Buster Moten

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Ira E. "Buster" Moten (* 1903 ; † 1965 as Ira Alexander Smith ; also Bus Moten ) was an American jazz musician ( accordion , piano ) and band leader .

Live and act

Buster Moten was related to the Kansas City band leader and pianist Bennie Moten ; According to most sources, he was his brother, according to others, his cousin or nephew, and allegedly Bennie's uncle as well. The first recordings with him were made in the late 1920s; During this time he was the musical director of the Bennie Moten Band , a Territory Band that toured between Kansas City and Louisiana (he also wrote pieces for the band). As an accordion soloist he can be heard in Bennie Moten's Terrific Stomp and in Moten Blues (Victor), recorded in 1929. In addition to the Motens, Count Basie and shortly thereafter other important musicians of Kansas City jazz belonged to the band .

After Bennie Moten's death in 1935, Buster Moten continued the band; After a short time, Count Basie , who did not want to work for the capricious and unpredictable Bus Moten and had already revolted with some of the musicians, founded his own band. Buster Moten continued to lead the band under Bennie Moten's name for another year; but the key musicians left the orchestra one by one until only the name of the original band remained. When Moten could no longer finance the big formation, he downsized it and brought George E. Lee into the combo .

Buster Moten continued to lead his own bands in the following years. a. with Hot Lips Page , Jesse Price (drums), Billy Hadnott (bass), Orville DeMoss (alto saxophone), Robert Hibbler, Dee Stewart (trumpet) and Odell West (tenor saxophone). Until the 1940s and 50s he worked with his own bands such as Bus Moten & His Men ; In 1949 recordings were made for Capitol Records , where u. a. Ben Webster participated. In the field of jazz he was involved in four recording sessions between 1949 and 1961, most recently with Albert Wynn & His Gutbucket Seven.

Bennie and Buster Moten owned the copyrights for Moten Swing ; allegedly the title was written by Eddie Durham and Count Basie, according to Basie in his autobiography. In general, however, no importance is attached to this priority dispute.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Frank Driggs, Chuck Haddix (ed.): Kansas City Jazz: From Ragtime to Bebop-A History . Oxford University Press 2005; Pp. 112, 125
  2. ^ The Oxford Companion to Jazz edited by Bill Kirchner , p. 665
  3. ↑ In addition to Count Basie, there were the banjo players Buster Berry, Jack Washington (bs), Ben Webster , Eddie Barefield (as / cl), Walter Page (b, sousaphone), Jimmy Rushing (voc), Elmer Crumbley (trb), Eddie Durham (trb / g), Willie McWashington (dr), Hot Lips Page , Joe Smith, Joe Keyes (tp); See Driggs, Haddix: Kansas City Jazz: From Ragtime to Bebop-A History ; P. 247 (footnote 1)
  4. ^ Ross Russell: Jazz Style in Kansas City and the Southwest , p. 133
  5. ↑ Driggs, Haddix: Kansas City Jazz: From Ragtime to Bebop-A History . P. 135
  6. ↑ Tom Lord : The Jazz Discography (online, September 5, 2013)
  7. ↑ Count Basie: Good Morning Blues: The Autobiography of Count Basie , p. 127
  8. ↑ Moten Swing (jazzstandards.com)
personal data
SURNAME Moten, Buster
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Smith, Ira Alexander; Moten, Ira E .; Moten, bus
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American jazz musician
DATE OF BIRTH 1903
DATE OF DEATH 1965