Jay McShann

	Email		Print
	Bookmark		Link

Jay McShann

Jay McShann (January 12 1916 – December 7 2006) was an American

United States

The United States of America is a Federal government constitutional republic comprising U.S. state and a federal district. The country is situated mostly in central North America, where its Contiguous United States and Washington, D.C., the Capital districts and territories, lie between the Pacific Ocean and Atlantic Oceans, Borders of the U...
blues

Blues

Blues is a music genre based on the use of the blues chord progressions and the blue notes. Though several blues musical form s exist, the 12-bar blues chord progressions are the most frequently encountered....
and swing

Swing (genre)

Swing music, also known as swing jazz or simply swing, is a form of jazz music that developed in the early 1930s and had solidified as a distinctive style by 1935 in the United States....
pianist

Pianist

A pianist is a musician who plays the piano. A professional pianist can perform solo pieces, play with an musical ensemble or orchestra, or accompany one or more singers, solo instrumentalists, or other performers....
, bandleader

Bandleader

A bandleader is the leader of a band of musicians. The term is most commonly, though not exclusively, used with a group that plays popular music as a small combo or a big band, such as one which plays jazz, blues, rhythm and blues or rock and roll music....
, and singer.

Nicknamed "Hootie", McShann was born James Columbus McShann in Muskogee

Muskogee, Oklahoma

Muskogee is a city in Muskogee County, Oklahoma, Oklahoma, United States. It is the county seat of Muskogee County, Oklahoma. The population was 38,310 at the 2000 United States Census, making it the eleventh largest city in Oklahoma....
, Oklahoma

Oklahoma

Oklahoma is a U.S. state and a sovereignty located in the South Central United States and Southern United States of the United States of America ....
. Musically, his real education came from Earl Hines

Earl Hines

Earl Kenneth Hines, universally known as Earl "Fatha" Hines, was "one of a small number of pianists whose playing shaped the history of jazz"....
' late-night broadcasts from Chicago's Grand Terrace Ballroom. “When 'Fatha' [Hines] went off the air, I went to bed"'. He began working as a professional musician

Musician

A musician is a person who plays or writes music. Musicians can be classified by their roles in creating or performing music:* An instrumentalist plays a musical instrument....
in 1931, performing around Tulsa, Oklahoma

Tulsa, Oklahoma

Tulsa is the second-largest city in the state of Oklahoma and List of United States cities by population in the United States. With an estimated population of 384,037 in 2007, it is the principal municipality of the Tulsa Metropolitan Statistical Area, a region of 905,755 residents projected to reach one million between 2010 and 2012....
and neighboring Arkansas

Arkansas

Arkansas is a U.S. state located in the Southern United States of the United States. Arkansas shares a border with six states, with its eastern border largely defined by the Mississippi River....
.

Discussion

Ask a question about 'Jay McShann'

Start a new discussion about 'Jay McShann'

Answer questions from other users

Full Discussion Forum

Encyclopedia

Jay McShann (January 12 1916 – December 7 2006) was an American

United States

Blues

Swing (genre)

Pianist

Bandleader

Muskogee, Oklahoma

Oklahoma

Earl Hines

Musician

Tulsa, Oklahoma

Arkansas

Kansas City, Missouri

Kansas City is the largest city in the U.S. state of Missouri. It encompasses in parts of Jackson County, Missouri, Clay County, Missouri, Cass County, Missouri, and Platte County, Missouri counties....
, Missouri

Missouri

Missouri is a U.S. state in the Midwestern United States of the United States bordered by Iowa, Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Kansas and Nebraska....
in 1936, and set up his own big band

Big band

A big band is a type of musical ensemble associated with playing jazz music and which became popular during the swing from the early 1930s until the late 1940s....
, which featured Charlie Parker

Charlie Parker

Charles Parker, Jr. was an American jazz saxophonist and composer.Parker is widely considered one of the most influential of jazz musicians, along with Louis Armstrong and Duke Ellington....
(from 1937 to 1942), Bernard Anderson

Bernard Anderson

Bernard Hartwell "Step-Buddy" Anderson was a jazz trumpeter.Having studied music at school under Zelia Breaux, Anderson was a professional musician by 1934, playing with the Ted Armstrong band in Clinton, Oklahoma....
, Ben Webster

Ben Webster

Benjamin Francis Webster , aka "The Brute" or "Frog," was an influential United States jazz tenor saxophone. Webster, born in Kansas City, Missouri, was considered one of the three most important "swing tenors" along with Coleman Hawkins and Lester Young....
and Walter Brown

Walter Brown (singer)

Walter Brown was a blues shouter who sang with Jay McShann's band in the 1940s and songwriter their biggest hit record, "Confessin' The Blues"....
. Although they included both swing and blues

Blues

Gramophone record

A gramophone record is an analog signal sound storage medium consisting of a flat disc with an inscribed modulated spiral groove usually starting near the periphery and ending near the centre of the disc....
; its most popular recording

Sound recording and reproduction

Sound recording and reproduction is the electrical or mechanics inscription and re-creation of sound waves, such as spoken voice, singing, instrumental music, or sound effects....
was "Confessin' the Blues." The group disbanded when McShann was drafted into the Army

United States Army

The United States Army is the branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for Army operations. It is the largest and oldest established branch of the U.S....
in 1944, and he was unable to successfully restart it when he got out.

