Jerry Blake was an American jazz

Jazz

Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...

 alto saxophonist and clarinetist.

Blake was born in Gary, Indiana

Gary, Indiana

Gary is a city in Lake County, Indiana, United States. The city is in the southeastern portion of the Chicago metropolitan area and is 25 miles from downtown Chicago. The population is 80,294 at the 2010 census, making it the seventh-largest city in the state. It borders Lake Michigan and is known...

 and grew up in Nashville

Nashville, Tennessee

Nashville is the capital of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the county seat of Davidson County. It is located on the Cumberland River in Davidson County, in the north-central part of the state. The city is a center for the health care, publishing, banking and transportation industries, and is home...

. He played violin before switching to reeds. In 1924 he toured with the Sells-Fioto Circus Band, but was left stranded in Chicago

Chicago

Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...

; making the best of the situation, he joined Al Wynn's band. He then played with Bobby Lee and Charlie Turner, then toured Europe in 1928-29 as a member of Sam Wooding

Sam Wooding

Sam Wooding was an expatriate American jazz pianist, arranger and bandleader living and performing in Europe and the United States.Born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, he led several big bands in the United States and abroad...

's ensemble. In the 1930s he played in the U.S. with Chick Webb

Chick Webb

William Henry Webb, usually known as Chick Webb was an American jazz and swing music drummer as well as a band leader.-Biography:...

, Zack Whyte

Zack Whyte

Zack Whyte was an American jazz bandleader, best known for leading the territory band the Chocolate Beau Brummels.Whyte studied at Wilberforce University, where he played banjo with Horace Henderson and arranged pieces for him. He led his own Cincinnati-based bands from the early 1920s, and put...

, and Don Redman

Don Redman

Donald Matthew Redman was an American jazz musician, arranger, bandleader and composer.Redman was announced as a member of the West Virginia Music Hall of Fame on May 6, 2009....

 (1933-34) before returning to Europe to play with Willie Lewis

Willie Lewis

Willie Lewis is a rockabilly recording artist and founder of The Rock-A-Billy Record Company, a record label based in Denver, Colorado. He started the label in order to release rare and authentic rockabilly recordings, most of which were pressed on colored vinyl between 1982 and 1998...

 in 1934-35. Once more in the United States, he spent time playing with Claude Hopkins

Claude Hopkins

Claude Driskett Hopkins was an American jazz stride pianist and bandleader.-Biography:Claude Hopkins was born in Alexandria, Virginia in 1903. Historians differ in respect of the actual date of his birth. His parents were on the faculty of Howard University...

, Fletcher Henderson

Fletcher Henderson

James Fletcher Hamilton Henderson, Jr. was an American pianist, bandleader, arranger and composer, important in the development of big band jazz and swing music. His was one of the most prolific black orchestras and his influence was vast...

 (1936-38), and Cab Calloway

Cab Calloway

Cabell "Cab" Calloway III was an American jazz singer and bandleader. He was strongly associated with the Cotton Club in Harlem, New York City where he was a regular performer....

 (1938-42); he served as Calloway's musical director for part of that period.

In the early 1940s Blake played with Count Basie

Count Basie

William "Count" Basie was an American jazz pianist, organist, bandleader, and composer. Basie led his jazz orchestra almost continuously for nearly 50 years...

, Earl Hines

Earl Hines

Earl Kenneth Hines, universally known as Earl "Fatha" Hines, was an American jazz pianist. Hines was one of the most influential figures in the development of modern jazz piano and, according to one source, is "one of a small number of pianists whose playing shaped the history of jazz".-Early...

, Lionel Hampton

Lionel Hampton

Lionel Leo Hampton was an American jazz vibraphonist, pianist, percussionist, bandleader and actor. Like Red Norvo, he was one of the first jazz vibraphone players. Hampton ranks among the great names in jazz history, having worked with a who's who of jazz musicians, from Benny Goodman and Buddy...

, and Redman again, but around 1943 Blake had a mental breakdown

Mental breakdown

Mental breakdown is a non-medical term used to describe an acute, time-limited phase of a specific disorder that presents primarily with features of depression or anxiety.-Definition:...

and was unable to play again for the rest of his life, most of which he spent in institutions. He never recorded as a leader.