Joe Darensbourg

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Darensbourg at the Palais Royal in South Bend, Indiana, 1963

Joseph Wilmer "Joe" Darensbourg (born July 9, 1906 in Baton Rouge , † May 24, 1985 in Van Nuys , California ) was an American clarinetist and saxophonist (soprano) of traditional jazz .

Life

Darensbourg came from a Creole Cajun family, his father was a well-known shoemaker in Baton Rouge. An uncle William played the trumpet in a circus. Darensbourg learned piano and violin and especially at the age of 10 clarinet with Manuel Roque, in whose band he also played. When visiting his aunt in New Orleans, he also took a few lessons from Alphonse Picou . He became a professional musician around 1920 and played in the band of banjo player Toots Johnson, as well as Guy Kelly and Captain John Handy . He also traveled with a circus band for a while, played in minstrel shows and medicine shows , that is, he played the entertainer on the sales show of a successful quack named Doc Moon. In St. Louis he joined " Charlie Creath 's Jazz-o-Maniacs", played in East St. Louis with Jelly Roll Morton , on the riverboats at Fate Marable and got into a shootout in a roadhouse near Harrisburg (Illinois) between gangsters where he was wounded. He returned to Baton Rouge with a circus band and then went to Los Angeles, where he played with Mutt Carey 's Jeffersonians, sometimes in silent cinemas and film studios. In 1928 he played on a ship that ran between Los Angeles and Seattle and settled there for 18 years. He also taught, e.g. B. Andy Kirk saxophonist Dick Wilson.

After a car accident in 1932 he was only able to play with half his lungs and almost gave up the music - but he was able to cure tuberculosis by spending time in the desert. In the Dixieland revival of the 1940s he played in a trio with pianist Johnny Wittwer, and in 1944 he made his first recordings under his own name in Seattle. In 1945 he played in Los Angeles with Kid Ory (with whom he recorded in 1945, including for Decca), Pete Daily , Red Nichols , Wingy Manone and Jack Teagarden . He played with Kid Ory until 1953 when he was fired by Ory, possibly at the instigation of his new wife. Darensbourg then went to Dayton, Ohio for a while with Gene Mayl and his Dixieland Rhythm Kings. Then he was back in Los Angeles, where he first played and recorded in the successful band of Teddy Buckner , and since 1957 with his own band, the "Dixie Flyers", with whom he also recorded - their "Yellow Dog Blues" became a hit . The band existed until 1960. He played briefly in Disneyland on a riverboat and then went on a world tour with Louis Armstrong's All Stars from 1961 to 1964 as the successor to Peanuts Hucko and Barney Bigard . Darensbourg plays on Armstrong's 1963 hit "Hello Dolly". In 1964 he had earned enough money at Armstrong to retire and spent a year studying with an instrument maker. Then he decided to continue playing and played in Disneyland until 1969 and toured the world from 1971 to 1975 with the “Legends of Jazz” with other alumni from the bands of Kid Ory and George Lewis. He recorded them too. Darensbourg continued to appear until his death from a heart attack (after suffering strokes as early as February 1985). Darensbourg participated in 85 recording sessions between 1944 and 1983.

Discographic notes

literature

  • Carlo Bohländer , Karl Heinz Holler, Christian Pfarr: Reclam's Jazz Guide . 3rd, revised and expanded edition. Reclam, Stuttgart 1989, ISBN 3-15-010355-X .
  • "Jazz-Odyssey - the Autobiography of Joe Darensbourg as told to Peter Vacher", Louisiana State University Press 1988 and MacMillan, London 1987 (also as Tell it like it is )

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Tom Lord discography
personal data
SURNAME Darensbourg, Joe
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Darensbourg, Joseph Wilmer (real name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American jazz clarinetist and saxophonist
DATE OF BIRTH July 9, 1906
PLACE OF BIRTH Baton Rouge
DATE OF DEATH May 24, 1985
Place of death Van Nuys