Jack Teagarden was the top jazz trombonist to emerge before World War II. Brother of pianist Norma Teagarden (1911-1996); trumpeter, New and Upcoming Science Fiction and Fantasy, (1942 - January 15, 1964) (his death, 1 child), View agent, publicist, legal and company contact details on IMDbPro. One moment, you will be redirected shortly. As mentioned above, by the summer of 1928, Teagarden was playing with Ben Pollacks orchestra, and he stayed with Pollack, performing and recording, for nearly five years. with his own band. Jack Teagarden. Please refer to the appropriate style manual or other sources if you have any questions. Fort Lauderdale civic activist Vernajean Atwell, stepdaughter of noted trombonist Jack Teagarden plays with her adopted dogs. Inducted into the Big Band and Jazz Hall of Fame in 1985. Mr. Teagarden was generally regarded as one of the masters of the jazz trombone. Teagarden was married first to Ora Binyon in San Angelo, Texas, in 1923; they had two sons before they were divorced. As I said, the big depression was on, and I had just wangled a cozy WPA job for the best cymbalom player I ever heard. He has played with Paul Whitemans big band, Benny Goodmans recording groups, Louis Armstrongs All Stars, Ben Pollocks band, countless groups and orchestras, many of them under his own leadership. Mr. Teagarden toured the Far East for the State Department during the winter of 195859, and regarded the trip as a high point of his career. Born in Texas, raised in Oklahoma, Teagarden grew up in a world richly colored with Negro folk songs and hymns. Drummer Cotton Bailey gave him the nickname Jack when he was 15 or 16 because Bailey didnt think Weldon was suitable to a musician, and it stuck. The secret, she says, was a lot of yelling and marching and to get the neighborhoods youth involved. This All Stars group, a sextet along the same lines as Armstrongs All Stars, with various musicians including at times Earl Hines, Teagardens brother Charlie on trumpet and his sister Norma on piano, was also a success, touring both Europe and Asia and playing traditional jazz in a way that made it sound fresh and creative. In New York, Teagarden became enthralled by Harlems black nightclubs, where he was often invited to join late-night jam sessions. All four Teagarden children became prominent musicians. [2] According to critic Scott Yannow of Allmusic, Teagarden was the preeminent American jazz trombone player before the bebop era of the 1940s and "one of the best jazz singers too". Later the same year (1921) Teagarden joined Peck Kelleys Bad Boys in Houston. Performer: JACK TEAGARDEN And His Orchestra; Jack Teagarden Writer: Victor Young; Joseph Young; Ned Washington Fox Trot ; Vocal Chorus by. Turned Pro as a Teen " You Couldn ' t Keep Jack Out of Harlem " Selected discography. While the legal issues are being sorted, the documentary, calledTime for T, has been shown only at jazz festivals and has not been released to the public. Among the vintage giants of jazz, Jack port Teagarden had not been only the very best pre-bop trombonist (taking part in his instrument using the simple a trumpeter) but one of the better jazz performers too. He led his own band (193947), played with Louis Armstrong (194751), and re-formed his band (195157). Although gifted with an amazing technical virtuosity, the curiously mixed scale of feeling Teagarden draws from his horn has its origin in this childhood heritage. While still in Jack Teagarden was a trombone player, singer, and band leader whose career spanned from the 1. He teamed up with Louis Armstrongs All-Stars for some classic recordings in the late 1940s and formed the Jack Teagarden All Stars Dixieland band in 1951. Tonight she blew into town and she is gonna haunt me until I come up with a mink!, I said, Jack, nobody could catch up to us now. He was also among the first white jazz musicians to record with black players. He was 58 years old and had reportedly been suffering from pneumonia. His widow, Addie, a pioneer woman aviator and big band manager, eventually moved from Broward to South Dade, and then back to Fort Lauderdale, where she lived with Atwell until she died penniless in 1997. Louis Armstrong and his band were my second family. admin { Upper register solos, the lack of a strict solo beat, and the use of lip trills were some of his characteristics. Size 10.0 Source 78 User_cleaned Bai Konte Johnson User_metadataentered Innodata User 02 User_transferred Jordan Gold Tall, gangling, his horn wrapped in newspaper, Teagarden asked for an audition. I went to the kitchen to say hello. James Infirmary, and W. C. Handy's Beale Street Blues. But like most blues