Jack Teagarden
Weldon Leo "Jack" Teagarden (August 20, 1905 – January 15, 1964), known as … Read Full Bio ↴Weldon Leo "Jack" Teagarden (August 20, 1905 – January 15, 1964), known as "Big T" and "The Swingin' Gate", was a jazz trombonist, bandleader, composer, and vocalist, regarded as the "Father of Jazz Trombone".
Born in Vernon, Texas, his brothers Charlie and Clois "Cub" and his sister Norma also became noted professional musicians. Teagarden's father was an amateur brass band trumpeter and started young Jack on baritone horn; by age seven he had switched to trombone. He first heard jazz music played by the Louisiana Five and decided to play in the new style.
Teagarden's trombone style was largely self-taught, and he developed many unusual alternative positions and novel special effects on the instrument. He is usually considered the most innovative jazz trombone stylist of the pre-bebop era, and did much to expand the role of the instrument beyond the old tailgate style role of the early New Orleans brass bands. Chief among his contributions to the language of jazz trombonists was his ability to interject the blues or merely a "blue feeling" into virtually any piece of music.
By 1920 Teagarden was playing professionally in San Antonio, including with the band of pianist Peck Kelley. In the mid 1920s he started traveling widely around the United States in a quick succession of different bands. In 1927, he went to New York City where he worked with several bands. By 1928 he played for the Ben Pollack band.
Within a year of the commencement of his recording career, he became a regular vocalist, first doing blues material ("Beale Street Blues", for example), and later doing popular songs. He is often mentioned as one of the best white male jazz vocalists of the era; his singing style is quite like his trombone playing, in terms of improvisation (in the same way that Louis Armstrong sang quite like he played trumpet). His singing is best remembered for duets with Louis Armstrong and Johnny Mercer.
In the late 1920s he recorded with such notable bandleaders and sidemen as Louis Armstrong, Benny Goodman, Bix Beiderbecke, Red Nichols, Jimmy McPartland, Mezz Mezzrow, Glenn Miller, and Eddie Condon. Glenn Miller and Teagarden collaborated to provide lyrics and a verse to Spencer Williams' Basin Street Blues, which in that amended form became one of the numbers that Teagarden played until the end of his days.
In the early 1930s Teagarden was based in Chicago, for some time playing with the band of Wingy Manone. He played at the Century of Progress exposition in Chicago. Teagarden sought financial security during the Great Depression and signed an exclusive contract to play for the Paul Whiteman Orchestra from 1933 through 1938. The contract with Whiteman's band provided him with financial security but prevented him from playing an active part in the musical advances of the mid-thirties swing era.
Teagarden then started leading his own big band. Glenn Miller wrote the song "I Swung the Election" for him and his band in 1939.[2] In spite of Teagarden's best efforts, the band was not a commercial success, and he was brought to the brink of bankruptcy.
In 1946 Teagarden joined Louis Armstrong's All Stars. Armstrong and Teagarden's work together shows a wonderful rapport, in particular their duet on "Rockin' Chair". In late 1951 Teagarden left to again lead his own band, then co-led a band with Earl Hines, then again with a group under his own name with whom he toured Japan in 1958 and 1959.
Teagarden appeared in the movies Birth of the Blues (1941), The Strip (1951), The Glass Wall (1953), and Jazz on a Summer's Day (1960), the latter a documentary film of the 1958 Newport Jazz Festival. He was an admired recording artist, featured on RCA Victor, Columbia, Decca, Capitol, and MGM Records discs. As a jazz artist he won the 1944 Esquire magazine Gold Award, was highly rated in the Metronome polls of 1937-42 and 1945, and was selected for the Playboy magazine All Star Band, 1957-60.
Teagarden was the featured performer at the Newport Jazz Festival of 1957. Saturday Review wrote in 1964 that he "walked with artistic dignity all his life," and the same year Newsweek praised his "mature approach to trombone jazz."
Richard M. Sudhalter writes (in 'Lost Chords: White Musicians and Their Contribution to Jazz', Oxford University Press, 1999): "The late trumpet player Don Goldie, who spent four years in Teagarden's band and had known him since childhood said that he 'always got a feeling that a lot of happiness was locked away inside Jack, really padlocked, and never came out..."
"Jack Teagarden died, alone, of a heart attack complicated by bronchial pneumonia in his room at the Prince Conti Hotel in the French Quarter of New Orleans on January 15, 1964. He was only 58. "I sometimes think people like Jack were just go-betweens," Bobby Hackett told a friend. "The Good Lord said, 'Now you go and show 'em what it is', and he did. I think everybody familiar with Jack Teagarden knows that he was something that happens just once. It won't happen again. Not that way..."
