John Simmons

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John Simmons, circa July 1947
Photograph by William P. Gottlieb .
(on left :) Dave Lambert , John Simmons, Chubby Jackson , George Handy and Dizzy Gillespie in William P. Gottlieb's office, New York, approx. Jul 1947
Photo William P. Gottlieb

John Jacob Simmons (* 14. June 1918 in Haskell , Oklahoma ; †  19th September 1979 in Los Angeles ) was an American jazz - bassist .

Life and work

John Simmons grew up in Tulsa ( Oklahoma ) and California and began as a trumpeter . After a sports injury in football , he switched to the double bass , the game of which he learned in a short time. He played in the early Nat King Cole Trio and recorded with Teddy Wilson in Los Angeles in 1937 .

Simmons then went to Chicago ; there he played in the bands of Jimmy Bell , Floyd Campbell , King Kolax (1938/39), Johnny Letman (late 1940), Roy Eldridge (December 1940–1941), Benny Goodman (July – September 1941), Cootie Williams and Louis Armstrong (both 1942). In 1943 he worked in a CBS radio orchestra and briefly with Duke Ellington in October .

In 1944, Simmons appeared in the Warner Bros. short music film Jammin 'the Blues (directed by Gjon Mili ) on the side of Lester Young and Sweets Edison . In 1945 he played in Los Angeles in Eddie Heywood's sextet , with whom he accompanied Billie Holiday in 1944/1945 ( The Complete Commodore Recordings ), and with Illinois Jacquet in New York.

Between 1944 and 1946, Simmons mainly worked as a studio musician. He has been involved in recordings with James P. Johnson's Blue Note Jazzmen , Hot Lips Page , Big Sid Catlett , Ben Webster , Billie Holiday, the Kansas City Six , Eddie Heywood, Sidney De Paris , Erroll Garner , Al Casey , Coleman Hawkins , Bud Freeman , André Previn , Emmett Berry , John Handy , Don Byas , Benny Carter , Bill De Arango , Billy Kyle and Russell Procope .

In the late 1940s he was involved in recordings with Ella Fitzgerald (1947), Charles Thompson (1947-1948). In July 1948 he took part in the legendary Blue Note session of Thelonious Monk with Milt Jackson ( Genius of Modern Music ). In 1949 he recorded with Lee Young , Cecil Payne , Bill Taylor and as a member of Bill Doggett 's Trio with Eddie Lockjaw Davis .

1949–1952 he played in New York in the trio of Erroll Garner. This was followed in the early 1950s with further studio work with Tyree Glenn (1951), Sonny Stitt , Teddy Wilson and Eddie Lockjaw Davis (all 1952), Benny Carter (on The Urbane Sessions , 1952–1955), Louie Bellson and a Norman Granz jam session Band (both 1953), Buddy Rich (1953, 1955), with the quartet by Herb and Lorraine Geller (1954) and Art Tatum (1955).

In 1955, Simmons played for Sweets Edison . In 1956 he was on a Scandinavian tour with Duke Jordan and Rolf Ericson & The American All-Stars . In the same year he recorded with Matthew Gee and took part in the last recordings of Art Tatum , and he also played in the Tadd Dameron / John Coltrane Quartet ( Mating Call ).

His poor health prevented Simmons from working, but he still took on Sweets Edison in 1958 and played for Phineas Newborn in 1959/1960 . In the 1960s he retired from the jazz scene.

Discography (selection)

as a sideman

literature

swell

  1. ^ Place of death also with James M. Doran: Erroll Garner, the most happy piano . Scarecrow Press and the Institute of Jazz Studies, Rutgers University, 1985. ISBN 0810817454 . Page 481. On Allmusic, Orange is listed in the state of New York.

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Simmons, John
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Simmons, John Jacob (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American jazz bassist
DATE OF BIRTH June 14, 1918
PLACE OF BIRTH Haskell, Oklahoma
DATE OF DEATH 19th September 1979
Place of death los Angeles