Tommy Gwaltney

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Tommy Gwaltney (also Tom Gwaltney , born February 28, 1921 in Norfolk (Virginia) as Thomas O. Gwaltney ; † February 11, 2003 in Virginia Beach ) was an American musician ( saxophone , clarinet , vibraphone , xylophone ) from Dixieland and Mainstream Jazz , who also worked as a club owner and organizer of jazz festivals in Virginia.

Live and act

Gwaltney took lessons from Ernie Caceres and Peanuts Hucko and then played as a clarinetist in college bands; In the early 1940s during his military service he was active in an army band. After a war wound to his lungs, he switched to the vibraphone at times. After the war he studied at New York University and played in an ensemble of Charlie Byrd and Sol Yaged (1946/47). Between 1951 and 1955 he appeared rarely and primarily looked after the family business in Norfolk. 1955-57 he played with Bobby Hackett , on whose album Gotham Jazz Scene he participated in 1957. 1958/59 he was with Wild Bill Davison and Billy Butterfield .

The Blues Alley jazz club , entrance from the street

In 1960 he presented an album under his own name on Riverside Records , on which u. a. Buck Clayton featured and played as a member of the Buck Clayton All Stars on Nancy Harrow's album Wild Women Don't Have the Blues . Around 1960 he led his own formations in Norfolk and Washington DC; from 1959 to 1965 he promoted the Virginia Beach Jazz Festival several times . In the early 1960s he played with Charlie Byrd ( Latin Byrd ), only to return to his hometown in 1965 to lead a trio with John Eaton . In the same year he opened the jazz club Blues Alley in Washington, DC , where he also appeared with his own groups, in which u. a. the guitarist Steve Jordan played. In 1969 he sold the club again.

Gwaltney was the organizer of the Manassas Jazz Festival in the 1960s / 70s , where he performed in bands with Davison, Ed Polcer , Willie The Lion Smith , Eddie Condon , Doc Evans , Bobby Hackett, Vic Dickenson , Maxine Sullivan and Jimmy McPartland . In the 1980s, the clarinet became his main instrument again. In 1986 he recorded a tribute album for Pee Wee Russell and gave a concert in honor of Jimmie Noone at the Smithsonian Institution . From 1992 he played in the Chesapeake Bay Jazz Band .

Discographic notes

Web links

Lexical entry

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Review of the album Singin the Blues at Allmusic (English). Retrieved February 12, 2011.
personal data
SURNAME Gwaltney, Tommy
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Gwaltney, Thomas O. (real name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American jazz musician
DATE OF BIRTH February 28, 1921
PLACE OF BIRTH Norfolk (Virginia)
DATE OF DEATH February 11, 2003
Place of death Virginia Beach