Chu Berry

Commodore - 78 by Chu Berry with Hot Lips Page , Clyde Hart , Al Casey : "Blowing Up a Breeze", September 1941

Leon "Chu" Berry (* 13. September 1910 in Wheeling , West Virginia ; † 31 October 1941 in Conneaut , Ohio ) was an American jazz - Tenor saxophonist and composer of Swing .

Live and act

Berry attended Lincoln High School in Wheeling and West Virginia State College in Charleston . He came to music through his half-sister, who was a pianist in a jazz trio, and studied saxophone in college after listening to Coleman Hawkins . After performing at his high school dance parties with his sister, he played in a 15-member band in Wheeling and a college band in Charleston. In the summer of 1928 he returned to Ohio Valley and played in the formation of Perry's Broadway Buddies . In 1929 he got his first professional engagement when he played in the band of Sammy Stewart in Columbus and Chicago. During this time he came to New York for the first time and experienced the local jazz scene. He switched from alto to tenor saxophone and around 1931 worked with tenor saxophonist Cecil Scott and drummer Kaiser Marshall .

Berry was in Benny Carter's band from 1932–33, with Charlie Johnson in 1933, with Teddy Hill from 1934–36, and then appeared as a star soloist with Fletcher Henderson (1936–37). For Henderson he wrote the song "Christopher Columbus" with Andy Razaf , with which Andy Kirk , Louis "King Garcia" , Benny Goodman and Teddy Wilson also landed hits. From the summer of 1937 until his death in a traffic accident he was a member of Cab Calloway's band and worked with his own formations on the side. Berry's solos with Teddy Hill, in which he and the young trumpeter Roy Eldridge engaged in a highly fruitful competition of ideas on many recordings, are of lasting musical interest from his early career. From the collaboration with Cab Calloway come some "classic" recordings, such as B. the ballad I Don't Stand a Ghost of a Chance . As a session musician, Chu Berry also worked on recordings by Spike Hughes and His Negro Orchestra (1933), Bessie Smith (1933), The Chocolate Dandies (1933), Mildred Bailey (1935-38), Teddy Wilson (1935-38), Billie Holiday (1938/39), Wingy Manone (1938/39) and Lionel Hampton (1939) with. In the early 1940s he temporarily replaced Herschel Evans in the Count Basie Band.

Appreciation

Chu Berry's game was similar to Coleman Hawkins; therefore it quickly attracted attention in the jazz scene and was considered a serious competitor to Hawkins in the mid-1930s. After a few years his game became more independent and approached that of Lester Young .

Especially in his play in Cab Calloway's Cotton Club Orchestra, Berry set new standards for the band. Based on his role model Coleman Hawkins, he developed his own style. He was equal to Hawkins in harmonic finesse; His feeling for swing and drive is described as extraordinary . His strong point was playing at fast tempos; he had remarkable breath control.

Berry is one of the musicians like Budd Johnson , Ben Webster and Lester Young , who were regarded as masters of their instrument from 1934 to 1939 - during which the saxophone pioneer Coleman Hawkins was working in Europe. Berry's playing and his fast-paced solos influenced younger musicians like Dizzy Gillespie and Charlie Parker ; the latter named his first son Leon in memory of Chu Berry. Chu Berry was also involved in the jam sessions at Minton's Playhouse .

The New Wonder type saxophones made between 1924 and 1931 by Conn bore his name and are still called “Chu Berry” today.

