Japanese Encyclopedia of Early Jazz — Google translation 2022
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Japanese Encyclopedia of Early Jazz
Jimmy Harrison — Trombonist
It is the testimony of Rex Stewart that Duke Ellington and Elmer Snowden fought a fierce battle over a trombone player, but it is certainly Jimmy Harrison, who had that much ability. The trombone players who influenced him include, Jack Teagarden, Dicky Wells, and Tommy Dorsey. In addition, J.C. It is also Rex Stewart's remark that Higginbotham, Sandy Williams, Vic Dickenson and others can feel the influence of Jimmy Harrison. He was a great trombone player called the father of swing trombone.
Born in Louisville, Kentucky, Jimmy Harrison moved to Detroit when he was six years old and grew up there. He learned the trombone on his own, and by the age of fifteen, he started playing in a small band. However, Jimmy Harrison became tired of the music, so he quickly gets out of the band and spent his high school days playing baseball. He was a well known first baseman, and when he joined the traveling local semi-professional team, he never returned to high school.
Jimmy's family moved to Toledo, Ohio, but after quitting high school, Jimmy worked at a restaurant run by his father and started becoming known as a chef. In fact, even after he established himself as a musician, he was proud of his cooking skills. However, his career as a cook was short-lived. . . . After that, he joined a traveling minstrel show and lived by singing songs and playing the trombone. This is said to have happened around 1919.
His footprints after this local tour seem to have led his forming his own trio and playing with Hunk Duncan in Detroit, according to testimony. Then, in the city of Toledo, he met June Clark and James P. Johnson and hit it off. He worked with them from 1921 to 1923 and went on tour. In 1923, he joined the Fess Williams band and came to New York. After that, he also played at clubs with his best friend June Clark, but it is said that Bill Basie (later nicknamed Count) was in charge of the piano there. He also had a chance to play with Duke Ellington, and eventually joining many other bands, including Elmer Snowden's orchestra.
From 1927 to 1931, he played in the Fletcher Henderson orchestra. Once he was fired because he couldn't read the sheet music, but when he realized that he had made a terrible mistake, Fletcher Henderson rehired him in a panic. He gained popularity as a soloist, and he seems to have been a good friend of his colleague, Coleman Hawkins, who respected each other. In 1930, Harrison was hospitalized for stomach cancer, but he continued playing music. By the way, he also played with the Chick Webb Orchestra in 1931.
It has been said that he was on good terms with Jack Teagarden and had several jam sessions, but the co-starring between the two was limited to informal places such as late-night clubs and rent parties. The racial wall prevented two people from playing in an official place (for example, recording). However, it has been revealed by the testimony of the musicians at that time that there was a co-starring of these two great trombone players. Sometimes Coleman Hawkins also joined these two and enjoyed the performance. There is also a story that Jack Teagarden joined the Fletcher Henderson Orchestra, and even in a time when black discrimination was still strong, Jimmy Harrison and Jack Teagarden respected and continued to interact with each other.
Jimmy Harrison died in 1931. He was 30 years old. The cause of death was gastric cancer from the previous year. Since he died young, he has been surprisingly underestimated, but it can be said that he determined the direction of the next ten years of trombone methods. He was the father of swing trombone.
Tommy Ladnier — Trombonist
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