Among the many landmarks of the jazz scene is one that seems destined to last forever. In 1947, he left the bigband business entirely, playing in ensuing years with Louis Armstrong and with groups he himself headed. 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. The masterful Teagarden was an American original whose style and vocals epitomized authenticity both in their execution and sound. Many of his best records were made with Red Nichols. His nickname was Little T. Born in Vernon, Texas, Teagarden worked locally in Oklahoma before he and Jack joined Ben Pollack's Orchestra in 1929. Jack Teagarden, Soundtrack: Reminiscence. January 30, 2023 [2], In the late 1920s, he recorded with such bandleaders and sidemen as Armstrong, Benny Goodman, Bix Beiderbecke, Red Nichols, Jimmy McPartland, Mezz Mezzrow, Glenn Miller, Eddie Condon, and Fats Waller. Jack Teagarden, byname of John Weldon Teagarden, (born August 20, 1905, Vernon, Texas, U.S.died January 15, 1964, New Orleans, Louisiana), American jazz trombonist, unique because he developed a widely imitated style that appeared to have arrived fully formed. Louis Armstrong, Benny Goodman, Red Nichols and Eddie Condon. They write new content and verify and edit content received from contributors. Armstrong apparently considered Teagarden a friend, not a rival, and they continued to work together from time to time. Jack spent considerable time as a youth listening to the music and the hymn singing at Negro religious meetings. He told endless stories about a Texas piano player named Peck Kelley, and although almost no one else in jazz ever heard him play, Mr. Kelley became a legend. Jack Teagarden. Teagarden later recorded with many of Americas jazz greats including Red Nichols, Benny Goodman, and Louis Armstrong. T. documented frequently numerous groups including systems going by Roger Wolfe Kahn, Eddie Condon, Crimson Nichols, and Louis Armstrong (Knockin a Jug). Each position causes the instrument to be a slightly different length, and the instrument can play a (different) harmonic series at each length. He headed back to New York, and by 1947 was playing with Louis Armstrongs All Stars, a smaller group that is considered to have been a leader in the anti- bebop traditional jazz revival movement. He had 14 side men in his band and the band fronted a stage show you could get in to see for 85 cents if you had 85 cents, which not many people did. Mr. Teagarden had shorter arms than most trombone players and as a result did not use the swooping, thrusting style of many of his colleagues. He The Teagarden brothers (Jack and trumpeter Charlie) are generally considered the only interesting jazzmen to have been part of it, and yet Jack also felt a little out of the limelight. His wife is Adeline Barriere (1942 - 15 January 1964) ( his death) ( 1 child), Billie Coates (1938 - 1941) ( divorced), Claire Manzi (1930 - 1936) ( divorced), Ora Binyon (1923 - 1930) ( divorced) ( 2 children) Jack Teagarden Net Worth His net worth has been growing significantly in 2021-2022. His daring solos with Ben Pollack triggered Glenn Miller to de-emphasize his very own using the music group, and through the past due-20s/early Depression period, Mr. At various times in teagardens career, his siblings played in the same band. Performer: JACK TEAGARDEN And His Orchestra; Jack Teagarden Writer: Victor Young; Joseph Young; Ned Washington Fox Trot ; Vocal Chorus by. And they had a rule: if one side couldnt eat, then the other side didnt eat.. First time I ever heard Jack Teagarden blow that big sliphorn was like maybe The notes in any harmonic series are much closer together in the upper part of the series. Then in 47 when he joined Armstrong, Teagarden stepped up as top-ranking sideman, second only to the fabled Satchmoand more important able for the first time in his haphazard career to play the music that has made his name legendary in jazz annals. performed in the Paul Whiteman Orchestra in the 1930s, then performed His tombstone reads simply, Where there is hatred, let me sow love, Courtesy of the Miami Herald, e-mail:sreisinger@herald.com Tall, gangling, his horn wrapped in newspaper, Teagarden asked for an audition. Teagarden has appeared in movies, has sung on the air and on TV, and has recorded actually thousands of sides. Now she wants to create a Web site and write a book about him, before all those who knew him and heard him play are gone. It is also unlike the original since it is complete in itself and not an uncompleted half of something. Would sure like