Frankie Newton
William Frank Newton (called Frankie Newton , born January 4, 1906 in Blacksburg near Emory , Virginia , † March 11, 1954 in New York ) was an American swing jazz trumpeter .
Life
Frankie Newton toured with the Lloyd W. Scott Orchestra and moved to New York in 1927. Here he was with Cecil Scott in 1929/30 and in the 1930s with Elmer Snowden (1931), Chick Webb , Sam Wooding , 1933 to 1935 with Charlie Johnson , 1936/7 with Teddy Hill , 1937 with John Kirby and 1937/8 with Lucky Millinder . He then led his own small combos in New York (including the Onyx Club ) and Boston, with which he also recorded and where he a. played with James P. Johnson (1944/5), Sid Catlett (1947) and Edmond Hall . He also recorded with Mary Lou Williams , Willie The Lion Smith , Teddy Wilson , Charlie Barnet , Mezz Mezzrow , Buster Bailey, and Big Joe Turner . In 1948 a room fire destroyed his trumpet and belongings; In 1950 he had one last appearance in Boston's Savoy Club, after which he retired from the music business for health reasons and painted. He was involved in jazz workshops for underprivileged young people and was active on the civil rights side early on. Newton's game was admired by Louis Armstrong and Dizzy Gillespie . His friend, jazz critic Nat Hentoff , who saw him frequently in Boston, judged that he was only achieved by Miles Davis in the "intimate expressiveness of his lyrical ballad style".
He accompanied Bessie Smith on her last recordings in November 1933, Maxine Sullivan on her hit "Loch Lomond" and Billie Holiday on "Strange Fruit" at Cafe Society 1939 (recordings at Commodore).
Politically, Newton was known as a communist . In recognition of him, the Marxist historian Eric Hobsbawm chose the pseudonym Francis Newton to publish his jazz reviews in The New Statesman magazine and his 1959 book The Jazz Scene .
Discographic notes
- Frankie's Jump (Affinity, 1937-39) with Pete Brown , James P. Johnson , Tab Smith
- Frankie Newton 1937–1939 (Classics) with Edmond Hall , Mezz Mezzrow, Russell Procope , Tab Smith, Albert Ammons , Meade Lux Lewis , Al Casey , John Kirby , Cozy Cole , Sid Catlett , Slim Gaillard
- Billie Holiday: The Complete Commodore Recordings
literature
- Bob Weir: Looking for Frankie: a bio-discography of the jazz trumpeter Frankie Newton. Cardiff 2003
- Martin Kunzler : Jazz Lexicon. Volume 2: M – Z (= rororo-Sachbuch. Vol. 16513). 2nd Edition. Rowohlt, Reinbek bei Hamburg 2004, ISBN 3-499-16513-9 .
- Jennifer Wagner: The Search for Frankie Newton. In: The Historical Society of Washington County. Virginia Bulletin, Series II, No. 39a, 2002.
Web links
- Works by and about Frankie Newton in the catalog of the German National Library
- Nat Hentoff in Newton's Jazztimes
Remarks
- ^ Hentoff: "A race man in the sense of the world, in that he knew black history and was very outspoken in terms of civil rights", [1] . He also had a wide range of intellectual interests. B. an avid reader of James Joyce .
- ↑ Hentoff, Jazztimes 2002, "was matched only by Miles Davis for intimately evocative and lyrical storytelling."
- ↑ his first recordings were with Bessie Smith
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Newton, Frankie |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Newton, William Frank |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | American swing jazz trumpeter |
| DATE OF BIRTH | 4th January 1906 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Blacksburg near Emory , Virginia |
| DATE OF DEATH | March 11, 1954 |
| Place of death | new York |