"...Connie Jones, the New Orleans cornetist working with Jack Teagarden at the time of the trombonist's death, was a pallbearer for the wake, held at a funeral parlor on leafy St. Charles Avenue: 'I remember seeing him there in a coffin, a travelling coffin. They were going to fly him to Los Angeles for burial right after that. The coffin was open and I remember thinking 'Boy he really looks uncomfortable in there'.
"'Not that he was that tall. Maybe five foot ten or so, at most. But he was kinda wide across the shoulders - and most of all he just gave you the impression he was a big man, in every way. In that coffin, - well, I can't really explain it, but he seemed to be scrunched up into a space that was too small to contain him'".
He was buried at Forest Lawn Memorial Park, Hollywood Hills in Los Angeles, California.
The coda of Teagarden's recording career is the album Think Well of Me, recorded in January 1962 and made up of his singing and trombone playing, accompanied by strings, on compositions by his old musical associate Willard Robison: available on Verve CD 314 557 101-2.
[edit]Compositions
Jack Teagarden's compositions included "I've Got 'It'" with David Rose, "Shake Your Hips", "Big T Jump", "Swingin' on the Teagarden Gate", "Blues After Hours", "A Jam Session at Victor", "It's So Good", "Pickin' For Patsy" with Allan Reuss, "Texas Tea Party" with Benny Goodman, "I'm Gonna Stomp Mr. Henry Lee" with Eddie Condon, "Big T Blues", "Dirty Dog", "Makin' Friends" with Jimmy McPartland, "That's a Serious Thing", and "Jack-Armstrong Blues" with Louis Armstrong, recorded on December 7, 1944 with the V-Disc All-Stars and released as V-Disc 384A.
Born in Vernon, Texas, his brothers Charlie and Clois "Cub" and his sister Norma also became noted professional musicians. Teagarden's father was an amateur brass band trumpeter and started young Jack on baritone horn; by age seven he had switched to trombone. He first heard jazz music played by the Louisiana Five and decided to play in the new style.
Teagarden's trombone style was largely self-taught, and he developed many unusual alternative positions and novel special effects on the instrument. He is usually considered the most innovative jazz trombone stylist of the pre-bebop era, and did much to expand the role of the instrument beyond the old tailgate style role of the early New Orleans brass bands. Chief among his contributions to the language of jazz trombonists was his ability to interject the blues or merely a "blue feeling" into virtually any piece of music.
By 1920 Teagarden was playing professionally in San Antonio, including with the band of pianist Peck Kelley. In the mid 1920s he started traveling widely around the United States in a quick succession of different bands. In 1927, he went to New York City where he worked with several bands. By 1928 he played for the Ben Pollack band.
Within a year of the commencement of his recording career, he became a regular vocalist, first doing blues material ("Beale Street Blues", for example), and later doing popular songs. He is often mentioned as one of the best white male jazz vocalists of the era; his singing style is quite like his trombone playing, in terms of improvisation (in the same way that Louis Armstrong sang quite like he played trumpet). His singing is best remembered for duets with Louis Armstrong and Johnny Mercer.
In the late 1920s he recorded with such notable bandleaders and sidemen as Louis Armstrong, Benny Goodman, Bix Beiderbecke, Red Nichols, Jimmy McPartland, Mezz Mezzrow, Glenn Miller, and Eddie Condon. Glenn Miller and Teagarden collaborated to provide lyrics and a verse to Spencer Williams' Basin Street Blues, which in that amended form became one of the numbers that Teagarden played until the end of his days.
In the early 1930s Teagarden was based in Chicago, for some time playing with the band of Wingy Manone. He played at the Century of Progress exposition in Chicago. Teagarden sought financial security during the Great Depression and signed an exclusive contract to play for the Paul Whiteman Orchestra from 1933 through 1938. The contract with Whiteman's band provided him with financial security but prevented him from playing an active part in the musical advances of the mid-thirties swing era.
Teagarden then started leading his own big band. Glenn Miller wrote the song "I Swung the Election" for him and his band in 1939.[2] In spite of Teagarden's best efforts, the band was not a commercial success, and he was brought to the brink of bankruptcy.
In 1946 Teagarden joined Louis Armstrong's All Stars. Armstrong and Teagarden's work together shows a wonderful rapport, in particular their duet on "Rockin' Chair". In late 1951 Teagarden left to again lead his own band, then co-led a band with Earl Hines, then again with a group under his own name with whom he toured Japan in 1958 and 1959.