to hear you play.Solo StuffThe guy says, All right, gets his horn out, puts it together and blows couple of warm-up notes and starts to play Diane. "url": "https://www.allaboutjazz.com/musicians/jack-teagarden" 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. In the upper register, notes in any position are closer together, and many notes can be played in more than one position. By 1928 he played for the Ben Pollack band. He originally planned to join Whitemans ensemble but happened to hear Ben Pollacks band first. Looks like we don't have trademarks information. In New York, Teagarden became enthralled by Harlems black nightclubs, where he was often invited to join late-night jam sessions. And beyond that, Jack had been a loner ever since he blew the scene down Texas way at 15 and went out to try the taste of the world. Collier says he was the leading, and virtually the only, white male singer in jazz. Yanow lists him with Louis Armstrong and Bing Crosby (who was a friend and was apparently influenced by Teagardens style) as the most important male vocalists of the early 1930s. Schuller calls him a remarkable and wholy unique singer, undoubtedly the best and only true jazz singer next to Billie Holiday, Cab Calloway, and Louis Armstrong (whom he, unlike dozens of others did not imitate).. Jazz fans are noted for their fanatical devotion to one jazz movement to the exclusion of all others. By 14, Teagarden was playing professionally. Jack Teagardens playing style was lyrical and seemingly effortless. [2] His brothers Charlie and Clois "Cub" and his sister Norma also became professional musicians. Musician Barney Bigard once told her, You were the only person he could ever talk to., Bigard, from his book on Teagarden: He drank a lot, practically all the time in fact, but he always could play and never showed that liquor He was a quite man. As one columnist put it, his visit was worth ten diplomats. From a down-on-his-luck jazzman to senior statesman and musician extraordinary, Teagarden has come up the hard way to stand as one of the truly permanent figures in American jazz. Teagarden left Pollack in 1933, and signed a five-year contract with Paul Whitemans orchestra. Teagarden particularly made some noteworthy contributions while working at this time with Eddie Condon. From 1939 until 1947 he toured with his own big band, which, though financially unsuccessful, produced both good music and good musicians (including Charlie Spivack and Ernie Caceres). I went to the kitchen to say hello. Weldon Leo (Jack) Teagarden, jazz musician, known also as Jackson T., Mr. T, and Big Gate, was born in Vernon, Texas, on August 20, 1905, to Charles and Helen (Geinger) Teagarden. Of this venture, nothing but praise-both musical and personal-rang from every port of the bands call. The world of jazz, like any part of show business, suffers as much from public fickleness as does, say, the bumbling lyrics of a Presley or Fabian (although one approaches art, the other embraces the soul of rockn roll). Privacy Policy | We do not sell or share your personal information | 2023 All About Jazz & Jazz Near You . blues singers he listened to while growing up in Texas. He was a nervous guy, never quite comfortable sitting down or standing still. [2] In 1946, Teagarden joined Louis Armstrong's All Stars. Lets go, he urged. Such memories are the stuff that Jack Teagardens daughter dreams of saving. 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. He His father was an amateur brass band trumpeter and started him on baritone horn; by age seven he had switched to trombone. He has a disposition as easy-going as the languid phrases he blows so often, and as sunny as the warm grin which cracks his face into scores of merry wrinkles. The September 1921 flood that brought death . Its the trombone artistry of Jack Teagarden. All rights reserved. His recordings of I Gotta Right to Sing the Blues, Texas Tea Party, A Hundred Years from Today(all 1933), Stars Fell on Alabama(1934), I Hope Gabriel Likes My Music (1936), and Nobody Knows the Trouble Ive Seen may be considered his best vocal offerings. Among his most famous recordings areThe Sheik of Araby, Stars Fell on AlabamaandBasin Street Blues. With their eyes, their movements, their notes, each inspires the other to sound new depths, to scale new heights. He did some playing and recording with other groups at this time, most notably with his brother Charlie and saxophonist Frankie Trumbauer as the Three Ts. Jack Teagarden began playing piano at age five, took up baritone at age seven or eight, and had settled on trombone by age ten. An insurance agent and former Doberman breeder for 30 years, Atwell now trains abused dogs. He passed away from a coronary attack four weeks later and it has yet to become replaced. 