J. Russel Robinson

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J. Russel Robinson
J. Russel Robinson / Roy Turk Aggravatin 'Papa (Don't You Try to Two-Time Me) 1922 sheet music edition

Joseph Russel Robinson (born July 8, 1892 in Indianapolis , † September 30, 1963 in Palmdale ) was an American pianist and composer of ragtime and Dixieland jazz , who occasionally worked as an arranger and songwriter.

Live and act

Robinson, who had private music lessons and was educated at Shortridge High School in his native city, performed with his brother John as a musical duo, but also as a silent film pianist and also started composing at an early age; In 1909 he was able to publish his Sapho Rag . He joined a vaudeville group, the Famous Robinson Brothers . In 1910 he wrote two compositions, Dynamite Rag: A Negro Drag and (with his later wife Marguerite Kendall) I Feel Religion Coming On , with which he became known to a wider audience. His composition That Eccentric Rag (1912) finally made it famous and later developed into the jazz standard . He toured the southern states with his brother, including a long stay in New Orleans . As a pianist, he played several hundred piano roles for the US Music Company in Chicago and later for the QRS Company in New York City .

In 1919, after the death of Henry Ragas, Robinson was brought to the Original Dixieland Jazz Band as a pianist , with whom he initially completed a European tour; during this time he also wrote songs with Al Bernard . Then he worked for the music publisher WC Handy and wrote new arrangements and texts for the filming and new editions of pieces such as the Memphis Blues or the St. Louis Blues ; with cell phone and Charles H. Hillmann he wrote the song Though We're Miles and Miles Apart . In 1920 he was busy on Broadway and wrote songs with Con Conrad , such as Margie and Lena from Palesteena , which proved to be hits. Over the next few years he wrote songs with Roy Turk , especially for the Plantation Revue on Broadway. As a pianist, he also accompanied blues and jazz singers such as Annette Hanshaw , Lucille Hegamin , Marion Harris and Lizzie Miles at studio appointments (in some cases he is listed as Spencer Williams - with his consent). He wrote other songs together with Noble Sissle , Mercer Cook, Andy Razaf and Jo Trent. In 1951 he sued Mills Music in a copyright lawsuit for failing to pay royalties on his songs for more than $ 100,000. In 1957 he wrote the musical Mermaid Tavern .

His composition Singin 'the Blue was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1977 in the version by Frankie Trumbauer (with Bix Beiderbecke , 1927) .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Warren W. Vaché The Unsung Songwriters. America's Masters of Melody 2000, p. 360
  2. ↑ David A. Jasen, Gordon Gene Jones That American Rag: The Story of Ragtime from Coast to Coast 1999, p. 40
  3. ↑ Jack Gottlieb Funny, It Doesn't Sound Jewish: How Yiddish Songs and Synagogue Melodies Influenced Tin Pan Alley, Broadway and Hollywood , p. 125
  4. ↑ cf. Robinson in 100 G Suit Vs. Mills Music Billboard July 14, 1951
personal data
SURNAME Robinson, J. Russel
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Robinson, Joseph Russel (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American jazz pianist and composer
DATE OF BIRTH July 8, 1892
PLACE OF BIRTH Indianapolis
DATE OF DEATH September 30, 1963
Place of death Palmdale