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The Missourians started out in the 1920s as Wilson Robinson’s Syncopators. Then it became known as Andrew Preer’s Cotton Club Orchestra when it played in that venue.
Then the band changed its name to the Missourians in 1927 and took up residency at the Savoy Ballroom in New York City from 1928 to 1929.
Cab Calloway took control of it in 1930.
“Prohibition Blues” – The Missourians (1930)
Recorded February 17, 1930, New York, NY
Here’s how the band rocked with Cab Calloway as the front man the year of the transition. Note: NOT speeded up. This is how they played it.
“Some of these Days – Cab Calloway and the Missourians (1930)
Seven years later…on film.
“Some of these Days – Cab Calloway and His Orchestra (1937)
And then this!
Dorothy Donegan and Gene Rogers on pianos with audio visual effects portrayed not common until decades later. (Sony debuted its JumboTron at Expo ’85 in Japan.)
Hungarian Rhapsody…Swing! – Cab Calloway and His Orchestra (1944)
Members of the band over the years
Trombones
Claude Jones, Lammar Wright, Keg Johnson, DePriest Wheeler, Tyree Glenn, and Quentin Jackson.
Trumpets
R. Q. Dickerson, Dizzy Gillespie, Mario Bauza, Adolphus “Doc” Cheatham, Reuben Reeves (1931), Shad Collins (mid-1940s), Paul Webster (mid-1940s), and Jonah Jones.
Tuba
Jimmy Smith
Saxophones
Thornton Blue, Hilton Jefferson, Ben Webster, Leon “Chu” Berry, Chauncey Haughton, Rudy Powell, Andrew Brown, Walter “Foots” Thomas, Ike Quebec, Arville Harris (1931) and Jerry Blake.
Piano
Earres Prince, Benny Payne, Dave Rivera (mid-1940s)
Guitars
Eddie Durham, Danny Barker
Bass
Milt Hinton
Drums
Leroy Maxey, Cozy Cole, J. C. Heard (mid-1940s)
– Ken McCarthy
Jazz on the Tube
P.S. Our unique programming is made possible by help from people like you. Learn how you can contribute to our efforts here: Support Jazz on the Tube
Thanks.
Artist-Educators, Blog, Chroniclers, Jazz on the Tube Interview
Interview with Dave Oliphant
Download the mp3 here
The music at the end this interview is “I’m an Old Cow Hand” composed by Johnny Mercer and recorded by Fairfield,Texas-born (1924) Kenny Durham on January 10, 1960. For a unique “discography” of Durham’s work, see Oliphant’s biography-poem KD: A Jazz Biography
Books by Dave Oliphant
Documentary about Dave Oliphant by Kanya Lyons
A documentary short about Native Texas Poet Dave Oliphant. This documentary was filmed, edited, produced and directed by Kanya Lyons in 2018.
Oliphant was born in Fort Worth in 1939. He received his B.A. and M.A. degrees in English from Lamar University and the University of Texas, respectively, and his Ph.D. from Northern Illinois University. His primary reading and writing interest has always been poetry, but he has also written four books on jazz (primarily by Texas musicians).
He has translated poetry from Spanish and was a winner of the Texas Institute of Letters book translation award in 2011. In addition to fourteen collections of his own poetry, among them The Pilgrimage: Selected Poems 1962-2012, he has edited three anthologies of Texas poetry and one of Chilean poetry. For forty years he contributed essays on and reviews of Texas poetry to various state literary magazines, and 55 of those pieces were collected in 2015 in his Generations of Texas Poets.
He retired from the University of Texas at Austin after serving for 30 years in various capacities, from assistant professor to editor of a scholarly journal, senior lecturer, and coordinator of the Freshman Seminars Program. He lives in Cedar Park, Texas with his wife and muse, Maria.
