Spike Jones

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Lindley Armstrong "Spike" Jones (born December 14, 1911 in Long Beach , California , † May 1, 1965 in Beverly Hills ) was a musician and classic of virtuoso comic music .

Life

He began as a percussionist in the big bands of Everett Hoaglund and Earl Burtnett , then worked on various radio shows and combos with which he performed at the Biltmore Hotel in Los Angeles before forming his own band in 1940: Spike Jones and his City Slickers . With this group, which became known very quickly, he had various hits, but these are more of the "normal" pop music of these days.

More interesting are his crazy but nonetheless sophisticated arrangements, which brought his first-class musicians almost close to musique concrète . The instrumentation of the City Slickers with cowbells, car horns, a toilet seat covered with an intestinal string (as a latrine ), anvils (as anvilphone ) and similar background noises were style- defining for the background music of contemporary cartoon films. When performing live, Jones used to conduct his orchestra with a pistol in hand, which was also occasionally used to background noise. The artists performing in his band took on some strange names, such as Sir Frederick Gas (who played his Sadivari from time to time), Willie Spicer (who played the Sneezaphone ), Ina Souez , Horation Q. Birdbath , Gil Bert and Sully Van , The Four Fifth or The Sons of the Pioneers . At the time the USA entered the war , they got a record deal with Bluebird Records .

Spike Jones made his final breakthrough in 1942 with the setting of Walt Disney's propaganda cartoon The Fuehrer's Face , which was originally supposed to be called Donald Duck in Nutzi Land , but was renamed after the success of Jones' version. Jones' version moved up to number three in the charts. In 1949 Jones even had a "guest appearance" on the Dick Tracy comic strip .

What in the arrangements of the City Slickers appears as pure slapstick when you first listen to it, turns out to be a fast-paced and precise interplay of accomplished instrumentalists on closer analysis, which was difficult to copy. Jones did not stop at adaptations of demanding classics such as Tchaikovski's Nutcracker Suite , the overture from Rossini's Wilhelm Tell or Franz Liszt's Dreams of Love . A compilation of classic arrangements by Spike Jones was put together posthumously in 1971 under the title Murdering the Classics .

Star of Spike Jones on the Hollywood Walk of Fame

Jones had his own radio show for a while, The Chase and Sanborn Program , in 1945 on NBC and from 1947 to 1949 on CBS , first under the title The Spotlight Revue and finally as The Spike Jones Show . His guests included everything that had a reputation for in show business , from Frank Sinatra to Peter Lorre to Lassie . From 1946 to 1953 he toured the United States with his Musical Depreciation Tour . In the early 1950s, his radio show was taken over for television, where it was similarly successful. Spike Jones appeared in casinos in Las Vegas and Lake Tahoe in the late 1950s and early 1960s . In March 1965, Jones had a severe asthma attack while visiting Harrah's Club there , which forced him to stay in hospital for several weeks. He then died at his home in Trousdale Estates early that morning on May 1, 1965.

He was buried in Holy Cross Cemetery in Culver City , California. Spike Jones was honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 1500 Vine Street.

Known interpretations (selection)

Discography (selection)

  • Spike Jones and his City Slickers - Can't Stop Murdering , 2 LP, RCA, PJM 2-8021
  • Spike Jones and his City Slickers Murders Them All , 2 LP, RCA, RCS 3211 / 1-2
  • Spike Jones and his City Slickers - Murders Again , 2 LP, RCA, RCS 3217 / 1-2
  • Spike Jones and his City Slickers , CD, Great Entertainers, EAN 8004883002474

literature

  • Scott C. Corbett: An Illustrated Guide to the Recordings of Spike Jones. Corbett, Monrovia 1989 (No ISBN).
  • Jack Mirtle: Thank You Music Lovers: A Bio-discography of Spike Jones. Greenwood Press, Westport 1986, ISBN 0-313-24814-1
  • Jordan R. Young: Spike Jones Off the Record: The Man Who Murdered Music . 3 rd edition, BearManorMedia, Albany 2005, ISBN 1-59393-012-7 .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ The originally planned title is listed as Donald Duck in Axis Land by the Old Time Radio Show Catalog on otrcat.com (English); see. Gary Giddins: Visions of Jazz: The First Century, Oxford University Press 2000, ISBN 978-0-19-513241-0 .
  2. ↑ See the picture in the English language Wikipedia .
personal data
SURNAME Jones, Spike
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Jones, Lindley Armstrong (real name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American musician
DATE OF BIRTH December 14, 1911
PLACE OF BIRTH Long Beach , California
DATE OF DEATH May 1, 1965
Place of death Beverly Hills