singers, he was capable also of improvising a lyric if the moment was right. Looks like we don't have interesting facts information. Who Is Jack Teagarden's Wife? He was such an excellent musician that youthful sibling Charlie (a fantastic trumpeter) was generally overshadowed. Jack Teagarden played trombone with a relaxed style and a unique In what the documentary calls one of the most important jazz recordings ever made, Teagarden and Armstrong ignored the advice of friends in 1929 and joined together to makeKnockin A Jug. Jack Teagarden. I asked him a couple of years ago when he was playing in Chicago if he ever felt really peaceful. Therefore he has to take something shorter than the original, and make it complete in itself yet not so final that what follows his solo will sound like padding. He died in a motel room only hours after playing his last set from a chair because he was too weak to stand. He was an inventor, redesigning mouthpieces, mutes, and water valves and inventing a new musical slide rule. His father, an amateur comet player, worked in the oilfields, and his mother was a local piano instructor and church organist. But Teagarden appears to have arrived in New York with a clear idea of how he wanted to sound, and although the three players do seem to have influenced each other somewhat, they each also retained their distinctive styles. Among the many tunes which are his are Basin Street Blues (he and Glenn Miller combines on the lyrics of the now-famous blues, although neither is credited on the sheet music), Stars Fell on Alabama, Pennies From Heaven, Rockin Chair, and Ive Got a Right to Sing the Blues. [2] His brothers Charlie and Clois "Cub" and his sister Norma also became professional musicians. and inventing a new musical slide rule. [2] In 1946, Teagarden joined Louis Armstrong's All Stars. Well, I was hurt. So my Hungarian friend went on the book-binding project but he toted his cymbalom along and the book bindery became the most melodious WPA project that never got off the ground. Louis Armstrong and Jack Teagarden, between 1938 and 1948 Teagarden played professionally from age 14. We have been all over this silly town. Many of his best records were made with Red Nichols. Although he never achieved commercial success, he retained his full powers until the end of his life. Ben Pollack invited him to join his orchestra in 1928, and that year Teagarden recorded the first of what would be scores of records,Just Roll Along. In the early 20s, Teagarden joined the legendary Peck Kelly Band, Pecks Bad Boys, in Texas. Many critics believe that Teagardens best years were over when he left Armstrong in 1951 to form his own group. Of this venture, nothing but praise-both musical and personal-rang from every port of the bands call. His father played trumpet, as did brother Charlie, while brother Clois played drums, and sister Norma played piano. After two months with the Tommy Gott Orchestra Teagarden secured a position in Pollacks organization, where he beat Glenn Miller for the seat of first trombone. Desperate to keep afloat, the group played too many gigs at which they were expected to have a sweet, popular sound. T, Big T (to brother Charlies Little T), Jackson, Gate, and Big Gate (again, Charlie was Little Gate), Jack Teagarden was by all accounts a big, easy- going, friendly man, well-liked throughout his career by his fellow musicians. "name" : "Jack Teagarden", Though Vernajean Atwell was a toddler at the time and Teagarden is actually her stepfather, my earliest memories are of him taking care of me. Updated April 25, 2019 - Doug Ramsey. Mamo, hewould sing, when the lyrics contained the word mama; fio, when they contained the word fire.. Teagarden became ill in Japan, and returned after the tour a very weak and very sick man. Looks like we don't have trademarks information. Well, I took her back to Jacks hotel and I have never, come to think of it, seen the lady since. The effect is a stifled, plaintive sound which makes the instrument sound even more like a blues singer. Visiting band leader Paul Whiteman heard the group there and offered Teagarden a position in his New York orchestra. In 1927, he went to New York City where he worked with several bands. Leave a comment. This has a practical effect on trombone playing: in the lower register of the instrument, there are fewer notes in any given position, and often only one position in which a note can be played. Occasionally the digitization process introduces transcription errors or other problems; we are continuing to work to improve these archived versions. They walked offstage and into the kitchen. Some sources claim his unusual style