– Ken McCarthy
Jazz on the Tube
Music credits:
The Jazz on the Tube podcast theme song is “Mambo Inferno” performed by The Manhattan School of Music Afro-Cuban Jazz Orchestra conducted by Bobby Sanabria from the CD ¡Que Viva Harlem!
At the end of today’s interview, we featured “I’m an Old Cow Hand”, written by Johnny Mercer and performed by Kenny Dorham (Xanadu Records, The Kenny Dorham Memorial Album) recorded January 10, 1960 (4:12)
P.S. Our unique programming is made possible by help from people like you. Learn how you can contribute to our efforts here: Support Jazz on the Tube
Thanks.
Artist-Educators, Blog, Chroniclers
Inspired by Chapter One (pgs. 28-34) of Texan Jazz by Dave Oliphant
Composer Euday Bowman (1915)
Born November 9, 1887, Fort Worth, Texas
Louis Armstrong – Recorded 1927
Benny Moten & His Kansas City Orchestra – Recorded 1927
Duke Ellington – 1931
Fats Waller – Recorded 1935
Count Basie with Lester Young – Recorded 1939
Andy Kirk featuring Mary Lou Williams (piano and arranger) – Recorded 1940
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iP0bsxX0TqM
Sidney Bechet – Recorded 1941
This page inspired by Chapter One (pgs. 28-34) of Texan Jazz by Dave Oliphant
– Ken McCarthy
P.S. Our unique programming is made possible by help from people like you. Learn how you can contribute to our efforts here: Support Jazz on the Tube
Thanks.
Blog, Cuba
A double bill, part of the Africa meets Cuba series at Minton’s in New York City, January 20.
Jomion & the Uklos (Benin) and YeraSon (Cuba)
Jomion & the Uklos – Benin
YeraSon (The Trio) – Cuba
http://www.yerason.com/Gallery.html
Click here for info about the January 20, 2020 show at Minton’s
– Ken McCarthy
Jazz on the Tube
P.S. Our unique programming is made possible by help from people like you. Learn how you can contribute to our efforts here: Support Jazz on the Tube
Thanks.
Blog
The most important jazz musician whoever lived?
That’s a tough call.
But I know who belongs on the short list.
Bebop pioneer and a man who built bridges between the great Afro-American and Afro-Caribbean musical traditions.
A full hour of music (no video)
A playlist assembled by the Jazz on the Tube.
Playlist:
1. Tin Tin Deo
2. Alone Together
3. Manteca
4. Ooh-Shoo-Be-Doo-Bee
5. Groovin´ High
6. Birk’s Works
7. School Days
8. I Can’t Get Started
9. They Can’t Take That Awa From Me
10. There Is No Greater Love
11. Lady Be Good
12. The Mooche
– Ken McCarthy
Jazz on the Tube
Afro-Cuban culture, Blog, Cuba, Cuban Jazz, The Cuba-US connection
The year: 1977.
The place: La Habana, Cuba.
President Jimmy Carter thawed the freeze between the United States and Cuba a bit by allowing a boatload of American musicians to travel to Havana to perform with Cuban musicians, the first such officially sanctioned visit since 1961.
Check out the young, very serious and (very thin) Arturo Sandoval and Paquito D’Rivera.
Smoking hot!
Personnel:
Dizzy Gillespie, leader and trumpet
Arturo Sandoval, trumpet
Stan Getz, saxophone
Paquito D’Rivera, saxophone
David Amram, french horn
Ronnie Jones, guitar
Ben Brown, bass
Oscar Valdes, chekeres
Los Papinesm, congas
Mickey Roker, drums
If anyone knows other musicians not listed, please let me know.
Also, if anyone knows where the rest of the tape is, I’m all ears.
– Ken McCarthy
Jazz on the Tube
P.S. Our unique programming is made possible by help from people like you. Learn how you can contribute to our efforts here: Support Jazz on the Tube
Thanks.
Go to Cuba with Jazz on the Tube as your guide:
Click here for details
