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.
Honeysuckle Rose
Jack Teagarden Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
When they see you out with me
I don't blame them, goodness knows
My honeysuckle rose
Flowers droop and sigh when you're passing by
And I know the reason why
You're much sweeter, goodness knows
I don't buy sugar
You just have to touch my cup
You're my sugar
It's so sweet when you stir it up
On the avenue, people look at you
And I know just why they do
You're much sweeter, goodness knows
You're my honeysuckle rose
Every honey bee fills with jealousy
When they see you out with me
You're much sweeter, goodness knows
You're my honeysuckle rose
Oh, flowers droop and sigh when you're passing by
And I know the reason why
You're much sweeter, goodness knows
You're my honeysuckle rose
And I don't buy sugar
You just have to touch my cup
You're my sugar
It's so sweet when you stir it up
On the avenue, people look at you
And I know just why they do
You're much sweeter, goodness knows
You're my honeysuckle rose
You're much sweeter, goodness knows
My honeysuckle rose
The lyrics of Jack Teagarden's "Honeysuckle Rose" are full of sweet analogies and comparisons between the object of the singer's affection and a honeysuckle rose. The song paints the picture of the singer out with their beloved and the jealousy that they incite in all those who see them together. The opening lines of the song portray how even the honeybees become envious when they see the singer out with their beloved. The lyrics then move on to how the flowers droop and sigh whenever the beloved is passing by as if they too are admiring the singer's beloved.
The singer then goes on to explain how his beloved is much sweeter than any flower or sugar. He sings about how he never has to buy sugar because just a touch from his beloved fills his cup with sweetness. The chorus then repeats the imagery of honeybees being jealous and flowers drooping and sighing, emphasizing the singer's beloved's irresistible charms. The song concludes with the singer proudly proclaiming his beloved as his "Honeysuckle Rose".
Overall, the lyrics of "Honeysuckle Rose" effectively convey the beauty and sweetness of the singer's beloved. The use of flower-related metaphors and similes paints a picture of a love that is blooming and irresistible.
Line by Line Meaning
Every honey bee fills with jealousy
The bees are envious of the singer's company when he's with his beloved
When they see you out with me
Their envy stems from the fact that the singer's partner is so attractive and desirable
I don't blame them, goodness knows
The singer understands why the bees feel the way they do, as he too is captivated by his partner's charm
My honeysuckle rose
The object of the singer's affection is as sweet and fragrant as a honeysuckle rose
Flowers droop and sigh when you're passing by
The flowers seem to be sad because they cannot compete with the singer's partner's beauty
And I know the reason why
The singer is aware of the source of the flowers' sadness
You're much sweeter, goodness knows
The singer's partner is incredibly sweet and desirable, as everyone who sees them together can attest
You're my honeysuckle rose
The singer's partner is the equivalent of a sweet, fragrant honeysuckle rose in his eyes
I don't buy sugar
The singer doesn't need to buy sugar to sweeten his drink
You just have to touch my cup
The mere presence of the singer's partner is enough to sweeten his day
You're my sugar
His partner is as essential to his happiness as sugar is to his drink
It's so sweet when you stir it up
When the singer's partner is with him, everything becomes sweeter and more enjoyable
On the avenue, people look at you
The public cannot help but gaze upon the singer's partner when they walk together on the street
And I know just why they do
The singer is well aware of the reason why people stare at his partner
You're much sweeter, goodness knows
As sweet as anyone may be, the singer's partner is even sweeter
You're my honeysuckle rose
To the singer, his partner is the most desirable and charming person in the world
Oh, flowers droop and sigh when you're passing by
The flowers seem to wilt and lose their vitality when the singer's partner walks by
And I know the reason why
The singer knows that the flowers are sad because they cannot match his partner's beauty
You're much sweeter, goodness knows
The singer's partner is the sweetest and most desirable person he has ever met
You're my honeysuckle rose
The singer's partner is the equivalent of the sweet fragrance of a honeysuckle rose
And I don't buy sugar
The singer doesn't need to purchase sugar to enjoy a sweet drink
You just have to touch my cup
A mere touch from the singer's partner is enough to make everything sweeter and more enjoyable
You're my sugar
To the singer, his partner is the embodiment of sweetness and joy
It's so sweet when you stir it up
The singer finds that everything becomes sweeter and more enjoyable when his partner is around
On the avenue, people look at you
Strangers cannot help but look upon the singer's partner when they are out together in public
And I know just why they do
The singer is well aware of the reason why people cannot help but stare at his partner
You're much sweeter, goodness knows
For the singer, his partner is even sweeter and more desirable than anyone else
You're my honeysuckle rose
The singer's partner is the most sweet, fragrant, and delightful person in his life
You're much sweeter, goodness knows
No matter how sweet or desirable anyone else may be, the singer's partner is sweeter
My honeysuckle rose
To the singer, his partner is as sweet and fragrant as a honeysuckle rose
Lyrics © BMG Rights Management, Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC, Peermusic Publishing, Warner Chappell Music, Inc.
Written by: Andy Razaf, Thomas Waller
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind