Ford Dabney

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Ford Thompson Dabney (born March 15, 1883 in Washington, DC , † June 21, 1958 in New York ) was an American pianist , composer and arranger who was one of the most successful African-American band leaders and composers of the 1910s.

Live and act

Sheet music cover (1919) of You Can't Shake That Shimmie Here , written by Ford Dabney and Alex Rogers for singer and entertainer Bert Williams .

Dabney's father was the Virginia-born funeral director James H. Dabney, with whom young Ford grew up after his parents separated. He attended the Armstrong Manual Training School in Washington and sang in the church choir. He received his musical training from his father and uncle Wendell Phillips Dabney (1865–1952). At the age of 18 he made his first appearances, including as a soloist in the Library of Congress . From the end of 1902 he continued his training in composition in New York; from 1904 to 1907 he worked as a musician for the President of Haiti North Alexis , for whom he wrote the "Haitian Rag". After returning to the United States, he toured with vaudeville artists.

Dabney composed several rags like "Anoma" (1910), u. a. the song "Shine" (1910), for which Cecil Mack and Lew Brown wrote the lyrics. The song (which was originally called “That's Why They Call Me Shine”) was covered in later years by Louis Armstrong , Count Basie , Sidney Bechet , Bing Crosby , Ella Fitzgerald , Frankie Laine and Django Reinhardt and was part of the Casablanca score (1942). In the 1910s he recorded over fifty record titles with his own formations, mostly popular tin-pan-alley numbers and novelty songs ; In 1917 he played with his band, Ford Dabney's Syncopated Orchestra , a few jazz-oriented tracks (such as Darkdown Strutter's Ball ), on which the singer Arthur Fields also participated; from 1919 to 1922 further recordings were made for Vocalion and Paramount Records .

Dabney also wrote “That Minor Strain,” “Oh! You Angel, "Georgia Grind," "Porto Rico" and "The Castle Walk"; He was briefly owner of the theater in 1911/12, albeit with little success. He also worked as a composer with the band leader James Reese Europe , with whom he founded the Clef Club , and he also worked for Florenz Ziegfeld ( Midnight Frolic , 1915). In 1920 he was fired from Broadway theater directors; In the mid-1920s, his success waned as he had little interest in opening up to contemporary jazz . In the 1930s and 40s he continued to work in the New York music scene, including as a consultant for the musical film Stormy Weather (1943).

swell

  1. ^ A b Tim Brooks, Richard Keith Spottswood: Lost Sounds: Blacks and the Birth of the Recording Industry, 1890-1919 2004, p. 395.
  2. ↑ http://www.ragpiano.com/comps/fdabney.shtml
  3. ↑ Tom Lord : The Jazz Discography (online, accessed April 20, 2015)

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Dabney, Ford
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Dabney, Ford Thompson (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American pianist, composer and arranger
DATE OF BIRTH March 15, 1883
PLACE OF BIRTH Washington, DC , USA
DATE OF DEATH June 21, 1958
Place of death New York , USA