After World War II

World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global military conflict which involved a Participants in World War II, including all of the great powers, organised into two opposing military alliances: the Allies of World War II and the Axis powers....
McShann began to lead small groups featuring blues shouter

Blues shouter

A blues shouter is a blues singer, often male, capable of singing with a band . The singer must project, or "shout", to be heard over the percussion and musical instruments of the band....
Jimmy Witherspoon

Jimmy Witherspoon

Jimmy Witherspoon was an United States blues singer.James Witherspoon was born in Gurdon, Arkansas, Arkansas. He first attracted attention singing with Teddy Weatherford's band in Calcutta, India, which made regular radio broadcasts over the U....
. Witherspoon started recording with McShann in 1945, and fronting McShann's band, and had a hit

Hit record

A Hit record is a sound recording, usually in the form of a Single or album, that sells a large number of copies or otherwise becomes broadly popular or well-known, through airplay , Nightclub, inclusion in a film or stage play soundtrack, causing it to have "hit" one of the popular chart listings....
in 1949 with "Ain't Nobody's Business

Ain't Nobody's Business

"Ain't Nobody's Business" is a blues standard, an eight-bar blues written in the 1920s by pianist Porter Grainger, who had been Bessie Smith's accompanist, and Everett Robbins....
." As well as writing much material, Witherspoon continued recording with McShann's band, which also featured Ben Webster, until 1951, whence McShann then played in obscurity until 1969. McShann then became popular as a singer as well as a pianist, often performing with Claude Williams

Claude Williams (musician)

Claude "The Fiddler" Williams was an United States jazz violinist and guitarist.Williams was born in Muskogee, Oklahoma, in 1908, and by 10 he had learned to play guitar, mandolin, banjo and cello....
. He continued recording and touring through the 1990s. Well into his 80s, McShann still performed occasionally, particularly in the Kansas City area and Toronto

Toronto

Toronto is the List of the 100 largest municipalities in Canada by population in Canada and the Provinces and territories of Canada Provincial and territorial capitals of Canada of Ontario....
, Ontario

Ontario

Ontario is a Provinces and territories of Canada located in the Central Canada part of Canada, the largest by population and second largest, after Quebec, in total area....
.

Crime-fiction writer Elmore Leonard

Elmore Leonard

Elmore John Leonard, Jr. is a popular and acclaimed United States novelist and screenwriter.His earliest published novels in the 1950s were western fictions, and Leonard went on to specialize in crime fiction and suspense thrillers, several of which have been adapted into successful motion pictures or TV movies....
featured McShann as a character in his 2005 novel, The Hot Kid
The Hot Kid

The Hot Kid is a novel written by popular, contemporary crime-fiction author Elmore Leonard. It was released in 2005.The novel is full of the spare but dead-on depictions of scenes and characters that are typical of the author....
.

On December 7 2006, McShann died at St. Luke's Hospital in Kansas City.

Honors

Blues Hall of Fame
Blues Hall of Fame

The Blues Hall of Fame is a listing of people who have significantly contributed to blues music. Started in 1980 by the Blues Foundation, it honors those who have performed, recorded, or documented blues....
.
Pioneer Award of the Rhythm and Blues Foundation
Rhythm and Blues Foundation

The Rhythm and Blues Foundation is an independent United States nonprofit organization dedicated to the historical and cultural preservation of rhythm and blues music....
.
Paris All-Star Blues (A Tribute to Charlie Parker) - Best Large Jazz Ensemble Performance - Nominee, 1991 Grammy Awards
Goin' to Kansas City - Best Traditional Blues Album - Nominee, 2003 Grammy Awards.

External links

on Allmusic
from 1987 NPR Fresh Air rebroadcast December 8, 2006 (RealAudio
RealAudio

RealAudio is a Proprietary format audio format developed by RealNetworks. It uses a variety of audio codecs, ranging from low-bitrate formats that can be used over dialup modems, to high-fidelity formats for music....
and Windows Media
Windows Media

Windows Media is a multimedia framework for media clip creation and distribution for Microsoft Windows. It consists of a software development kit with several application programming interfaces and a number of prebuilt technologies, and is the replacement of NetShow technologies....
formats)
at Kansas City Star