Curtis Mosby

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Curtis Mosby (born July 7, 1888 in Kansas City (Missouri) , † June 25, 1957 in San Francisco ) was an American jazz and blues musician ( drums ), band leader and jazz club operator.

Live and act

Mosby toured with the Tennessee Ten in the 1910s , during which time he ran his own ensemble in Chicago . In the early 20s he moved to California, where he opened a record store, then toured with Mamie Smith and her Jazz Hounds and in New York in 1922 recorded four sides of a record ("Mean Daddy Blues", OKeh ). In 1923 he moved to Los Angeles and directed a band called Blue Blowers ; In 1924 he had a longer engagement in the local Solomon's Dance Pavilion . Around 1924/25 he recorded the tracks "Riverboat Shuffle" and "All Night Blues" with his band in Los Angeles; they were private recordings. In 1927 he played another title for Columbia Records ; Jake Porter , Les Hite , Bumps Myers and Henry Starr played in his band . Also in 1927 the Dixieland Blue Blowers appeared in the Bronx Palm Gardens , in 1928 in the Lincoln Theater .

Mosby opened the Apex nightclub in 1928 , which he ran as a manager for the Rizzo brothers; After a police raid, the club was initially closed, but was able to continue after an acquittal by Mosby. This resulted in the Alabam Club , managed by Mosby, in 1935 , which is considered one of the first jazz clubs.

With his band he had guest appearances in Josef von Sternberg's They called him Thunderbolt and in King Vidor's musical film Hallelujah , for which he also composed titles. In the 1930s, the band toured with the variety show Change Your Luck .

In 1930 he founded another club in San Francisco; In 1931 he had to file for bankruptcy and moved to San Francisco. In the course of the 1930s Mosby opened other clubs, but not all of these ventures were successful on the California coast; musicians who performed there included Lawrence Brown , Marshall Royal , Wilbert Baranco , Baron Moorehead and Buck Clayton . In his successful running club Alabama had Harlan Leonard (1943), Roy Milton (1944) and Johnny Otis (1945) engagement; Charlie Parker and Miles Davis played there with the Otis band . From 1947 to 1949, Mosby served a sentence for tax evasion and lost commercial control of his clubs; after serving his sentence, he reopened some of these clubs.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c Band portrait (Red Hot Jazz)
  2. ↑ Tom Lord : Jazz discography (online)
  3. ^ Dunbar Hotel, Club Alabam, and the Downbeat
  4. ^ Peter Vacher Swingin 'on Central Avenue: African American Jazz in Los Angeles Rowman & Littlefield 2015, p. 23
  5. ^ Johnny Otis Upside Your Head !: Rhythm and Blues on Central Avenue Wesleyan 1993, p. 43
personal data
SURNAME Mosby, Curtis
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American musician, band leader and club owner
DATE OF BIRTH July 7, 1888
PLACE OF BIRTH Kansas City (Missouri)
DATE OF DEATH June 25, 1957
Place of death San Francisco