Jack Teagarden - Blue River, 1933

Jack Teagarden & His Orchestra, voc. Jack Teagarden - Blue River (Joseph Meyer & Alfred Bryan), Brunswick (mx 14295-A) (6741) ca 1933

NOTE: In the years 1933 and 1941 Jack Teagarden had made two excellent recordings of the famous tune. Here is the earlier one, that in my opinion is an ultimate masterpiece. In YT can be found also the later version, recorded for Decca in 1941.

Jack TEAGAEDEN - born on August 20, 1905 in Vernon, Texas, was one of the classic giants of jazz: not only the top pre-bop trombonist but one of the best jazz singers too. His mother Helen was a ragtime pianist. Jack started on piano at age five, then switched to baritone horn, and finally took up trombone when he was ten. Teagarden worked in the Southwest in a variety of territory bands and then caused a sensation when he came to New York in 1928. His solos with Ben Pollack caused Glenn Miller to de-emphasize his own playing with the band, and during the late-'20s/early Depression era, "Mr. T." recorded frequently with many groups including units headed by Roger Wolfe Kahn, Eddie Condon, Red Nichols, and Louis Armstrong . His versions of "Basin Street Blues" and "Beale Street Blues" (songs that would remain in his repertoire for the remainder of his career) were definitive.

Teagarden, who was greatly admired by Tommy Dorsey, would have been a logical candidate for fame in the swing era but he made a strategic error. In late 1933, looking for a financial security during The Great Depression , he signed an exclusive contract to play for the Paul Whiteman Orchestra from 1933 through 1938. Although Whiteman's Orchestra did feature Teagarden now and then, the contract kept Teagarden from playing an active part in the musical advances of the mid-thirties and becoming a star. 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.

Category:

Music

Tags:

• Thirties
• America
• jazz
• New
• York
• City
• 1930
• trombone
• Jack
• Teagarden
• 78rpm
• Joseph
• Meyer
• song

[julitajuli]

Grzegorz, thank you for this Blues by Teagarden. I love not only the sound of his trombone but also his singing, which many do not really appreciated. Perhaps' Mis'ry and the Blues' could be also your inspiration.

[240252]

Thanks! I am simply nuts about his voice. it's a kind of singing, Huphrey Bogart illustrates with his "tired" and intelligent face. What a conjunction of misfortunate circumstances in 1930s did not allow Teagarden become a "Bob Dylan" type of a singing star, as he deserved it!

[ErnieHollerhagen]

Fortunately, Big T's carreer did not end up in the Whiteman band. After the war, he played very successfully with Armstrong's All Stars (the famous duets with Satch date from this period), and he had his own bands, often with his brother Charlie and sister Norma on cornet and piano. Young clarinet talent Kenny Davern was in his band for some time, as was Ed Hall, and a host of other famous swing and New Orleans players.

I still think he was the greatest jazz trombonist of all times.

[idasynco]

Your red rock canyon scenes remind me of Utah and the Green River! I love your wonderful photo selection to this most haunting lovely piece!!

[JVTeragarden]

@240252 In his case, it was the desire for a steady paycheck to put him in Paul Whiteman's group for an extended period, where you'll also hear another great voice, Johnny Mercer, and sometimes, both on the same recording, pure magic.

[peoplesrepub0fEmily]

sounds as though he's drunk a river!

[Iddyboy]

Awesome...I had never heard this song.

Jack singin' it, low and slow!

[roybo1930]

I`M AT A LOSS FOR WORDS!!! Except To Say What A FANTISTIC Record This Is, And Teagarden Is One Of The Best EVER!!! This Video Deserves 1000 Stars!

[CeaserXIX]

Thank you for your kind feedback.

[barbcard]

Thanks for the clarification. I did read about the lack of a word for blue, but maybe it's just an urban legend, Greek style. Or a reference to a very early version of the language.

[240252]

Dear B., read the continuation of the discussion on Greek "blue-blindness" , you evoked :-)

[240252]

Dear CaeserXIX, thank you for that information, which ocuured just when I was going to ring my friend,professor in ancient languages, to ask him about the facts. Yes, the Greek word "kyanos" explains everything. It was the matriks for the English "cyanean" or "cyanic" meaning blue, azure. Also in Polish a chemical process of "cyanisation" of steel surfaces means making them shine blue, or in medicine a "cyanosis" is a disease manifesting by the blue stains on the skin