Charlie Green

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

"Big" Charlie Green (also "Big Green" or "Long Boy", * around 1895 in Omaha , Nebraska ; † November 1935 in Harlem , New York City ) was an American blues and jazz trombonist . He was considered an excellent blues musician who also mastered swing .

Live and act

Green, who was unusually tall at over eight feet, began his career as a musician in local carnival and brass bands in the Omaha area, such as that of Red Perkins (1920–24), before joining in July 1924 (shortly before Louis Armstrong ) joined the Fletcher Henderson Orchestra. He stayed with Henderson until April 1926, later a second engagement followed (1928/29). Green's earliest recordings with Henderson include Hard Hearted Hannah , The Gouge of Armor Avenue, and A New Kind of Man (1924); Green used the plunger damper on the last two titles . The trombonist was a soloist with the Henderson Orchestra in recordings such as He's the Hottest Man in Town and Shanghai Shuffle ; He showed his lyrical skills in titles such as Words (recorded in 1924 for Vocalion ). In the same year recordings were made with the blues singer Bessie Smith , and in 1925 with Perry Bradford , Ida Cox , Alberta Hunter , Ma Rainey , Clara Smith and Trixie Smith .

During this time Green fought a series of cutting contests with trombonist friend Jimmy Harrison , which led to Harrison being regarded as the leading New York jazz trombonist and eventually replacing Green at Fletcher Henderson. Green worked with Henderson until 1926; in the following years u. a. with Louis Armstrong , June Clark , Fats Waller, and James P. Johnson . His best-known sessions Greens include the recordings in March 1927 with Bessie Smith ( Trombone Cholly ). In 1928 he returned for a year in Fletcher Henderson's orchestra; he also played with Fats Waller and James P. Johnson in the orchestra of the revue "Keep Shufflin '". In 1929 he made further recordings with Bessie Smith, and he played with Zutty Singleton .

In the following years, Green worked at the local level a. a. with Elmer Snowden , Jimmy Noone , Charlie Johnson and in 1932 with Don Redman , 1929–31 and again in 1933 with Benny Carter . In 1932 he replaced the terminally ill Jimmy Harrison at Chick Webb . In his orchestra there were sessions with Louis Armstrong, in which Green can occasionally be heard as a soloist, as in Hobo, You Can't Ride This Train and You'll Wish You'd Never Been Born . Alcohol addiction interrupted his career as he had increasing health problems. In the field of jazz he was involved in 102 recording sessions between 1922 and 1935.

Jazz researcher John Chilton reported in his book Who's Who of Jazz that Green froze to death on the stairs of his house in Harlem on a cold February night in 1936 after slipping. However, Frederick J. Spencer has this in his book Jazz and Death. Medical Profiles of Jazz Greats challenged; According to his research, Green died of tuberculosis in a hospital in Harlem .

Sources and web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ See Rex Stewart . Boy Meets Horn , The University of Michigan Press 1993, ISBN 0472082299 , p. 136. Rex Stewart describes Green in his memoirs as "the strangest musician" he has ever met.
  2. ↑ a b c Tom Lord : The Jazz Discography (online, September 5, 2013) Tom Lord erroneously lists the sessions (1941) of the Les Brown arranger of the same name .
  3. ↑ Tom Lord Jazz Discography
personal data
SURNAME Green, Charlie
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Green, Big Charlie
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American blues and jazz trombonist
DATE OF BIRTH around 1895
PLACE OF BIRTH Omaha , Nebraska
DATE OF DEATH November 1935
Place of death Harlem , New York City