Janice Brooks
From:
Pleasant Gap Pa
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Posted 6 Nov 2004 8:12 am |
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Joe Bushkin
(Filed: 06/11/2004)
Joe Bushkin, who died on Wednesday aged 87, was a jazz
pianist whose swinging, disciplined imagination made him at
home in small groups and big bands as well as in the
cocktail lounge, which led to some tut-tutting from serious
jazz aficiandos.
He was a sideman on many significant recordings of the late
1930s, which were led by such musicians as the brilliant
trumpet player Bunny Berigan, the guitarist Eddie Condon and
the clarinettist Artie Shaw.
But it was his work with the cornet player Muggsy Spanier,
whose 1939 recordings, known as "The Great Sixteen", are
considered some of the finest and earliest examples of
"Dixieland".
When Bushkin joined he began by copying his predecessor
George Zack's "barrelhouse", but he was quickly persuaded
that it was his own sophisticated style that was required.
His contribution, as soloist and accompanist, remains a
major element in the series' lasting popularity.
The son of a Russian Jewish barber, Joseph Bushkin was born
on November 7 1916 in New York's East Harlem. When a hoodlum
customer brought a copy of Louis Armstrong's West End Blues
into his father's shop, young Joe's future was decided. He
obtained his first engagement from Irving Goodman, brother
of the bandleader Benny, in 1932, then joined Frank LaMarr's
orchestra which played conventional dance music. Stints
followed with Joe Marsala and Bunny Berigan's big band
(until Berigan went bankrupt). He then joined Spanier's
Ragtimers for their short life before moving on to Tommy
Dorsey.
Dorsey had a warm appreciation for Bushkin's rich gift for
improvisation, which he himself lacked and, over two years,
Bushkin appeared on more than 100 of the orchestra's sides
and also co-wrote Oh! Look at Me Now, which became the first
success of Frank Sinatra. When the United States entered the
war, Bushkin joined the army. He directed the GI show,
Winged Victory that toured the Pacific and also wrote Hot
Time in the Town of Berlin, which became a hit for both
Sinatra and Bing Crosby. He then spent an uneasy six months
with Benny Goodman while also recording advertising jingles.
He appeared in the play, The Rat Race, with another old
Berigan sideman, Georgie Auld.
Bushkin was then house pianist at New York's Ember Club. In
1953, he came to Britain, where he became friends with the
drummer Jack Parnell. Sixteen years later he returned with a
Live Jazz Group, which was refused permission to perform
because of permit difficulties. But in the mid-1970s he
twice played with Bing Crosby.
By now Bushkin had been producing a series of best-selling,
long-playing "mood" records, which helped him to to buy a
50-acre farm at Santa Barbara, California, where he raised
thoroughbred horses and lived with his wife Francine, who
bore him four daughters. But he never completely retired. He
used to claim that he was still playing because people kept
coming up to him and saying: "Didn't you use to be Joe
Bushkin?"
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Janice "Busgal" Brooks
ICQ 44729047
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Bob Markison
From:
San Francisco, CA
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Posted 6 Nov 2004 4:55 pm
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| Janice - thanks for posting this. Joe was a dear friend, and we played a lot of music (me on clarinet) together in his last 10 years. He had played with Benny Goodman and Artie Shaw, and he gave me a lot of insights into the improvised line of life and music. He was highly opinionated, but could also be hilarious. He used to joke about how much trouble string players have making eighth notes swing. Joe was a giant and he could swing like crazy. - Bob |
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