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. It comes through in his playing and his singing and the way he lives. Eddie said, Why dont you record my song? And thats what Teagarden did. His mother gave him early piano lessons, and his father, a bit of a musician himself, presented Jack with a trombone on his seventh Christmas. Occasionally the digitization process introduces transcription errors or other problems; we are continuing to work to improve these archived versions. In past due 1933, when it appeared as though jazz could not capture on commercially, he authorized a five-year agreement with Paul Whiteman. Looks like we don't have interesting facts information. 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.. Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. His brothers, Trumpeter Charlie and drummer Clois, have played on stand with him, off and on during the decades Jack has been blowing jazz. His mother was a piano teacher, and Teagarden began playing piano by the age of 5, the baritone horn by 7, and the trombone by 10. He joined the Peck Kelly band in 1921, when he was sixteen years old, and hasnt been off the scene since. 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. Performer: Jack Teagarden and his Orchestra; Jack Teargarden Writer: Kennedy; Carr Vocal Chorus. His voice, with an engaging Southern drawl, ranged somewhere between the rasp of Louis Armstrong and the smooth sound of Bing Crosby, with whom he was professionally associated from time to time. It is for that kind of lyric and melodic beauty that we should listen to Jack Teagarden, because such are the standards he has set for himself. something many trombonists emulated. His voice is midway between a heavy drawl and an outright yawn. 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. NEW ORLEANS, Jan. 15 (AP) Jack Teagarden, the jazz trombonist and singer, died today in a New Orleans motel. Many critics believe that Teagardens best years were over when he left Armstrong in 1951 to form his own group. The two musical geniuses, whose mutual admiration knew no bounds, play those horns united in soul and sound. All four Teagarden children became prominent musicians. He was also a great jazz singer, charming and warm, with influences from the African American blues singers he listened to while growing up in Texas. Mr. Teagarden was generally regarded as one of the masters of the jazz trombone. One such occasion was recounted by Jimmy McPartland in Hear Me Talkin to Ya, a book telling the story of jazz in the words of the musicians who live it. That alone is well worth a chest full of medals. Teagarden also had a remarkable voice. With abuse heaped upon him, Teagarden became the first white musician to travel on the road with an all-black band. But the Whiteman group was not particularly musically inspired. His siblings also became professional musicians: his younger sister Norma played piano, his younger brother Charlie, trumpet, and his brother Clois (Cub), drums. To preserve these articles as they originally appeared, The Times does not alter, edit or update them. Both were deeply affected by a knowledge of and ease with the blues that was available to few white players of the time. My cymbalom player was truly a fine artist but he did not protest his ignoble reduction to book binding. Digitized at 78 revolutions per minute. Size 10.0 Source 78 User_cleaned Bai Konte Johnson User_metadataentered Innodata User 02 User_transferred Jordan Gold Weldon Leo "Jack" Teagarden (August 20, 1905 January 15, 1964)[1] was an American jazz trombonist and singer. In addition, he has won legions of musicians as fans, not only because of his playing but also because of his untiring battle against the percent tax, which has kept him from singing at many club engagements in the last decade. 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. Jack Teagarden. Teagarden's early career was as a sideman with the likes of Paul Whiteman and lifelong friend Louis Armstrong. Trombonist Jack Teagarden, right, records with Louis Armstrong, left, in 1948. Teagarden was not a successful band leader, which may explain why he is not as widely known as some other jazz trombonists, but his unusual singing style . 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