Cab Kaye

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Cab Kaye (Photo: Dixie Solleveld)

Cab Kaye (born September 3, 1921 in London as Augustus Kwamlah Quaye ; † March 13, 2000 in Amsterdam ) was a British-Ghanaian jazz and entertainment musician (vocals, guitar, piano, drums), who also worked as a diplomat and at times appeared under the name Nii-lante Augustus Kwamlah Quaye . He combined blues , modern jazz , stride piano and scat singing with the music of his Ghanaian ancestors.

Life

Kaye comes from a musical family (his mother Doris Balderson was a singer; his paternal ancestors were asafo drummers ; his late father appeared under the name Ernest Mope Desmond as a band leader in the UK with Arthur Briggs and Sidney Bechet ). In 1936 he worked as a tap dancer and then as a singer in Billy Cotton's band , where the first recordings were made. In 1937 he played drums in Doug Swallow's band and then toured with Hal Swain and Alan Green before joining Ivor Kirchin's band . Then he stepped to the swing band of Ken "Snakehips" Johnson and also played in radio broadcasts. In 1941 he was hired as a member of the merchant navy to support the Allies during the World War . He spent part of the war in an Army hospital in New York City, and in 1942 had the opportunity to jam with Roy Eldridge , Slam Stewart , Pete Brown , Charlie Parker , Dizzy Gillespie and Willie The Lion Smith . Back in London, Kaye sang with Harry Parry in 1943 and then with the Princes of Rhythm before forming his own band that included Ronnie Scott and Ralph Sharon and Dick Katz , respectively .

After the war he was with Leslie “Jiver” Hutchinson's All Colored Band for troop support in Egypt and India and then performed in Belgium . In 1947, he worked in London with the bands of Vic Lewis , Ted Heath and Tito Burns to sign up the following year with his The Ministers of Swing , including Ronnie Scott, Johnny Dankworth , Jimmy Skidmore and Denis Rose , were also the Bebop to turn to. In the next few years he was with his Cab Kaye and his Colored Orchestra and with The Cabinettes , which also included Mona Baptiste from Trinidad ; both bands played regularly in the 100 Club . With his All Colored Band he toured France, Belgium, Germany and the Netherlands in 1950 and 1951. In Paris he also jammed with Django Reinhardt and Roy Eldridge and received the only piano lesson of his life from Tadd Dameron . He also accompanied Don Byas as a pianist for a while . In 1953 he also played with Mary Lou Williams , Dizzy Reece , Pat Burke ; He was also on tour in Scotland with the musical Memories of Jolson , which portrayed the life of Al Jolson . In 1954 he accompanied in Paris Eartha Kitt at the piano, but also worked as an actor in the film The Man Who Loved Redheads by Harold French , for which he also wrote the film score. In 1955/56 he appeared in a big band of the band leaders in the Netherlands, which included Wil Hensbergen , Max Woiski , Eddy Sanchez , Johnny Kraaykamp , Wessel Ilcken and Kaye. He also performed with Rob Pronk , Toon van Vliet , Dub Dubois and Wally Bishop , including at the Amsterdam club Sheherazade. Later that year he toured West Germany with Eric Delaney's band, with whom he also toured England in 1957. 1959/60 he was part of the band of Humphrey Lyttelton ; the album Humph meets Cab (1960) was also created.

After the independence of Ghana he worked under Kwame Nkrumah as a protocol officer in the London embassy of Ghana. When Miriam Makeba was expatriated from South Africa, he helped ensure that she received a Ghanaian passport. On August 3, 1961, a farewell party for him was broadcast from Ronnie Scott's Club on the BBC . In the next few years he worked in Ghana for the Ghana Industrial Development Corporation and as an entertainment manager for Ghana Hotels Ltd. , but was also still active as a musician and performed with Guy Warren , Pete Seeger and in 1964 in New York with Dizzy Gillespie. His career in Ghana ended after a military coup; he first went to Lagos . In 1967 there were performances with the Spree City Stompers . He toured Nigeria with the Nelson Cole Brothers .

Cab Kaye in his piano bar in Amsterdam

In 1970 he returned to Europe where he started a new career. In the late 1970s he moved to Amsterdam, where he performed with musicians such as Babs Gonzales , Bert Koppelaar, Wilbur Little and Boy Edgar . On October 1, 1979, he and his (third) wife opened Cab Kaye's Jazz Piano Bar at Beulingstraat 9, where he played until 1988 when he was not on tour. Musicians such as Rosa King, Slide Hampton , Max Roach , Oscar Peterson , Pia Beck and others joined the concerts. Kaye performed four times between 1979 and 1983 at the North Sea Jazz Festival . For his birthday in 1996 there was a birthday party in the Bimhuis with John Engels and Rosa King.

His children Terri Quaye , Caleb Quaye and Finley Quaye are active as musicians.

Discographic notes

  • Cab Kaye Live at the North Sea Jazz Festival 1981 (Philips)
  • Cab Kaye The Key (Keytone)

Lexigraphic entries

Web links

Remarks

  1. ↑ This story was reported in a report by Melody Maker (December 1942) Torpedoed… Shipwrecked… Injured… But He Met All the Swing Stars!
  2. ^ Biographical entry in Wim van Eyle Jazz. Geimproviseerde Muziek in Nederland , Het Spectrum 1978. He also wrote the soundtrack for Bloodorange .
personal data
SURNAME Kaye, Cab
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Quaye, Nii-lante Augustus Kwamlah
BRIEF DESCRIPTION British-Ghanaian musician and diplomat
DATE OF BIRTH September 3, 1921
PLACE OF BIRTH London
DATE OF DEATH March 13, 2000
Place of death Amsterdam