List of Black Jazz Musicians Who Moved Abroad

[tranemonk]

Is there a good list of Black jazz musicians who left the US for a long time and where they moved to? I've been intrigued by this since I learned about Don Byas. I think I know some of the more obvious, like Nina Simone and (I think) Dexter Gordon. I also listened to the radio and an Alvin Queen tune came up. I didn't know much about him (other than his new release on Cellar ) but the DJ said he moved to Switzerland (I think). I'm curious if anyone has generated a list. Thanks.

[Ken Dryden]

It would be a long list: Art Farmer, Horace Parlan, Johnny Griffin, Ben Webster, Kenny Drew and Oscar Pettiford are among the many who moved to Europe. Sir Charles Thompson moved to Japan.

Edited November 26, 2024 by Ken Dryden

[sonnymax]

Jazz musicians who became expatriates

[soulpope]

 

[tranemonk]

48 minutes ago, sonnymax said:

Jazz musicians who became expatriates

Thanks. I suspected someone brought this up but I couldn't find it when I searched.

[Big Beat Steve]

That "expat jazzmen" thread of 2019 is good but seems to live mostly on fairly "recent" memories (maybe often based on personal exposure by the forumists?). Most of the names do not seem to go back beyond those featured on the "Americans in Europe" Impulse LPs.

Yet the trend (particularly among Black jazzmen and women, and going well beyond Coleman Hawkins and Benny Carter who spent several years in Europe in the 30s) started MUCH earlier (which is saying something about a certain societal climate ...). Though some by force of circumstances were forced to return back to the US at the outbreakof WWII.

Here are those that come to mind offhand (but the list is not chronological - some came to Europe in the 30s (sometimes in the 20s), some came after WWII):

Sidney Bechet !

Arthur Briggs

Harry Cooper

Big Boy Goudie

Herb Flemming

Willie Lewis

Garnet Clark

Spencer Williams

Valaida Snow

Leon Abbey

Freddy Taylor

Inez Cavanaugh

Peanuts Holland

...

 

Edited November 26, 2024 by Big Beat Steve

[clifford_thornton]

That 2019 thread is a bit all over the place (pun not intended).

[mjazzg]

Joe Lee Wilson lived in the UK 

[Rabshakeh]

Obviously more on the blues side, but I've always loved the fact that Champion Jack Dupree left America and lived for almost ten years in the West Yorkshire mill town of Halifax. What must that move to Halifax have been like in the mid-1970s? It boggles the mind.

Edited November 26, 2024 by Rabshakeh

[Big Beat Steve]

10 hours ago, Rabshakeh said:

Obviously more on the blues side ...

Never mind ... blues is part of jazz! 😄

[sgcim]

I dunno. Where did they move her?

[Gheorghe]

Dexter was mentioned, Don Byas, Johnny Griffin, 

 

In Viena we had Art Farmer. 

Kenny Drew lived in Denmark, Horace Parlan and Duke Jordan too, but I´m sure the most prominent pianist who ever lived in Europe was Bud Powell, who stayed more than 5 years of his short live in Paris and performed in all european countries with the exception of East Europe....

[soulpope]

7 minutes ago, Gheorghe said:

In Viena we had Art Farmer. 

For a long time thankfully ....

[Niko]

there must have been hundreds all over Europe... recently, I read a nice newspaper article about the Dutch village of Velsen placing a memorial for its former citizen altoist George Johnson (who'd played with Buck Clayton, Don Byas etc)...  here's a nice article about drummer Al Jones I found recently

https://jazztimeeurope.wordpress.com/2019/06/12/profile-al-jones/

mentioned in there is Lou Bennett, which reminds me of Rhoda Scott... and so the list goes on... 

[Big Beat Steve]

One more (mentioned now to tip the scales a bit in favor of the distaff part of the artists mentioned ) :

Former big band vocalist June Richmond!
Apparently forgotten enough in her country of origin by the mid-70s to see her name misspelled as "June Richman" by the oh so enthusiastic compilers and annotators of the Joyce label (whose LP-5001 - "Count Basie`s Jubilee" - I just spun).

 

@Niko: 
Yes - Rhoda Scott was big in France. Most of her discography originated there. Lou Bennett also was a household name. Not to be confused with Benny Bennet who worked with various jazz notables in France in the 40s and 50s, but later shifted towards popular Latin sounds.

[medjuck]

Pianists Joe Turner and Aaron Bridgers. 

[Gheorghe]

16 hours ago, Big Beat Steve said:

 

 

Lou Bennett also was a household name.

 

Maybe not so much for lasting efect. I remember I had never heard his name before I heard him on the "Americans in Paris" album which sure is not the best one for each of those Americans in Paris. But Lou Bennett sounds nice, I remember on that album he plays "No Smoking" from Horace Silver, which is a number I like very very much and have played very very often in my life. So Lou Bennett sounds really nice on it and has great skills.
The only thing is, that it seems to me that before Larry Young came along, all organ players sounded quite the same. But maybe it is the instrument. 
My organ discography is quite thin, I have this one or two pieces on the above mentioned album, and 2 or 3 Jimmy Smith albums, but more than three Larry Young albums......

Apropos: Larry Young also lived some time in Paris, like Woody Shaw. It´s told that Woody Shaw even had played with Bud, but no recorded evidence of it...

[Big Beat Steve]

5 hours ago, Gheorghe said:

The only thing is, that it seems to me that before Larry Young came along, all organ players sounded quite the same. But maybe it is the instrument. 
My organ discography is quite thin, I have this one or two pieces on the above mentioned album, and 2 or 3 Jimmy Smith albums, but more than three Larry Young albums......

Boy, are you lucky that The Magnificent Goldberg (MG) no longer seems to frequent this place  (which is very regrettable ...). No doubt he'd pull your ear and set you wise about "all organ players sounding quite the same".
I am FAR from an expert on organ jazz, particularly of the Soul Jazz period (in which I have taken more than a passing iterest only in very recent years), but there ARE differences (stylistic and soundwise) between, say, Milt Buckner, Wild Bill Davis, Jimmy Smith, Shirley Scott, Rhoda Scott, Jimmy McGriff et al.
Whatever similarities there may remain certainly are mostly a matter of the instrument as such. At least if you do not listen closely.

Edited November 28, 2024 by Big Beat Steve