His music

His most important titles include

• with Spike Hughes Fanfare and How Come You Do Me
• with the Chocolate Dandies : I Never Knew and Krazy Kapers
• with Red Allen : Rosetta
• with Mildred Bailey : When Day Is Done and Someday Sweetheart
• with Teddy Wilson : 24 Hours a day (1935), Warming Up and Blues in C-Sharp Minor (1936)
• with Fletcher Henderson : Christopher Columbus , Blue Lou , Stealin 'Apples , Jangled Nerves , Jimtown Blues and You Can Depend On Me
• with Gene Krupa : I Hope Gabriel Likes my Music (1936)
• with Lionel Hampton : Denison Swing , Wizzin 'the Wiz , Sweethearts On Parade , Shufflin' At the Hollywood , Ain't Cha Comin 'Home and Hot Mallets
• with Count Basie : Lady Be Good (1939)
• with Cab Calloway : Comin 'On With The Come On and Ghost Of A Chance (1940)

as well as his own recordings of Limehouse Blues and Indiana (1937), 46 West 52 and Sittin 'In (1938)

Discographic notes

78 from Chu Berry for the South American market: "My Secret Love Affair"

• Blowing Up A Breeze (Topaz, 1937-1941)
• Chu Berry 1937-1941 (Classics)
• Classics In Swing - Chu Berry / Ben Webster ( Commodore Records , 1938, 1941)
• The Indispensable Fletcher Henderson ( RCA Victor , 1927-1936)
• The Indispensable Lionel Hampton, Vol. 3/4 (RCA, 1939)
• The Indispensable Coleman Hawkins (RCA, 1927-1956)
• Classic Chu Berry - Columbia and Victor Sessions (Mosaic, 7 CDs - 1933–1941)

collection

• Classic Chu Berry Columbia and Victor Sessions (1933–1941) - ( Mosaic - 2007) - 7 CDs with Benny Carter , Max Kaminsky , Teddy Wilson , Lawrence Lucie , Sid Catlett , Benny Goodman , Jack Teagarden , Buck Washington , Billy Taylor , Bessie Smith , Roy Eldridge , Bill Coleman , Dicky Wells , Russell Procope , Teddy Hill , Richard Fullbright , Bill Beason , Henry Red Allen , Cecil Scott , Horace Henderson , John Kirby , Putney Dandridge , Mildred Bailey , Red Norvo , Benny Morton , Cozy Cole , Billie Holiday , Jess Stacy , Gene Krupa , Helen Ward , Buster Bailey , Fletcher Henderson , Omer Simeon , Emmett Berry , JC Higginbotham , Hilton Jefferson , Hot Lips Page , Cab Calloway , Doc Cheatham , Claude Jones , Walter Foots Thomas , Milt Hinton , Keg Johnson , Danny Barker , Pee Wee Russell , Hank D'Amico , Dave Tough , Wingy Manone , Joe Marsala , Charlie Shavers , Tyree Glenn , Al Casey , Lionel Hampton , Clyde Hart , Ziggy Elman , Mario Bauzá , Dizzy Gillespie , Benny Carter, Coleman Haw kins , Ben Webster

literature

• Martin Kunzler : Jazz Lexicon. Rowohlt, Reinbek 1988.
• Carlo Bohländer , Karl Heinz Holler, Christian Pfarr: Reclam's Jazz Guide . 3rd, revised and expanded edition. Reclam, Stuttgart 1989, ISBN 3-15-010355-X .
• Bielefeld catalog jazz. 2002
• Richard Cook , Brian Morton : The Penguin Guide to Jazz on CD . 6th edition. Penguin, London 2002, ISBN 0-14-051521-6 .

Web links

• Chu Berry at All About Jazz

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Bohländer u. a .: Reclam's jazz guide . 1989
2. ^ ^{A b} Ian Carr , Digby Fairweather , Brian Priestley : The Rough Guide to Jazz . Rough Guides, 2004, ISBN 978-1-84353-256-9 , p. 79.
3. ↑ Chu Berry ( Memento of the original from January 2, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. at All About Jazz  
4. ↑ cabcalloway.cc . Archived from the original on July 22, 2012. Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Retrieved June 18, 2009. 
5. ↑ Günter Dullat: Saxophones: invention and development of a musical instrument family and its major manufacturers . Selbstverlag, 1995, p. 39 (accessed November 19, 2014).