Lucille Dixon

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Lucille Dixon Robertson (born February 27, 1923 in New York City as Lucille Dixon ; † September 23, 2004 ibid) was an American double bass player in the field of jazz and classical music, who was also the founder and manager of a classical symphony orchestra .

Life

Dixon, whose father was a Baptist minister , first learned the clarinet, but then the double bass in high school and played in the All City High School Orchestra . For 15 years she had lessons with Fred Zimmerman, the first bassist of the New York Philharmonic. She started her career in 1941. she initially wanted to turn to classical music, where she initially had little chance (due to skin color and gender). During her studies at Brooklyn College, she brought Jesse Stone to the International Sweethearts of Rhythm as a talented and well-trained musician , with whom she was on tour. Then she went on tour with Earl Hines' band in 1943/44 , probably the first woman to play double bass in a prominent big band. In 1946 she performed first in Washington, then in New York clubs and founded the band Star Lines , which eventually became the Lucille Dixon Band . With this band she had appearances at Club Harlem, 845 Club and the Savannah Club in Greenwich Village , where she was the manager and head of the house band for twelve years. Jazz greats like Taft Jordan , Tyree Glenn , Fats Navarro , Buddy Tate and Sonny Payne played in their band .

Beyond jazz music, Dixon was active in the field of classical music; she successfully auditioned for the National Youth Orchestra under Fritz Reiner and Otto Klemperer . In 1954 she went to Panama with her (second) husband, where she played in the National Symphony Orchestra until 1956. She was also Principal Bassist in the National Orchestral Association . From 1960 she played in numerous symphony orchestras such as the Boston Women's Symphony, Bridgeport Symphony, Scranton Symphony, Westchester Philharmonic, Ridgefield Symphony and the Orchestral Society of Westchester . In 1964, Dixon became the co-founder and manager of the Symphony of the New World , which had 40 percent colored musicians and 30 percent women; there she worked as a bassist for ten years. Then she worked at the Westchester Broadway Theater in Elmsford . In 1993 she officially retired with her husband in Puerto Rico , but continued to perform occasionally in San Juan. She also presented the live album Live at Carli's, Vol. 1 .

During her career, Dixon u. a. with Sarah Vaughan , Eubie Blake , Frank Sinatra , Tony Bennett , Dizzy Gillespie , Clark Terry , Billie Holiday , Charlie Palmieri and Machito . A long-time member of the American Federation of Musicians , she was the first woman to be elected to the executive board of New York's Local 802 musicians' union. She was also a member of the arbitration tribunal. In the field of jazz, she was involved in eight recording sessions between 1944 and 2004. a. with John Hardee / Tiny Grimes (1947), Dinah Washington and Ella Fitzgerald ( Rhythm Is My Business , 1962).

literature

  • Sally Placksin: women in jazz. From the turn of the century to the present Vienna: Hannibal 1989 (pp. 203–206); ISBN 3854450443

Lexical entries

  • Leslie Gourse : Madame Jazz: Contemporary Women Instrumentalists , Oxford: Oxford University Press 1995
  • D. Antoinette Handy: Black Women in American Bands & Orchestras . Metuchen: Scarecrow Press 1998

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c Obituary for Local 802
  2. ↑ See Lawrence McClellan The Later Swing Era: 1942 to 1955 , Greenwood Publishing Group 2004, p. 54
  3. ^ Leslie Gourse Madame Jazz , p. 224
  4. ↑ Tom Lord Jazz Discography
personal data
SURNAME Dixon, Lucille
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Dixon Robertson, Lucille (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American double bass player
DATE OF BIRTH February 27, 1923
PLACE OF BIRTH New York City
DATE OF DEATH September 23, 2004
Place of death New York City