Edgar Battle

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Edgar William "Puddinghead" Battle (born October 3, 1907 in Atlanta , † February 6, 1977 in New York City ) was an American jazz multi-instrumentalist (trumpet, trombone, saxophone, piano / organ), arranger and composer .

Life

Battle grew up in a musical family, his mother played guitar, father bass and piano. He himself was gifted at an early age, began playing the trumpet at the age of eight and performed publicly with Neil J. Montgomery at the age of 14 in 1921 . In 1922, while studying at Morris Brown University, he formed his own band, the Dixie Serenaders, and played with Eddie Heywood Senior. From 1928 he played as a freelancer and soloist with Gene Coy , Andy Kirk (1930, recordings of him exist), Blanche Calloway (1931, recordings exist) and alongside Ben Webster and Cozy Cole (1931), among others . He also had his own band at the end of the 1920s, which he now called Dixie Ramblers. In 1933 he played with Ira Coffey . In 1934 he played in New York with Sam Wooding and Benny Carter and with Alex Hill , in 1935/1936 with Willie Bryant (recordings with him exist), where he not only played on two or three instruments (trumpet, valve trombone, alto saxophone), but also arranged. In 1936 he played in the radio broadcast of George White's Scandals on Broadway and he also worked a lot for the radio. In 1937 he briefly had his own band again, but then concentrated on arranging and composing. He was in great demand and arranged for Cab Calloway , Earl Hines , Fats Waller 's Bigband, Paul Whiteman , Count Basie , Jack Teagarden , Louis Prima , among others .

During World War II, Battle worked as an electrician at shipyards in New York and had a big band with trumpeter Shirley Clay in the 1940s . In the 1950s he tried his hand at making recordings and founded Cosmopolitan Records. In the 1960s he led a big band from time to time. The licenses from his compositions, including the famous Topsy (written in 1937 with Eddie Barefield ) and for example “Strictly Instrumental”, “Ratamacue”, “Yellow Fire”, “Puddin Head Serenade”, provided him with a secure income.

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References

  1. ↑ Recorded by Earl Hines as Topsy-Turvey and known as a much-played number by the Count Basie Orchestra, which first recorded it on August 9, 1937, with the assistance of Durham ( Peter Bitz, SR-Online, Jazz ABC zu Topsy ). Cozy Cole's drum solo is also known.
personal data
SURNAME Battle, Edgar
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Battle, Edgar William (full name); Battle, Puddinghead (nickname)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American jazz musician
DATE OF BIRTH October 3, 1907
PLACE OF BIRTH Atlanta
DATE OF DEATH February 6, 1977
Place of death New York City