Between Pops and Dizzy Gillespie, one trumpeter stands out: Roy Eldridge, also called “Little Jazz” because, though only five foot six, he was hip from top to toe. Eldridge lived a long time for a jazz musician: 1911-1989, spanning the eras of Armstrong, swing, and bebop. (Why did jazz trumpeters live so long—Louis Armstrong and Dizzy Gillespie also come to mind—while sax players dropped in their 30s and 40s?)
Eldridge combined great technical virtuosity (attained by practicing six hours a day) with remarkable improvisational skill. Both are on offer on this 1937 recording of After You’ve Gone. The vocals by Gladys Palmer are forgettable, but oh, what musical fireworks you hear at the beginning and—especially—in the final choruses! According to the liner notes of one of my Eldridge CDs, the young Dizzy Gillespie listened to this song every day for inspiration.
That’s one of my favorite jazz pieces, and one of the few that makes me want to get up and dance. (Another is Cottontail by Duke Ellington.)
Recorded about the same time (I like the early Roy best) is Wabash Stomp. Teddy Cole on piano, Zutty Singleton on drums, and Roy’s older brother Joe Eldridge on alto sax.
Eldridge played for Artie Shaw’s, Benny Goodman’s and Gene Krupa’s groups, as well as smaller ensembles. He’s well known for accompanying jazz vocalist Anita O’Day, particularly in their duet Let Me Off Uptown. Here’s that song, with Gene Krupa’s orchestra, from a film made in 1942. You can hear the original Okeh recording here.
“Uptown”, of course, refers to Harlem, where the white people would be “let off” to hear the great black jazzmen play. It’s ineffably sad that black patrons weren’t allowed to hear that music in places like The Cotton Club—those places were segregated! The words and visuals in this film are kind of corny, but the song is so forties; and Roy’s playing near the end, though very brief, is superb—he was great in the high registers. What a noise that man could coax out of a piece of metal!
O’Day, a sometime heroin addict, was also great when she was on. Her 1941 recording of Hoagy Carmichael and Johnny Mercer’s beautiful ballad “Skylark,” with Eldridge’s fantastic introduction, is a classic. After laborious searching, I finally found it on the internet: you can listen to it here (press the “play” button).
I know it’s a jazz trumpet week, but did you know today is Sister Rosetta Tharpe day?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JeaBNAXfHfQ
Sorry to say I never heard of her until today!
PS The Eldridge was fun!
Excellent series Jerry. I’m looking forward to the next installments.
I’m fond of saying that Dave Douglas is the modern heir to Miles Davis, if for no other reason than to be provocative. Have you heard ‘November’, from his ‘Freak In’ album?
Best trumpet work ever.
“Why did jazz trumpeters live so long”
That makes me wish I stayed with my school-days trumpet playing. I was never all that great, but I had fun with it.
Very nice. I would add that the 40s may have been kinda corny, but that era, including the late 30s produced some really great music. I’m thinking of Gene Krupa and the spectacularly dangerous sounding Sing, Sing, Sing. Not that this is drummah week. It has lotsa trumpets.
Link fail. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j9J5Zt2Obko
I recall hearing somewhere that a possible reason why sax players died (and die?) young was because they used circular breathing while playing. I found this BMJ article (http://www.bmj.com/content/319/7225/1612.full), although my initial recollection had something to do with infection– imperfect recall I guess.
One of the Eldridge’s best records is the one with the Basie Band 1957 at Newport, One O’Clock Jump. It used to be on youtube but seems to be gone. And then there is of course “Fine and mellow” with him, Billy Holiday and the tenor giants (all three of them).