Okay, I admit it's a little late for an August 26th birthday post. But at least where I'm sitting, it's still about 8:00 pm on 8/26, and I want to wish a Happy Birthday to the great blues shouter "*Jimmy Rushing*":http://allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=11:avfqxqr5ldse, born on this day in 1903 in Oklahoma City, OK. Rushing made his name through a musical partnership with Count Basie that endured for more than 20 years. With Rushing in the role of vocal frontman, pianist and bandleader Basie produced some of the best and most enduring big-band blues of that era.Born into a musical family, Jimmy Rushing learned to play the violin at an early age, and studied music theory before moving on to playing the piano. As a young adult he briefly attended college in Ohio, but left school to go to California and play music. While there he performed occasionally with Jelly Roll Morton. A short while after returning home from California, he joined up with Walter Page's Kansas City band The Blue Devils, which was how he met Count Basie, then the band's pianist. Eventually Basie formed his own band in 1935, and Rushing took over the vocalist duties. The irresistible swing rhythms that were Basie's forte, combined with Rushing's legendary vocal ability, resulted in countless memorable performances and recordings. Much like Big Joe Turner, Rushing built a reputation for possessing not only the power to sing over a big band, but also the skillful phrasing and emotional depth to make a song his own. Over time, he also gained the nickname "Mister Five-by-Five," in reference to his short stature and impressive girth.After Basie's band dissolved in 1950 due to the waning popularity of big bands, Rushing briefly retired to South Carolina. But continuing demand for his singing led him to return to music as a solo artist and form his own seven-piece band. He continued to perform and record throughout the '50s and '60s, occasionally reuniting with his old collaborator Basie. Rushing died of cancer on June 8th, 1972.Here's a cool video clip from a 1957 TV show called _The Sound Of Jazz_ - after an oddly awkward introduction by the show's host, John Crosby, Jimmy Rushing lets loose with a beautiful rendition of "I Left My Baby," backed by Count Basie and an all-star band including Roy Eldridge, Ben Webster and other notables. Hope you enjoy it.
mousetrap says
It's true - who would ever have the time to really explore and develop a realistic sense of what's truly available on YouTube? I find a lot of upside in my current approach, which is to check it in a quite narrowly-focused manner - searching for video clips of a given day's birthday celebrant. Almost invariably I find treasures like the one above. But if I ever try to take a more generalist or scattershot approach it just inevitably leads to input overload.
In any case it's heartening to know that this stuff is up there, to effect some degree of balance - lopsided though it may be - against the pointless grainy cell phone videos, overwrought and stagey vloggers, etc.
Thanks for the comment!
Spike says
Another great essay you've written on a great musician. The clip shows that he and Basie could still cut it late in life.
My father was a big fan of black swing bands of the late thirties, and Basie with Rushing was his favorite. He could play the piano solos of "One o'Clock Jump" perfectly. I was lucky to grow up hearing their records. My father numerous times said that the song "I'm Gonna Move to the Outskirts of Town" had in the lyrics the term "girlsy boy" which he thought was poetic. However, years later when I listened again, the verse (here at the 1:50 mark) went: "I'm gonna buy my own groceries, buy them every day. That'll stop the grocery boy and keep him away." Before I brought this discrepancy up with my father, he mentioned that it was "grocery" rather than "girlsy." That doesn't stop "girsly boy" from being poetic, but it does illustrate a statement made, I think, by literary critic Lionel Trilling that sometimes the most vivid responses to moments in literature are the result of misreadings (or words to that effect).
~DjWEk4gxzjd.mp3~
Okay, I admit it's a little late for an August 26th birthday post. But at least where I'm sitting, it's still about 8:00 pm on 8/26, and I want to wish a Happy Birthday to the great blues shouter "*Jimmy Rushing*":http://allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=11:avfqxqr5ldse, born on this day in 1903 in Oklahoma City, OK. Rushing made his name through a musical partnership with Count Basie that endured for more than 20 years. With Rushing in the role of vocal frontman, pianist and bandleader Basie produced some of the best and most enduring big-band blues of that era.Born into a musical family, Jimmy Rushing learned to play the violin at an early age, and studied music theory before moving on to playing the piano. As a young adult he briefly attended college in Ohio, but left school to go to California and play music. While there he performed occasionally with Jelly Roll Morton. A short while after returning home from California, he joined up with Walter Page's Kansas City band The Blue Devils, which was how he met Count Basie, then the band's pianist. Eventually Basie formed his own band in 1935, and Rushing took over the vocalist duties. The irresistible swing rhythms that were Basie's forte, combined with Rushing's legendary vocal ability, resulted in countless memorable performances and recordings. Much like Big Joe Turner, Rushing built a reputation for possessing not only the power to sing over a big band, but also the skillful phrasing and emotional depth to make a song his own. Over time, he also gained the nickname "Mister Five-by-Five," in reference to his short stature and impressive girth.After Basie's band dissolved in 1950 due to the waning popularity of big bands, Rushing briefly retired to South Carolina. But continuing demand for his singing led him to return to music as a solo artist and form his own seven-piece band. He continued to perform and record throughout the '50s and '60s, occasionally reuniting with his old collaborator Basie. Rushing died of cancer on June 8th, 1972.Here's a cool video clip from a 1957 TV show called _The Sound Of Jazz_ - after an oddly awkward introduction by the show's host, John Crosby, Jimmy Rushing lets loose with a beautiful rendition of "I Left My Baby," backed by Count Basie and an all-star band including Roy Eldridge, Ben Webster and other notables. Hope you enjoy it.
Locating MOG account...
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