TEXAS MUSIC IS LOVED JACK TEAGARDEN JUNE, 2014 Weldon Leo Jack Teagarden (August 20, 1905 – January 15, 1964), known as Big T and The Swingin Gate, was a jazz trombonist, bandleader, composer, and vocalist, regarded as the Father of Jazz Trombone. He was born in Vernon, Texas, his brothers Charlie and Clois Cub and his sister Norma also became noted professional musicians. Teagardens father was an amateur brass band trumpeter and started young Jack on baritone horn; by age 7 he had switched to trombone. His first public performances were in movie theaters, where he accompanied his mother, a pianist. His 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. 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. In 1969, Jack Teagarden was inducted into the Down Beat Jazz Hall of Fame. He was inducted into the Big Band and Jazz Hall of Fame in 1985. Other honors have included induction in the ASCAP Jazz Wall of Fame in 2005 and inclusion in the Houston Institute for Cultures Texas Music Hall of Fame. He died in New Orleans, alone, of a heart attack complicated by bronchial pneumonia in his room at the Prince Conti Hotel in the French Quarter on January 15, 1964. He was only 58.
Posted on: Fri, 27 Jun 2014 00:14:15 +0000
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