTY SUNSHINE

[EKE BBB]

TOOTS THIELEMANS

[EKE BBB]

BOBO SHAW

Couldn´t get any other picture...

[patricia]

That's OK EKE BBB. The one you did get is FINE, as are the others, as usual. Thank you.

[Hardbopjazz]

Just came across a new nickname for a jazz artist. I was listening to a live performance of "Buck Eye Key". Any guesses who went by that name?