of trombone playing stemmed from the fact that he began playing before he was big enough to play in the farther positions. Teagarden was also an excellent singer and developed a respected blues vocal style. He Four trombones wailed their lament at the funeral. [2], Teagarden sought financial security during the Great Depression and signed an exclusive contract to play for the Paul Whiteman Orchestra from 1933 through 1938. After Kelley, with whom he played from 1921 to 1922, others followed, among them Red Nichols, Paul Whiteman, and finally in mid-47 Louis Armstrong when together the two traded choruses and vocals for four years across the mikes of countless American nightclubs from Frisco to The Big Apple. performed in the Paul Whiteman Orchestra in the 1930s, then performed The ease with which Jack pumps out the smooth overall line of the chorus as well as the occasional disagreeing spurts of melody, is still a revelation in the art trombone playing. All these guys were just my fathers friends, she says now. Born: August 20, 1905Died: January 15, 1964. His health grew worse and he suffered recurring bouts of flu and pneumonia. Jack Teagarden (born August 20, 1905, Vernon, Texas, USA - died January 15, 1964, New Orleans, Louisiana, USA) was an American jazz trombonist, bandleader, composer and vocalist. His father was an amateur brass band trumpeter and started him on baritone horn; by age seven he had switched to trombone. His brother Charlie was a fine trumpeter, sister Norma could tear up a piano, and Clois Lee "Cub" Teagarden played drums on some of Jack's Columbia recordings in 1939. Tell us why you would like to improve the Jack Teagarden musician page. His former wife had taken all the spirit out of him when she sued for divorce and got custody of the restaurant which supported him and his cymbalom. I gotta keep moving., So we grabbed a taxi and rode over to a shoddy little cabaret. Jack Teagardens most important recordings include the recording with Benny Goodman of Basin Street Blues, with Teagarden on both trombone and vocals, which included extra lyrics written by himself and Glenn Miller that later became a standard (and usually unattributed) part of the song lyrics. Was a member of "Louis Armstrong and his All-Stars.". His tombstone reads simply, Where there is hatred, let me sow love, Courtesy of the Miami Herald, e-mail:sreisinger@herald.com Encyclopaedia Britannica's editors oversee subject areas in which they have extensive knowledge, whether from years of experience gained by working on that content or via study for an advanced degree. [2], He died in New Orleans at the age of 58, suffering from pneumonia.[1]. His siblings also became professional musicians: his younger sister Norma played piano, his younger brother Charlie, trumpet, and his brother Clois (Cub), drums. http://www.allmusic.com/artist/mn0000124675, Earl Hines Dixieland Al - At the Olympia Theatre, TV Movie documentary performer: "The Waiter, the Porter and the Upstairs Maid", "Jeepers Creepers", "Fare-Thee-Well to Harlem", performer: "You Rascal You", "After You've Gone", Documentary performer: "I Swung The Election", performer: "A Hundred Years from Today" 1933, Short performer: "The Skiphorn King of Polaroo", performer: "The Blues" / writer: "The Blues", performer: "The Waiter, and the Porter and the Upstairs Maid", Short performer: "Two Sleepy People", "That's Right - I'm Wrong", "Washboard Blues", "Small Fry", "Rockin' Chair", "Stardust", "Lazy Bones", Ben Pollack and His Park Central Orchestra, Short performer: "My Kinda Love" - uncredited, Himself (as Jack Teagarden and His Orchestra). On short notice, he joined Roger Wolfe Kahn's orchestra for a recording datewearing the largest hangover on Manhattan Island, Kahn recalled later, yet reading the arrangements like a veteran and booting out a pair of choruses which were mildly sensational.. Teagarden was also a respected jazz singer and developed his own blues vocal style. For instance, Jack and crew jammed with the King of Cambodia who as clarinetist had jammed with his idol, Benny Goodman, when Benny had toured that area few years earlier. And Jack was blowing his big horn around a shattered segment of the old Keith vaudeville circuit. What he did that day with a trombone became part of the living legend of Teagarden, a feat that replaced the amused smiles with a deep respect that has been felt since by nearly every jazz buff who ever heard Teagarden jamming his special kind of music. He went, it appears, to superhuman lengths to live up to what he has stated to nearly interviewer: I try to play what people like. 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