Jimmy Rushing

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jazz singer; pianist

Personal Information

Born James Andrew Rushing on August 26, 1903, in Oklahoma City, OK; died June 8, 1972, in New York, NY.

Career

Jazz vocalist. Played in Southern California with Jelly Roll Morton, Harvey Brooks, and Paul Howard, 1920s; member of Walter Page Blue Devils band, 1927-29; joined Bennie Moten's orchestra, 1929-35; member of Count Basie Orchestra, 1935-50; toured with his own septet, 1950-52; as a solo act, 1952-72; Europe with Humphrey Littleton, Buck Clayton, Benny Goodman, 1961; Japan and Australia with Eddie Condon, 1964; appeared in film The Learning Tree, 1969; appeared at the Half Note in New York City playing with Al Cohn and Zoot Sims, early 1970s.

Life's Work

Jimmy Rushing, also known as "Mr. Five by Five," possessed a joyous, booming voice that could be clearly heard over the swinging jazz orchestras of the big band era and beyond. He began his career as a piano player in the 1920s, but soon found his voice. He made his name with the Count Basie Orchestra in the 1940s, and enjoyed an active career singing solo and with jazz and big-band greats such as Humphrey Lyttleton, Buck Clayton, Benny Goodman, Eddie Condon, Al Cohn, and Zoot Sims, among others. He toured the United States and abroad, and his voice can be heard on countless recordings, including the most recent compilations The Essential Jimmy Rushing (1978), Mister Five by Five (1980), and The Classic Count (1982).

James Andrew Rushing was born in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, on August 26, 1903. He came from a musical family; his father played trumpet, his mother and brother were singers, and his uncle played piano in a gambling house. Rushing played the violin as a child, but switched to piano when a cousin, Wesley Manning, began teaching him to play. He continued his music studies as a teen at Douglass High School in Oklahoma City. He was known in his younger days as "Little Jimmy," but earned the nickname "Mr. Five by Five" when he grew up--the name was descriptive of his short height and wide girth. The "official pianist" of Wilberforce University dances went on to earn his living as a pianist, and moved to California in the mid-1920s.

When asked about how he started singing after he had already begun his career as a pianist, Rushing recalled inJazz: The Essential Companion: "I could only play in three keys. After a time everything began to sound alike to me and it was then they told me to sing." Jazz: The Essential Companion went on to describe Rushing's voice as "surprisingly high, intense and with a dramatic, near-operatic vibrato." Richard S. Ginnell wrote on the All Music Guide website that Rushing possessed a "booming voice that radiated sheer joy in whatever material he sang," and added that he could "dominate even the loudest of big bands." It was this voice, not Rushing's piano chops, that could be heard throughout Southern California with the likes of Jelly Roll Morton, Harvey Brooks, and Paul Howard during the 1920s. He moved back home to Oklahoma City for a time in 1925 in order to help his family run their luncheonette business. The vocalist then toured with the Billy King Revue, of which Walter Page was a band member. When Page formed his own band, Rushing was hired to tour the Southwest with Page's Blue Devils from 1927 to 1929. He recorded the album Blue Devil Blues with the group in 1929 on the Vocalion record label.

Rushing joined up with Bennie Moten's big band in 1929, and remained with the group until Moten's death in 1935. He then worked for a time with Buster Moten, before becoming one of several Moten band members who joined Count Basie's orchestra in Kansas City. It was with Basie that Rushing, as featured vocalist, would enjoy his glory years. They played at the Reno Club in Kansas City until Basie took the band to New York. Rushing sang on Basie's famous 1936 recording of "Boogie Woogie," and the recording placed Rushing on the national music scene. Rushing also appeared on several Basie recordings from that era on the Decca, Columbia, and RCA record labels, and was featured in several films with Basie's band, including Funzapoppin in 1943. Rushing also recorded with Benny Goodman, Bob Crosby, and Johnny Otis during these years.

The 1950s brought the end of the big band era, and Rushing worked only occasionally with Basie during 1949-50, after Basie streamlined his orchestra in 1948. He formed his own septet, which included Buck Clayton and Dicky Wells, and toured and played a residency at the Savoy Ballroom in New York from 1950 to 1952. He worked as a solo act after June of 1952, and toured and played residencies in such places as New York, Newark, Kansas City, Cleveland, Oakland, California, and Canada. He toured the United Kingdom with Humphrey Lyttleton's band, and went to Europe in 1957 as a solo act, returning in 1958 to play the Brussels World Fair with Benny Goodman. He played in 1959 with Buck Clayton and made frequent appearances with Basie at high-profile jazz festivals during the 1950s and 1960s. He toured with Harry James and the Benny Goodman Sextet in 1961, and the following year enjoyed a residency at a club in Miami. He then toured Japan and Australia with Eddie Condon's group in 1964. Rushing's solo recordings included The Jazz Odyssey of James Rushing Esq. (1957), Little Jimmy Rushing and the Big Brass (1958), and Jimmy Rushing and the Smith Girls (1960), which were all recorded on Columbia by legendary jazz producer John Hammond.