Teagarden appeared in the movies Birth of the Blues (1941), The Strip (1951), The Glass Wall (1953), and Jazz on a Summer's Day (1960), the latter a documentary film of the 1958 Newport Jazz Festival. He was an admired recording artist, featured on RCA Victor, Columbia, Decca, Capitol, and MGM Records discs. As a jazz artist he won the 1944 Esquire magazine Gold Award, was highly rated in the Metronome polls of 1937-42 and 1945, and was selected for the Playboy magazine All Star Band, 1957-60.
Teagarden was the featured performer at the Newport Jazz Festival of 1957. Saturday Review wrote in 1964 that he "walked with artistic dignity all his life," and the same year Newsweek praised his "mature approach to trombone jazz."
Richard M. Sudhalter writes (in 'Lost Chords: White Musicians and Their Contribution to Jazz', Oxford University Press, 1999): "The late trumpet player Don Goldie, who spent four years in Teagarden's band and had known him since childhood said that he 'always got a feeling that a lot of happiness was locked away inside Jack, really padlocked, and never came out..."
"Jack Teagarden died, alone, of a heart attack complicated by bronchial pneumonia in his room at the Prince Conti Hotel in the French Quarter of New Orleans on January 15, 1964. He was only 58. "I sometimes think people like Jack were just go-betweens," Bobby Hackett told a friend. "The Good Lord said, 'Now you go and show 'em what it is', and he did. I think everybody familiar with Jack Teagarden knows that he was something that happens just once. It won't happen again. Not that way..."
"...Connie Jones, the New Orleans cornetist working with Jack Teagarden at the time of the trombonist's death, was a pallbearer for the wake, held at a funeral parlor on leafy St. Charles Avenue: 'I remember seeing him there in a coffin, a travelling coffin. They were going to fly him to Los Angeles for burial right after that. The coffin was open and I remember thinking 'Boy he really looks uncomfortable in there'.
"'Not that he was that tall. Maybe five foot ten or so, at most. But he was kinda wide across the shoulders - and most of all he just gave you the impression he was a big man, in every way. In that coffin, - well, I can't really explain it, but he seemed to be scrunched up into a space that was too small to contain him'".
He was buried at Forest Lawn Memorial Park, Hollywood Hills in Los Angeles, California.
The coda of Teagarden's recording career is the album Think Well of Me, recorded in January 1962 and made up of his singing and trombone playing, accompanied by strings, on compositions by his old musical associate Willard Robison: available on Verve CD 314 557 101-2.
[edit]Compositions
Jack Teagarden's compositions included "I've Got 'It'" with David Rose, "Shake Your Hips", "Big T Jump", "Swingin' on the Teagarden Gate", "Blues After Hours", "A Jam Session at Victor", "It's So Good", "Pickin' For Patsy" with Allan Reuss, "Texas Tea Party" with Benny Goodman, "I'm Gonna Stomp Mr. Henry Lee" with Eddie Condon, "Big T Blues", "Dirty Dog", "Makin' Friends" with Jimmy McPartland, "That's a Serious Thing", and "Jack-Armstrong Blues" with Louis Armstrong, recorded on December 7, 1944 with the V-Disc All-Stars and released as V-Disc 384A.
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Jack Teagarden Lyrics
A Hundred Years Ago from Today Life is such a great adventure Learn to live it as…
After You Gone Now won't you listen honey, while I say, How could…
Ain't Misbehavin' No one to talk with All by myself No one to walk…
As Long As I Live Maybe I can't live to love you as long as…
Autumn Leaves The falling leaves drift by the window The autumn leaves of…
Basin St. Blues I hate to see that evening sun go down, I…
Basin Street Blues Now won't you come along with me To the Mississippi? We'll…
Basin' Street Blues Won't you come along with me To the Mississippi We'll take a…
Birth of the Blues Oh! they say some people long ago Were searching for a…
Black & Blue Cold empty bed, springs hard as lead Pains in my head,…
Black and Blue Cold empty bed, springs hard as lead Pains in my head,…
Body and Soul My heart is sad and lonely For you I sigh, for…
Bugle Call Rag You're bound to fall for the bugle call; You're gonna brag…
Casanova's Lament Go go let's go sea story! Natsu no nioi mabushii taiyou…
Christamas Night in Harlem (Spoken) (Jack) Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Glory Halle... (John…
Cottage For Sale Our little dream castle with every dream gone, Is lonely and…
Diane I'm in heaven when I see you smile; Smile for me,…
Diga Diga Doo Zulu man is feelin' blue Gear his heart beat a little…
Dinah Carolina Gave me Dinah; I'm the proudest one Beneath the…
