Red Nichols

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Red Nichols (1905-1965).

Ernest Loring "Red" Nichols (born May 8, 1905 in Ogden , Utah , † June 28, 1965 in Las Vegas , Nevada ) was an American jazz musician , cornet player and trumpeter . Nichols is one of the outstanding representatives of Chicago jazz . His style of play was influenced by the Bix Beiderbeckes , with which he was always compared. Indeed, during the 1920s he was one of the few cornetists who could rival Beiderbecke in terms of style, phrasing and lyrical expressiveness.

Live and act

Nichols, called "Red" because of his red hair, received extensive musical training from his father, a music teacher. After starting out with the midwestern dance band The Syncopating Five , he moved to New York in 1923 . In the course of the 1920s he took part in over 4000 recordings, including a. with The California Ramblers . Of the numerous small formations he put together for recordings and tours, the best known is Red Nichols and his Five Pennies , which had its first chart success in the Billboard Top 30 in April 1927 with the "Washboard Blues" . He also played with Dick McDonough , Jimmy Dorsey , Miff Mole , Vic Berton and others. a. in the studio band The Charleston Chasers , who had their first hit in May 1927 with "Someday, Sweetheart" (# 19).

With " Ida, Sweet as Apple Cider " he reached position 1 in the charts in November and landed a million-dollar success. Benny Goodman , Miff Mole, Jimmy Dorsey, Jack Teagarden , Glenn Miller , Pee Wee Russell , Joe Venuti , Eddie Lang , Adrian Rollini and Gene Krupa worked in his bands , with whom he and others worked. a. Recorded the Standard Back Home Again in Indiana (1929). He also played with The Little Ramblers and Sam Lanin . With his Five Pennies, Nichols took part on January 14, 1930 at the premiere of the new version of Gershwin's musical "Strike Up the Band" on New York's Broadway ; the title track's 78th hit # 7 on the Billboard Top 30 .

For the next three decades he directed studio and Broadway orchestras and appeared on numerous radio and television shows. Between 1942 and 1944 he was a member of the Casa Loma Orchestra before reviving his Five Pennies , with which he took part in the Dixieland Revival .

His life was in 1959 in a highly idealized manner with Danny Kaye filmed ( The Five Pennies ) , but which helped him to a brilliant comeback.

literature

  • Horst H. Lange : Loring "Red" Nichols - a portrait (= jazz library. No. 5). Wetzlar, Pegasus Verlag, 1960.
  • Stephen M. Stroff: Red Head. A Chronological Survey of "Red" Nichols and His Five Pennies (= Studies in Jazz. No. 21). Institute of Jazz Studies et al., Rutgers 1996, ISBN 0-8108-3061-2 .
  • Philip R. Evans, Stanley Hester, Stephen Hester, Linda Evans: The Red Nichols Story: After Intermission, 1942-1965 (= Studies in Jazz. No. 22). Institute of Jazz Studies, Scarecrow 1997, ISBN 0-8108-3096-5 .
  • Richard M. Sudhalter : The Sophisticates: New York and Its Hot Jazz Chamber Music - Red Nichols and his Circle . In: Richard Sudhalter : Lost Chords - White Musicians and Their Contribution to Jazz, 1915-1945 . Oxford University Press, 1999. ISBN 0-19-505585-3 .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Compare biography in: Simon, George T .: The Big Bands . With a foreword by Frank Sinatra. 3rd revised edition. New York City, New York: Macmillan Publishing Co and London: Collier Macmillan Publishers, 1974, pp. 380-382
personal data
SURNAME Nichols, Red
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Nichols, Ernest Loring
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American jazz musician
DATE OF BIRTH May 8, 1905
PLACE OF BIRTH Ogden , Utah
DATE OF DEATH June 28, 1965
Place of death Las Vegas , Nevada