- Luis Russell
Luis Russell (
6 August ,1902 -11 December ,1963 ) was ajazz pianist and bandleader .Luis Carl Russell was born on Careening Cay, near
Bocas del Toro ,Panama , in a family of Afro-Caribbean ancestry. His father was a music teacher, and young Luis learned to playviolin ,guitar ,trombone , andpiano . He began playing professionally accompanyingsilent film by 1917, then played at acasino in the city ofColón, Panama .In 1919 he won 3000
United States dollar s in alottery , and used it to move to theUnited States with his mother and sister, settling inNew Orleans, Louisiana .He began performing with New Orleans bands, and took lessons on New Orleans style jazz piano from Steve Lewis. He played with
Albert Nicholas 's band, then moved toChicago, Illinois in 1924.In Chicago he played with
Doc Cooke and King Oliver, in addition to occasional jobs under his own name and pick up bands inrecording studio s. With Oliver's band Russell moved toNew York City in May of 1927. In October of that year he left Oliver to start his own band.Russell's band became one of the top jazz groups in New York. It was borrowed for gigs and recording dates by such jazz notables as
Red Allen ,Jelly Roll Morton , andLouis Armstrong ; Armstrong wound up taking over the band as front man in 1929 although Russell remained the music director.The band returned to Russell's name while Armstrong played in
California andEurope in the early 1930s; Russell and Armstrong were reunited in 1935. They again split paths in 1943 when Russell formed a new band under his own name, which played at the Savoy and Apollo inManhattan as well as inAtlantic City, New Jersey .Between 1926 and 1934, Russell recorded only 38 sides (mostly using his own name), plus those issued under Henry "Red" Allen (1929) and a handful where
Louis Armstrong fronted his band. Of these, his 1929-1930OKeh sides are considered jazz milestones. A 6 song session for ARC in 1934 yielded 6 very precise modern recordings (3 featuredSonny Woods ' novelty vocals, 1 featured the great, although obscurePalmer Brothers ). The two instrumental sides, "Primitive" and "Hokus Pocus" are amazing examples of hot jazz precision.)In 1948 Russell retired from full time music and opened a notions shop, with irregular band gigs and teaching music on the side.
In 1959 he visited Panama where he gave a piano recital of classical music.
Luis Russell died of
cancer in New York City.External links
* [http://www.redhotjazz.com/russell.html Luis Russell at RedHotJazz.com]
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