Dirty Dog Keep a line for you Keep a line for you Get it…
Do You Know What it Means to Miss New Orleans Do you know what is means to miss New Orleans I…
Don't Smoke In Bed I left a note on his dresser And my old wedding…
Down in the Dumps Way down yonder in New Orleans In the land of the…
East Of The Sun East of the sun and west of the moon We'll build…
Emaline Don't you hear my heart whisper thru your window, Emaline? I…
Embraceable You Embrace me, my sweet embraceable you! Embrace me, you irrep…
Farewell Blues Sadness just makes me sigh, I've come to say goodbye, Altho'…
Hobson Street Blues Won't you come along with me To the Mississippi We'll take a…
Honeysuckle Rose Every honey bee fills with jealousy When they see you out…
I I'm sorry, dear, so sorry, dear I'm sorry I made you…
I Gotta Right to Sing the Blues I gotta right to sing the blues I gotta right to…
I'm Sorry i Made You Cry I'm sorry, dear, so sorry, dear I'm sorry I made you…
I've Found A New Baby What a friend we have in JESUSHebrews 12: 1 (NKJV)…
If I Could Be With You Finally found a fella Almost completely divine But his voc…
In My Solitude In my solitude You haunt me With dreadful ease Of days gone …
Jazz Me Blues I got a heart that's broken hearted, how do I…
Jeepers Creepers I don't care what the weatherman says When the weatherman sa…
Keepin' Out of Mischief Now Don't even go to a movie show If you're not by…
Lookin' Good But Feelin' Bad How'd'ya like a mansion in Manhattan And a cosy cottage by…
Love for Sale Our little dream castle with every dream gone, Is lonely and…
Love Me Love me or leave me and let me be lonely You…
Lover Wait till you see him See how he looks Wait till you…
Meet Me Where They Play the Blues I got a heart that's broken hearted, how do I…
Moonglow It must have been moonglow, way up in the blue It…
My Kinda Love Away From The Sun" It′s down to this I've got to make…
My Malancholy Baby Come to me my melancholy baby Cuddle up and don't be…
Nobody's Sweetheart Now You're nobody, nobody's sweetheart now, There's no place fo…
Ol' Man River Ol' man river That ol' man river He don't say nothing But…
Old Folks Everyone knows him as Old Folks Like the seasons, he'll com…
On The Atchison Topeka And The Santa Fe Do ya hear that whistle down the line? I figure that…
One Hundred Years From Today Life is such a great adventure Learn to live it as…
Peg O' Heart Peg o'my heart I love you, don't let us part I love…
Pennies From Heaven Every time it rains, it rains pennies from heaven Don't you…
Riffin' The Scotch I jumped out of the fryin' pan And right into the…
Riverboat Shuffle All you cotton toters, Mississippi floaters, Gather all ab…
Rockin' Chair Old rockin' chair's got me, my cane by my side Fetch…
Royal Garden Blues No use of talkin' no use of talkin' You'll start in…
Saint James Infirmary It was down by old Joe's barroom, on the corner…
Sheik Of Araby "I'm the Sheik of Araby, Your love belongs to me. At…
Solitude In my solitude You haunt me With dreadful ease Of days go…
Somebody Love Me Love me or leave me and let me be lonely You…
Someone to Watch Over Me There's a saying old says that love is blind Still were…
Sometimes I Feel Like a Motherless Child Sometimes I feel like a motherless child Sometimes I feel li…
St James Infirmary It was down by old Joe's barroom, on the corner…
St Louis Blues I hate to see that evening sun go down, I…
St. James Infirmary It was down by old Joe's barroom, on the corner…
St. Loius Blues I hate to see that evening sun go down, I…
Stardust And now the purple dusk of twilight time Steals across the…
Stars Fall On Alabama Moonlight and magnolia, starlight in your hair All the world…
Stompin Savoy, the home of sweet romance Savoy, it wins you with…
Struttin' With Some Barbecue I hate to see de ev'nin' sun go down Hate to…
That's What I Like About You I ain't never met a girl like you And you'll never…
The Birth Of The Blues Oh! they say some people long ago Were searching for a…
The Blues I hate to see that evening sun go down, I…
The Christmas Song Chestnuts roasting on an open fire Jack Frost nipping at yo…
The Old Music Master One night long ago by the light of the moon, An…
The Sheik of Araby "I'm the Sheik of Araby, Your love belongs to me. At…
Tiger Rag Where's that tiger! Where's that tiger! Where's that tiger! …
Too Marvelous for Words You're just too marvelous, too marvelous for words Like glor…
Up A Lazy River Yeah Uh-huh Sure Uh-huh Way down, way down Oh, up a l…
Way Down Yonder In New Orleans Way down yonder in New Orleans In the land of the…
When I saw a blind man, He was a kind man, Helping a…
When Your'e Smiling I saw a blind man, He was a kind man, Helping a…
You Rascal You Now won't you listen honey, while I say, How could…