Cootie Williams

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Cootie Williams.
Photography by William P. Gottlieb .

Charlie Melvin "Cootie" Williams (born July 10, 1911 in Mobile , Alabama , † September 15, 1985 in Long Island in New York City ) was an American jazz trumpeter .

Life

Williams was largely self-taught and played early in Territory bands in the southern United States, such as the orchestra of Alonzo Ross, with whom he came to New York in 1928. He then gained his first experience with the bands of Fletcher Henderson , Chick Webb and James P. Johnson before joining Duke Ellington's band in 1929 , where he replaced Bubber Miley , who had recently left the band. In the 1930 song "Ring Dem Bells" he was also heard as a scat singer . Cootie Williams stayed with Ellington until 1940 , where he quickly became one of the most important musicians in the band's high-profile line-up. His solos influenced numerous Ellington recordings of 1930 years such as "Saratoga Swing", "Ring Dem Bells" and the "Concerto for Cootie" (1940), called " Do Nothing Till You Hear from Me known" to a jazz standard are should.

During that decade, he also made a number of notable recordings (appeared on The Duke's Men ) with his own studio line-up, mostly made up of Ellington musicians, called Cootie Williams and his Rug Cutters , and also participated in sessions with Billie Holiday . Williams was so closely associated with the Duke Ellington Orchestra that his departure caused a real shock among jazz fans of the era.

He followed a lucrative offer from Benny Goodman , with whom he stayed for about a year and played both in the big band and in a sextet. Between 1941 and 1962 Cootie Williams led a number of his own big bands ( Cootie Williams and His Orchestra ) and combo line- ups, including well-known musicians such as Eddie “Lockjaw” Davis , Eddie “Cleanhead” Vinson , Sam “The Man” Taylor at times and Bud Powell , played. Other vocalists in his bands were Pearl Bailey and Williams himself. His early sessions under his own name include the septet recordings from May 1941, when he performed a frontline of trombone and alto and baritone saxophones with a rhythm section made up of Jo Jones , Johnny Guarnieri and Artie Bernstein recorded "West End Blues" and "Blues in My Condition", which Allmusic counts to its most important records.

Cleanhead Vinson established himself as a modern blues vocalist with the recording of "When My Baby Left Me" in April 1942. During this time, Cootie Williams' title "Fly Right" was created, which later became known as "Epistrophy" and identifies both Thelonious Monk , Kenny Clarke and Williams as composers . With other titles like “Floogie Boo” the trumpeter showed his closeness to the then current trends of modern jazz , worked with young musicians like Bud Powell , Eddie “Lockjaw” Davis and Charlie Parker . In 1944 he had two number 1 hits in the Billboard Top 30 with the Harold Arlen number "Tess's Torch Song (I Had a Man)" (# 19) and the "Red Cherry Blues" (# 23) Pete Johnson and Joe Turner wrote in 1939.

With “Blue Garden Blues” he created a modern big band version of the old standard “Royal Garden Blues” in 1945.

Cootie Williams then recorded with his orchestra from 1946 and 1949 numerous 78s for Capitol , Majestic and Mercury ; R&B vocalists such as Bob Merrill, Billy Matthews and Eddie Mack performed in his band . There were recordings based on the successful role models Louis Jordan and Wynonie Harris such as "Inflation Blues", which was a version of " Let the Good Times Roll ", "Save the Bones for Henry Jones", "I Should O 'Been Thinking Instead of Drinkin' "Or" Gator Tail ". In addition to these R&B numbers, there were also some ballads, " I Can't Get Started " and "I Want to Be Loved" as well as orchestral numbers in Ellington-style such as "Rhapsody in Bass".

For financial reasons, Cootie Williams was forced to reduce the big band to a smaller ensemble at the end of the decade. In the early 1950s she played current rhythm and blues ; In addition, he worked on some mainstream jazz recordings with Rex Stewart in 1957 ("The Big Challenge"), and he also played with Coleman Hawkins , Bud Freeman , Lawrence Brown and Hank Jones during this time . In 1958 the big band album In Hi-Fi was created , with Billy Byers , Bobby Byrne , Eddie Safranski and Don Lamond among others . In 1962 Cootie Williams returned to Duke Ellington's band to successfully resume his old role. Ellington featured the trumpeter with “New Concert For Cootie”, “The Shepherd” and “Portrait Of Louis Armstrong”. He stayed in the band until Ellington's death and played occasionally with the orchestra led by his son Mercer.

meaning

Cootie Williams is one of the most important and creative jazz trumpeters of the swing era . His playing was under the influence of Louis Armstrong (when he played without a damper) , but his trademark became his growl game with the plunger damper , with which he perfected the style founded by Bubber Miley and continued it for decades.

78er by Cootie Williams with Eddie “Cleanhead” Vinson: “When My Baby Left Me” from April 1942

Cootie Williams and His Orchestra

Discographic notes

literature

Web links

Remarks

  1. ^ Review of the recordings from 1941 to 1945 at Allmusic
  2. Review of the recordings from 1945 to 1946 at Allmusic
  3. ^ Review of the recordings from 1946 to 1949 at Allmusic