The mid-1960s found Rushing back in the United States, appearing regularly at the Half Note jazz club in New York City. He also had a singing and acting role as the character "Chappie Logan" in director Gordon Parks's 1969 film The Learning Tree. Rushing could be found at the Half Note in the late 1960s and early 1970s, playing with Al Cohn and Zoot Sims. During his later years he favored such tunes as "Going to Chicago," "Every Day I Have the Blues," and "Exactly Like You." Leukemia sidelined Rushing in 1971, but he appeared at the Kansas City Jazz Festival and released his final album, The You and Me That Used to Be, in 1972. Despite the fact that his voice was sounding somewhat tired, Rushing was voted Best Male Singer and won Record of the Year for The You and Me That Used to Be in that year's Down Beat reader's poll. Rushing died of leukemia in New York City on June 8, 1972.

Awards

Voted Best Male Singer and Record of the Year for The You and Me That Used to Be, Down Beat music poll, 1972.

Works

Selected discography

• Jimmy Rushing Sings the Blues, Vanguard, 1955.
• Listen to the Blues, Vanguard, 1955.
• Cat Meets Chick, Columbia, 1956.
• The Jazz Odyssey of James Rushing Esq., Columbia, 1957.
• Little Jimmy Rushing and the Big Brass, Columbia, 1958.
• If This Ain't the Blues, Vanguard, 1958.
• Rushing Lullabies, Sony, 1960.
• Jimmy Rushing and the Smith Girls, Columbia, 1960.
• Five Feet of Soul, Colpix, 1963.
• Two Shades of Blue, Audio Lab, 1964.
• Every Day I Have the Blues, Impulse!, 1967.
• Gee, Baby, Ain't I Good to You, Master Jazz, 1967.
• Who Was It Sang That Song?, Master Jazz, 1967.
• Blues and Things, Master Jazz, 1967.
• Livin' the Blues, Bluesway, 1968.
• Sent for You Yesterday, Bluesway, 1968.
• The You and Me That Used to Be, Bluebird/RCA, 1971.
• Goin' to Chicago, Vanguard, 1971.

Further Reading

Books

• Carr, Ian, Digby Fairweather, and Brian Priestley, Jazz: The Essential Companion, Prentice Hall Press, 1987.
• Chilton, John, Who's Who of Jazz, Da Capo, 1985.
• Claghorn, Charles Eugene, Biographical Dictionary of Jazz, Prentice-Hall, 1982.
• Kernfeld, Barry, editor, New Grove Dictionary of Jazz, St. Martin's Press, 1994.
• Larkin, Colin, editor, Encyclopedia of Popular Music, Muze UK, Ltd., 1998.

• All Music Guide, http://www.allmusic.com (August 20, 2002).

— Brenna Sanchez

Jimmy Rushing

James Andrew Rushing (August 26, 1901^[1][2] – June 8, 1972), known as Jimmy Rushing, was an American blues shouter and swing jazz singer from Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, United States, best known as the featured vocalist of Count Basie's Orchestra from 1935 to 1948.^[3]

Rushing was known as "Mr. Five by Five" and was the subject of an eponymous 1942 popular song that was a hit for Harry James and others -- the lyrics describing Rushing's rotund build: "he's five feet tall and he's five feet wide".^[3] He joined Walter Page's Blue Devils in 1927, then joined Bennie Moten's band in 1929.^[3] He stayed with the successor Count Basie band when Moten died in 1935.^[3]

Rushing was a powerful singer who had a range from baritone to tenor. He could project his voice so that it soared over the horn and reed sections in a big-band setting. Basie claimed that Rushing "never had an equal" as a blues vocalist.^[4] George Frazier, author of Harvard Blues, called Rushing's distinctive voice "a magnificent gargle". His best known recordings are probably "Going to Chicago" with Basie, and "Harvard Blues", with a famous saxophone solo by Don Byas.

Contents 1 Life and career 2 Select discography 3 References 4 Further Reading 5 External links

Life and career

Rushing was born into a family with musical talent and accomplishments. His father, Andrew Rushing, was a trumpeter and his mother, Cora, and brother were singers. Rushing toured the Mid-West and California as an itinerant blues singer in 1923 and 1924 before moving to Los Angeles, California, where he sang with Jelly Roll Morton. Rushing sang with Billy King before moving on to Page's Blue Devils in 1927. He, along with other members of the Blue Devils, defected to the Bennie Moten band in 1929.

