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Jimmy Rushing
Jazz and Blues
Scott #2858
September 17, 1994 in Greenville, MS
Designed by Howard Koslow
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Jimmy Rushing was born on August 26, 1903 in
Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. He was born into a musical family and learned to play
the violin and the piano while still very young.
Jimmy quit school in 1925 and headed for
California where he played at house parties and nightclubs. He returned to
Kansas in 1927 and joined with a band called The Blue Devils.
The piano player for the group was Count Basie. Jimmy and Basie
teamed up and joined a band led by Jimmy Moten in 1932. After
Moten's death, Basie formed his own band and Jimmy became the band's lead
singer. Jimmy was the only Blues singer to tour with a major Swing Band. Jimmy
remained with Count Basie for over fifteen years until the band broke up
in 1950. Count Basie and Jimmy were reunited for the last time at the Newport
Jazz Festival in 1957.
After the Count Basie band broke up, Jimmy
retired for a short time then formed his own group. He cut records for
Vanguard in the mid fifties and also cut several records for Columbia with
Coleman Hawkins, Dave Brubeck and Benny Goodman. In 1957 Jimmy had his first
television appearance in The Sound of Jazz.
Two of Jimmy's most popular tunes were Swinging
the Blues and One o'clock Jump. Some of his other songs
include: Boogie Woogie, Good Morning Blues, See See Rider, In the
Moonlight and I want a Little Girl.
Jimmy was almost as wide as he was tall and he
was known affectionately as "Mr. Five-by-Five." He was
a dedicated performer who believed that blues came only from having
experienced poverty, and sorrow firsthand. He once stated that, "Rich
people don't know nothing about the blues, please believe me. The
Blues come right back to a person's feelings, to his daily activities in
life."
Jimmy Rushing died of cancer on June 8, 1972.
Sources:
Encyclopedia Britannica
Encyclopedia
Africana
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