4 December 1915, Atlanta, Georgia, USA, d. 2 January 1989, North Miami, Florida, USA. Heywood received his first piano lessons from his father, also named Eddie, who was a well-known band leader in the 20s. Heywood joined his father, playing piano in the pit band at an Atlanta theatre. He also accompanied singers, including Bessie Smith, and thereafter worked in various smal
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Teddy Wilson
- 33% match to Art Hodes
Theodore Shaw Wilson, 24 November 1912, Austin, Texas, USA, d. 31 July 1986, New Britain, Connecticut, USA. Born into a middle-class family, Wilson grew up in Tuskegee where his parents moved to take up teaching posts at the university. He studied violin and piano at Tuskegee and later extended his studies at college in Alabama. In 1929, by now concentrating on piano, he bec
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James Price Johnson, 1 February 1894, New Brunswick, New Jersey, USA, d. 17 November 1955, New York City, New York, USA. Taught piano by his mother, Johnson assimilated a wide range of musical styles. In the years following his family’s relocation to New York, he continued his studies and by his late teens was working in clubs in the Hell’s Kitchen district. Johnso
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Weldon Leo Teagarden, 29 August 1905, Vernon, Texas, USA, d. 15 January 1964, New Orleans, Louisiana, USA. One of the giants of jazz, Teagarden began playing trombone and singing in and around his home-town, encouraged by his mother, Helen Teagarden, a pianist. From his early teens he was playing professionally, touring with various bands, notably that led by Peck Kelley. He
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Charles Ellsworth Russell, 27 March 1906, Maple Wood, Missouri, USA, d. 15 February 1969, Alexandria. Russell began playing clarinet in the early 20s and by 1927, the year he came to New York, had already worked with luminaries such as Jack Teagarden, Frank Trumbauer and Bix Beiderbecke. In the late 20s and throughout the 30s and 40s, Russell played with numerous jazzmen wor
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Canadian tycoon Sir Henry Pellatt had delusions of grandeur similar to those exhibited by William Randolph Hearst. Pellatt’s equivalent to Hearst’s castle at San Simeon was Casa Loma, a house he built near Toronto. In 1929 a group of musicians, originally controlled by contractor Jean Goldkette and working as the Orange Blossoms, mainly in Canada, decided to strike ou
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Albany Leon Bigard, 3 March 1906, New Orleans, Louisiana, USA, d. 27 June 1980, Culver City, California, USA. Born into a highly musical family, Bigard began studying clarinet at the age of seven, taking lessons from the noted teacher, Lorenzo Tio Jnr. He worked in street parades but then switched to tenor saxophone in 1922 to join the band led by Albert Nicholas. During the
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Eubie Blake
- 19% match to Art Hodes
James Hubert Blake, 7 February 1883, Baltimore, Maryland, USA, d. 12 February 1983, New York City, New York, USA. Eubie Blake grew up to the sounds of ragtime music, and before the turn of the century was playing piano in sporting houses and other similar establishments. He was a composer too, and in 1915 joined forces with Noble Sissle; they played in vaudeville as a double
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Eddie Condon
- 17% match to Art Hodes
Albert Edwin Condon, 16 November 1905, Goodland, Indiana, USA, d. 4 July 1973, New York City, USA. After working in local bands, guitarist and banjoist Condon moved to Chicago in the early 20s. He quickly associated himself with the very finest young white musicians based there: Bix Beiderbecke, Frank Teschemacher, Jimmy McPartland, Bud Freeman, Dave Tough and other members
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Kenny Davern
- 17% match to Art Hodes
John Kenneth Davern, 7 January 1935, Huntington, New York, USA, d. 12 December 2006, Sandia Park, New Mexico, USA. A professional musician at the age of 16, Davern worked with Jack Teagarden and Phil Napoleon in the mid-50s, moving on to play with Henry ‘Red’ Allen and Buck Clayton. In the early 60s he led his own small group and also played with the Dukes Of Dixie
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Artist matches
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