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Cootie Williams

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Genres
  
Jazz, jump blues, R&B

Role
  
Jazz trumpeter

Name
  
Cootie Williams

Years active
  
1925–1975

Instruments
  
Trumpet


Cootie Williams Cootie Williams New York1948 Jazzinphoto

Birth name
  
Charles Melvin Williams

Born
  
July 10, 1911 Mobile, Alabama, United States (
1911-07-10
)

Associated acts
  
Duke Ellington, Rex Stewart

Died
  
September 15, 1985, New York City, New York, United States

Movies
  
Duke Ellington: Berlin Concert: 1969

Albums
  
Cootie Williams and His Orchestra 1941–1944

Music group
  
Duke Ellington & His Orchestra

Similar People
  
Duke Ellington, Harry Carney, Johnny Hodges, Lawrence Brown, Rex Stewart

Cootie williams just in time 1958


Charles Melvin "Cootie" Williams (July 10, 1911 – September 15, 1985) was an American jazz, jump blues, and rhythm and blues trumpeter.

Contents

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I can t get started cootie williams majestic


Biography

Cootie Williams Download free Rex Stewart with Jonah Jones Cootie

Born in Mobile, Alabama, Williams began his professional career at the age of fourteen with the Young Family band, which included saxophonist Lester Young. According to Williams he acquired his nickname as a boy when his father took him to a band concert. When it was over his father asked him what he'd heard and he replied, "Cootie, cootie, cootie."

Cootie Williams Cootie Williams from the Jimmy Ernst papers Image and

In 1928, he made his first recordings with pianist James P. Johnson in New York, where he also worked briefly in the bands of Chick Webb and Fletcher Henderson. He rose to prominence as a member of Duke Ellington's orchestra when the band was playing at the Cotton Club, with which he first performed from 1929 to 1940. He also recorded his own sessions during this time, both freelance and with other Ellington sidemen. Williams was renowned for his "jungle" style trumpet playing (in the manner of Ellington's earlier trumpeter Bubber Miley and trombonist Joe "Tricky Sam" Nanton) and for his use of the plunger mute. He also sang occasionally, a notable example being in the Ellington piece, "Echoes of the Jungle". For him, Duke Ellington wrote ''Concerto for Cootie,'' which when lyrics were added became ''Do Nothing Till You Hear From Me.'' He was also the soloist in other major Ellington compositions like ''Echoes of Harlem'' and the religious piece ''The Shepherd Who Watches Over the Night Flock,'' which was dedicated to the Rev. John Gensel.

In 1940 he joined Benny Goodman's orchestra, a highly publicized move that caused quite a stir at the time (commemorated by Raymond Scott with the song "When Cootie Left the Duke"), then in 1941 formed his own orchestra, in which over the years he employed Charlie Parker, Eddie "Lockjaw" Davis, Bud Powell, Eddie Vinson, and other young players.

In 1947, Williams wrote the song "Cowpox Boogie" while recuperating from a bout with smallpox. He contracted the disease from a vaccination he insisted all band members receive.

By the late 1940s Williams had fallen into obscurity, having had to reduce his band numbers and finally to disband. In the 1950s, he began to play more rhythm and blues, toured with small groups, and played in the Savoy Ballroom.

In the late 1950s he formed a small jazz group and recorded a number of albums with Rex Stewart, as well as his own album, Cootie in Hi-Fi (1958). In 1962, he rejoined Ellington and stayed with the orchestra until 1974, after Ellington's death. In 1975, he performed during the Super Bowl IX halftime show. He was a 1991 inductee of the Alabama Jazz Hall of Fame.

Death

Williams died in New York on September 15, 1985, at age 74. He is interred in Woodlawn Cemetery in The Bronx, New York City.

Discography

  • Cootie Williams and His Orchestra 1941–1944 (Classics, 1995)
  • Cootie Williams and His Orchestra 1945–1946 (Classics, 1999)
  • Cootie Williams and His Orchestra 1946–1949 (Classics, 2000)
  • Cootie and Rex (Jazztone, 1957) (with Rex Stewart)
  • The Big Challenge (Jazztone, 1957) (with Rex Stewart)
  • Porgy and Bess Revisited (Warner Bros., 1958) (with Rex Stewart)
  • Cootie in Hi-Fi (Jazztone, 1958)
  • As sideman

    With Duke Ellington

  • All Star Road Band Volume 2 (Doctor Jazz, 1964 [1985])
  • With Joya Sherrill
  • Joya Sherrill Sings Duke (20th Century Fox, 1965)
  • Cootie williams vintage jazz jungle style jump blues


    References

    Cootie Williams Wikipedia