Moten died in 1935, and Rushing joined Count Basie for what would be a 13-year tenure. Due to his tutelage under his mentor Moten, Rushing was a proponent of the Kansas City jump blues tradition, best evinced by his performances of "Sent For You Yesterday" and "Boogie Woogie" for the Count Basie Orchestra. After leaving Basie, his recording career soared, as a solo artist and a singer with other bands.

When the Basie band broke up in 1950 he briefly retired, then formed his own group. He also made a guest appearance with Duke Ellington for the 1959 album Jazz Party.^[5] In 1960, he recorded an album with the Dave Brubeck Quartet, known for their cerebral cool jazz sound, but the album was nonetheless described by critic Scott Yanow as "a surprising success."^[6]

Rushing appeared in the 1957 television special Sound Of Jazz, singing one of his signature songs "I Left My Baby" backed by many of his former Basie band compatriots.

His 1970 album, The You And Me That Used To Be, was named Jazz Album of the Year by DownBeat Magazine in 1971.^[7]

After he became ill with leukemia in 1971, Rushing's performing career ended. He died on June 8, 1972, in New York, and was buried at the Maple Grove Cemetery, Kew Gardens, in Queens, New York.

Select discography

• 1955: Jimmy Rushing Sings the Blues
• 1955: Listen to the Blues
• 1956: Cat Meets Chick
• 1957: The Jazz Odyssey of James Rushing Esq.
• 1958: Little Jimmy Rushing and the Big Brass
• 1958: If This Ain't the Blues
• 1960: Brubeck and Rushing - The Dave Brubeck Quartet featuring Jimmy Rushing
• 1960: Rushing Lullabies (with Ray Bryant, Sir Charles Thompson, Buddy Tate, Skeeter Best, Gene Ramey and Jo Jones)
• 1960: Jimmy Rushing and the Smith Girls
• 1963: Five Feet of Soul (with Al Cohn, Snooky Young and Zoot Sims)
• 1964: Two Shades of Blue
• 1967: Every Day I Have the Blues (with Clark Terry, Dickie Wells, Buddy Tate)
• 1967: Gee, Baby, Ain't I Good to You
• 1967: Who Was It Sang That Song? (with Buck Clayton, Sir Charles Thompson)
• 1967: Blues and Things
• 1968: Livin' the Blues
• 1986: Sent for You Yesterday
• 1971: The You and Me That Used to Be
• 1971: Goin' to Chicago (with Lawrence Brown, Vic Dickenson, Walter Page, Freddie Green)

References

1. ^ "U.S. Social Security Act Application for Account Number: James Andrew Rushing". Jimmyrushing.com. Archived from the original on 2010-05-21. http://web.archive.org/web/20100521003632/http://www.jimmyrushing.com/interviewimages/jrssn600x300.jpg. Retrieved 2011-11-15. 
2. ^ Other sources (e.g. allmusic) give 1903 as birth year.
3. ^ ^{a b c d} Russell, Tony (1997). The Blues - From Robert Johnson to Robert Cray. Dubai: Carlton Books Limited. pp. 164. ISBN 1-85868-255-X. 
4. ^ Barlow, William (1989). "Looking Up At Down": The Emergence of Blues Culture, pp. 245-46. Philadelphia: Temple University Press. ISBN 0-87722-583-4.
5. ^ Dance, Stanley. (November 1998). Duke Ellington: Jazz Party. Jazz Times. Accessed September 8, 2007.
6. ^ see allmusic here
7. ^ DownBeat Magazine

Further Reading

• Ian Carr, Digby Fairweather und Brian Priestley: Rough Guide Jazz. 2nd edition, Stuttgart, Metzler 2004, ISBN 978-3-476-01892-2
• Richard Cook und Brian Morton: The Penguin Guide to Jazz Recordings. 8. edition, Penguin, London 2006, ISBN 0-14-102327-9
• Leonard Feather und Ira Gitler: The Biographical Encyclopedia of Jazz. Oxford/New York 1999, ISBN 978-0-19-532000-8
• Will Friedwald: Swinging Voices of America - Ein Kompendium großer Stimmen. Hannibal, St. Andrä-Wördern, 1992, ISBN 3-85445-075-3 (in German)

External links

• biography at answers.com

Persondata
Name	Rushing, Jimmy
Alternative names
Short description	American blues shouter and swing jazz singer
Date of birth	August 26, 1901
Place of birth	Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, United States
Date of death	June 8, 1972
Place of death	New York, United States

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