Norma Teagarden

Norma Teagarden (1989), Photo: Brian McMillen

Norma Louise Teagarden (born April 28, 1911 in Vernon , Texas , † June 5, 1996 ) was an American jazz pianist.

Live and act

Norma Teagarden was born in a small town on the Texas-Oklahoma border. She came from a musical family in which everyone played an instrument and mother Helen Teagarden gave the children instrumental lessons. One of her brothers was trombonist Jack Teagarden (her other brothers were trumpeter Charlie and drummer Clois "Cub" Teagarden ). In addition to playing the piano, Norma Teagarden first learned to play the violin. After their father died from the flu, they moved to live with relatives in Chappell, Nebraska , in 1918 . She began playing professionally in Oklahoma City around 1926 . After high school she toured with a Territory Band in New Mexico from 1928 , where she spent five years a. a. Played at local dance events such as the Lions Club. Then she started her own bands in Oklahoma and played with her brothers in New York and Chicago. In 1942 she moved to Los Angeles , where she led her own band and worked with Ivy Anderson . She joined her brother Jack Teagarden's big band late in 1943 and toured with him until 1947 when he broke up the band to join Louis Armstrong . In Long Beach, California , she founded her own jazz combo and began teaching. In 1949 she became a member of Ada Leonard's band . Then she played in California with the bands of Ben Pollack , Matty Matlock , Ted Vesley, Pete Daily and Ray Verduc before playing again with her brother in Los Angeles from 1952 to 1955.

In 1955 she married businessman John Friedlander and left the band. In 1957 the couple moved to San Francisco , where they played in the New Orleans Jazz Revival scene a. a. played with Turk Murphy , Pee Wee Russell , Eddie Condon , Jimmy McPartland , Edmond Hall , Leonard Feather , Dick Cary , Carl Kress , Kenny Davern and Walter Page . In 1963 she played with her mother Helen (with whom she also appeared frequently and ran a piano school with her) and her brothers Charlie and Jack at the Monterey Jazz Festival ; this performance was also documented with recordings. In the 1970s she was consistently invited to the Sacramento Jazz Festival and in 1983 she became the "Empress" of the 10th Dixieland Jazz Festival in Sacramento . Norma Teagarden was active until shortly before her death from cancer - she played regularly on Wednesday evenings at the Washington Square Bar and Grill in North Beach, San Francisco. Since the 1940s u. a. with her brother and can also be heard in the "Town Hall Concerts" by Eddie Condon (1944). She recorded under her own name in the Netherlands and in 1977 at the Bix Beiderbecke Festival.

In 1980 she received the Award of Merit from San Francisco. In 1973 she received an honorary doctorate from the London Institute for Applied Research.

literature

Whitney Ballet American Musicians: 56 Portraits in Jazz , Oxford 1986
Sally Placksin Women in Jazz. From the turn of the century to the present Vienna: Hannibal 1989 (pp. 91–95); ISBN 3-85445-044-3

Web links

personal data
SURNAME	Teagarden, Norma
ALTERNATIVE NAMES	Teagarden, Norma Louise (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	American jazz pianist
DATE OF BIRTH	April 28, 1911
PLACE OF BIRTH	Vernon , Texas
DATE OF DEATH	June 5, 1996
Place of death	California