Chappie Willett

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"Chappie" Willett or Willet (actually Francis Robert Willet; born September 6, 1907 in Philadelphia ; † March 30, 1976 there ) was an American jazz musician ( piano , composition ) who primarily worked as an arranger for the big bands of the swing era will be remembered.

Live and act

Willet became a member of Phil Edwards Collegians , a Territory Band in West Virginia , in 1933 after completing his studies ; he served as the musical director and arranger of the band, which appeared in his hometown of Philadelphia in 1934 as the Chappie Willet and His Greystone Ballroom Orchestra before disbanding in the middle of the year. He then moved to New York, where he made a career as a songwriter and arranger between 1935 and 1952: As a co-author, he wrote jazz tracks such as “Way Over There by the Cherry Tree” (with Claude Demetrius , Rudolph Toombs ) and “I Ain't Gettin 'Nowhere Fast “(with Cab Calloway and Porter Grainger ). Alongside Jimmy Mundy , he was Gene Krupa's first arranger in 1938 in his new big band. Among other things, he arranged “Rhythm Jam” for Krupa's orchestra and wrote the titles “Blue Rhythm Fantasy” (1936, with Teddy Hill ), “I Know That You Know”, “Grandfather's Clock”, “Jungle Madness” and “ Apurksody ”(1938).

As a freelance arranger, Willett u. a. also for Lucky Millinder , Duke Ellington ("I'm Slappin 'Seventh Avenue", 1938), Panama Francis , Louis Armstrong ("I Hope Gabriel Likes My Music"), Mildred Bailey , Baby Dodds , Dizzy Gillespie , Jimmie Lunceford (for he wrote a jazz arrangement of Beethoven's Piano Sonata No. 8 ), Charlie Shavers and the Mills Blue Rhythm Band . The discographer Tom Lord performed 87 recording sessions between 1937 and 1941.

literature

  • John Wriggle: Blue Rhythm Fantasy: Big Band Jazz Arranging in the Swing Era. University of Illinois Press, 2016.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ John Wriggle Chappie Willett, Frank Fairfax, and Phil Edwards' Collegians: From West Virginia to Philadelphia Black Music Research Journal Vol 27 (1) (2007): 1-22.
  2. ↑ John Wriggle: Chappie Willett and Popular Music Arranging Swing Era in New York . Annual Review of Jazz Studies (2009): 101-188.
  3. ^ Brian Rust , Malcolm Shaw : Jazz and Ragtime Records (1897-1942): AK . 2002, p. 987
  4. ↑ Bruce H. Klauber: World of Gene Krupa: That Legendary Drummin 'Man . 1990, p. 46
  5. ↑ a b John Wriggle: Jazzing the Classics: Race, Modernism, and the Career of arranger Chappie Willett Journal of the Society for American Music 6 (2) (2012): 175-209
  6. ↑ Alyn Shipton: Groovin 'High: The Life of Dizzy Gillespie . 2001, p. 367
  7. ↑ Steven Lasker: Duke's Brass, 1937-38
  8. ↑ John Wriggle: Blue Rhythm Fantasy: Big Band Jazz Arranging in the Swing Era . 2016
  9. ↑ Tom Lord : The Jazz Discography (online, accessed December 13, 2016)
  10. ↑ John Wriggle: Blue Rhythm Fantasy - Big Band Jazz Arranging in the Swing Era
personal data
SURNAME Willett, Chappie
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Willet, Francis Robert
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American jazz musician, composer and arranger
DATE OF BIRTH September 6, 1907
PLACE OF BIRTH Philadelphia
DATE OF DEATH March 30, 1976
Place of death Philadelphia