Mary Colston Kirk

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Mary Colston Kirk (born August 26, 1899 as Mary E. Colston in Denver , Colorado , † November 17, 1990 in New York City , New York ) was an American jazz musician ( piano ).

Career

Mary Colston grew up in an area where there was a piano in almost every home. Her family bought one too, originally intended for her older sister, but Mary was ultimately the one who picked up on her sister's lessons and could easily act out. She had her first professional engagement in the early 1920s with the orchestra of George Morrison (1891–1974). Morrison was one of the founders of jazz in Denver and is honored in the Colorado Black Hall of Fame. The band, founded by Morrison in 1913, was well established in Denver and played to audiences of all classes. The repertoire was correspondingly broad. They could do the classics like Wagner or Kreisler, but also dances like Scottish , Two Step or the ragtime 'Grizzly Bear Dance'. Andy Kirk was also on Morrison's fee list , the husband of Mary Colston from 1925 and very successful as a band leader from 1929. They both worked for Morrison after they got married, but that year Kirk went to Dallas to play with Terrence Holder , and Mary followed him. Then she gave up playing the piano professionally to take care of their child. Colston had her own band in Denver for a while, the Mary Colston Trio. It was in this ensemble that Charlie Parker gained his first experience in 1935. Sometime between 1925 and 1935 Colston ended her career as a professional musician. Most recently she worked as a teacher in New York.

In his biography, husband Andy Kirk commented on his wife's musical talent several times: “My most important experience as a sideman was with George Morrison (...) who met so many good female pianists in Denver. And Mary was one of the best and busiest of them all at the time. ”She had always loved music, but“ she wasn't out to pursue a career or earn money with it. ”According to a family friend, Mary E. died. Colston Kirk from the aftermath of lung cancer.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ A b Mary Kirk Jazz Pianist, 90 . In: The New York Times . November 22, 1990, ISSN  0362-4331 ( nytimes.com [accessed April 10, 2020]).
  2. ↑ Mary Colston - Ancestry. Retrieved April 10, 2020 .
  3. ↑ George Morrison Denver. Accessed April 10, 2020 (English).
  4. ↑ Public Notice . In: The Denver Star . Denver, Colorado September 13, 1913, pp. 6 ( newspapers.com [accessed April 10, 2020] This is to certify that I, George Morrison, violonist, (...) have organized a first class orchestra to be known as Morrison's Orchestra).
  5. ↑ a b Sally Placksin: Jazz Women: 1900 to the present. Pluto Press, London and Sydney, ISBN 0-7453-0089-8 , pp. 50 .
  6. ^ Charlie Parker Chronology 1949. Retrieved April 10, 2020 .
  7. ^ Andy Kirk: Twenty years on wheels . University of Michigan Press, Ann Arbor 1989, pp. 43 f . ( archive.org [accessed April 10, 2020]).
personal data
SURNAME Kirk, Mary Colston
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Colston, Mary E. (maiden name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American jazz musician (piano)
DATE OF BIRTH August 26, 1899
PLACE OF BIRTH Denver , Colorado
DATE OF DEATH 17th November 1990
Place of death New York City , New York