Clarence Love
Clarence Love (born January 26, 1908 in Muskogee , † January 18, 1998 in Tulsa , Oklahoma ) was an American bandleader and saxophonist of dance music and swing .
Love came to Kansas City with his family in 1912 . He studied violin with the ragtime pianist Charles T. Watts, who was a student of Scott Joplin . In 1922 he formed his first band for school dance events. Even then, he wanted to become a band leader after hearing the band from George E. Lee . After graduating from Lincoln High School in Kansas City in 1926, he briefly studied at Crane University in Chicago and then returned to Kansas City, where he formed a Territory Band in 1928 , the Clarence Love Orchestra . She was quite successful locally as competition from Bennie Moten and George Lee, toured the Southwest and Midwest as far as the Pacific, and played musicians like Lester Young , Ben Webster and Tommy Douglas . In the early 1930s he performed with his band at Blue Hill Gardens and the El Torreon Ballroom in Kansas City and took part in the Battle of Bands .
Because of an argument his father had with the head of the local musicians' union (over ownership of a barber shop), he was compelled to leave Kansas City in 1933. He went to Dallas , Texas , where he also led a locally successful band in which u. a. Eddie Heywood and which was broadcast on the KRLD radio station. That got his band (which was co-directed by singer Orlando Roberson) an invitation from Decca to record in New York City; the band broke up before it came to that (mostly due to Roberson's machinations). Love went back to Dallas, formed a new band and toured as far as Indianapolis , where he joined the Ferguson Agency, one of the largest artist agencies for colored musicians in the area. While working for this agency, he discovered Wes Montgomery .
From 1944 he directed the Darlings of Rhythm , a women's big band.
After the death of his father, he moved to Tulsa, where he again formed a big band. In 1948 he opened his own club (Love Lounge). He ran his own clubs or ran clubs until 1957 and then worked again as an agent.
literature
- Joshua Berrett, Louis Bourgois III The Musical World of JJ Johnson , Scarecrow Press 2002, pp. 21f
Web links
- Club Kaycee, short biography of Love (with different date of birth)
- Biography when inducted into the Oklahoma Jazz Hall of Fame in 1990
Individual evidence
personal data | |
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SURNAME | Love, Clarence |
BRIEF DESCRIPTION | American jazz band leader and saxophonist |
DATE OF BIRTH | January 26, 1908 |
PLACE OF BIRTH | Muskogee |
DATE OF DEATH | January 18, 1998 |
Place of death | Tulsa |