- John Kirby (musician)
John Kirby (
December 31 ,1908 –June 14 ,1952 ), was a jazzdouble-bassist who played thetrombone as well astuba .Background
Kirby was born in
Winchester, Virginia . In 1926 he moved toBaltimore, Maryland , a town he is still linked to by some. He played withChick Webb andFletcher Henderson (where during the early 1930s, he performed some amazingly complicated tuba work on a number of Henderson's recordings) before starting his own band in 1937. His John Kirby's Sextet "The Onyx Club Boys" (usually included himself on bass,Charlie Shavers on trumpet,Buster Bailey on clarinet,Russell Procope on alto saxophone,Billy Kyle on piano andO'Neill Spencer on drums) would become one of the more significant "small groups" in aBig band era and had the first recording ofShavers ' song "Undecided ". He tended toward a lighter classical influenced style of jazz, which has strong defenders and critics. He was very prolific and popular from 1938-1941. AfterWorld War II his career declined and he died inHollywood, California , just before a planned comeback. In 1993 he was inducted into theBig Band and Jazz Hall of Fame . Unlike other then-popular "novelty" jazz groups (likeRaymond Scott ), Kirby is not particularly well remembered today; his small group light jazz style is a great example how swing can also be quite elegant.External links
* [http://www.bbc.co.uk/cgi-perl/music/muze/index.pl?site=radio2&action=biography&artist_id=16551&rand= BBC radio 2]
* [http://www.allaboutjazz.com/reviews/r0202_096.htm All about Jazz (mostly negative)]
* [http://www.columbia.edu/~lnp3/mydocs/culture/kirby.htm Columbia University (more positive)]
*amg|id=11:wmfnzfghehok|label=John Kirby
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