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George James
Appearances
![Satch Plays Fats: The Music of Fats Waller [Bonus Tracks]](/cache/JS/e2/130x130_on-sale_e20801zh2ls.png)
Louis Armstrong and Fats Waller only worked together twice, briefly in 1925 in Erskine Tate's band and four years later in the New York [more]
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Of less importance than the concurrent release of The Best of Louis Armstrong: The Hot Five and Seven Recordings is Satch Blows the Blues, since it only distills the great [more]
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Draw up a list of some of the top jazz artists of all time, and the legend featured in this recording would likely be at the top of that list. Louis [more]
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This four-CD set does its best to summarize Louis Armstrong's career during 1923-1934, reissuing 81 of his finest recordings. The problem is that virtually [more]
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In conjunction with documentary filmmaker Ken Burns' ten-part 2000 PBS special, Columbia/Legacy and Verve teamed up to issue a special series of [more]
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In conjunction with documentary filmmaker Ken Burns' ten-part 2000 PBS special, Columbia/Legacy and Verve teamed up to issue a special series of reissues covering much of [more]
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"Armstrong jovially balanced his calling as a musician with his job as an entertainer, applying his virtuosity while showing audiences a good time." —New York Times
In conjunction with the release of Ken Burns' ten-part, 19-hour epic PBS documentary {#Jazz}, Columbia issued 22 single-disc compilations devoted to jazz's most significant [more]
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While Louis Armstrong didn't invent jazz, he certainly shaped it in his own image, personalizing it, popularizing it, and giving it a template to follow into the modern [more]
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During his 21-year recording career, Thomas "Fats" Waller waxed so many hundreds of songs that only a dedicated few have heard them all even once, let alone often [more]
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This British compilation traces Helen Ward's work as female vocalist with the orchestras of Benny Goodman, Gene Krupa, Teddy Wilson, Bob Crosby, Joe Sullivan, and Harry James [more]
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Biography
- Born Dec 7th 1906 in Boggs, OK
- Died Jan 30th 1995 in Columbus, OH
Hailing from what sounds like an Oklahoma town full of panhandlers, this artist spent more than half a century on the jazz scene, playing on more than 60 records by the time he retired in the early '80s. George James was just as likely to play under the orchestra on bass saxophone as he was to soar out over the top on soprano saxophone, clarinet, or flute. He also played all the reeds in between, seeming to be almost constantly employed in a series of bands that began in the late '20s with Charlie Creath's Number Two Band and Johnny Neal's Syncopaters and eventually included collaborations with stars such as Louis Armstrong and Fats Waller.
James really didn't stay that long out West, attending high school in St. Louis and moving to Chicago in 1928. In the Windy City he worked with a variety of bandleaders, such as Jimmie Noone, Sammy Stewart, Ida Marples, and Bert Hall. He also began leading his own group. In the early '30s he was closely associated with Noone for several years until he began touring with Louis Armstrong near the close of 1931. When one of the tours ended in New York, James stayed on there and tried his luck in groups such as the Savoy Bearcats and Charlie Turner's Arcadians. Fortune smiled on the latter musical situation: Fats Waller took over, turned it into his own orchestra, and kept James busy through 1937.
The reed maestro flew with the Blackbirds Revue until the close of the '30s, then was associated with such masters of syncopation as James P. Johnson, Benny Carter, Teddy Wilson, and Lucky Millinder. James revived his own group in 1943, grabbing the house band gig at a pair of popular nightclubs. He was back with Johnson in 1944 but continued activities as a bandleader in several different locales, including Pittsburgh and Detroit. By the mid-'40s James had become a part of an orchestra led by the fine pianist Claude Hopkins, followed by several years with a similar ensemble helmed by Noble Sissle. For the last decades of his career, James continued the combination of his own group and sideman affiliations. In the '70s he undertook some of his most extensive international touring as a member of Clyde Bernhardt's band. ~ Eugene Chadbourne, All Music Guide
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