Snookum Russell
Encyclopedia
Snookum Russell was a pianist and leader of a territory band
that played tobacco warehouses and dance halls in the South and Midwest in the 1930s, '40s and '50s.
Members of his bands included J. J. Johnson, who joined shortly after, and played with Fats Navarro
, Ray Brown
, Tommy Turrentine
and Herbie Phillips.
Territory band
Territory bands were dance bands that crisscrossed specific regions of the United States from the 1920s through the 1960s. Beginning in the 1920s, the bands typically had 8 to 12 musicians. These bands typically played one-nighters, 6 or 7 nights a week at venues like VFW halls, Elks Lodges,...
that played tobacco warehouses and dance halls in the South and Midwest in the 1930s, '40s and '50s.
Members of his bands included J. J. Johnson, who joined shortly after, and played with Fats Navarro
Fats Navarro
Theodore "Fats" Navarro was an American jazz trumpet player. He was a pioneer of the bebop style of jazz improvisation in the 1940s. He had a strong stylistic influence on many other players, most notably Clifford Brown.-Life:Navarro was born in Key West, Florida, to Cuban-Black-Chinese parentage...
, Ray Brown
Ray Brown (musician)
Raymond Matthews Brown was an American jazz double bassist.-Biography:Ray Brown was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and had piano lessons from the age of eight. After noticing how many pianists attended his high school, he thought of taking up the trombone, but was unable to afford one...
, Tommy Turrentine
Tommy Turrentine
Thomas Walter Turrentine, Jr. was a swing and hard bop trumpeter of the 1940s to 1960s, the older brother of saxophonist Stanley Turrentine.-Biography:...
and Herbie Phillips.
Discography
- 1962: Jazz at Preservation Hall 4: The George Lewis Band of New Orleans - The George Lewis Band of New Orleans, with George LewisGeorge Lewis (clarinetist)George Lewis was an American jazz clarinetist who achieved his greatest fame and influence in the later decades of his life.-Ancestry:...
(cl) Isaac "Snookum" Russell (p) Papa John JosephPapa John JosephPapa John Joseph was an early New Orleans jazz string bass player.Joseph was born in St. James Parish, Louisiana and moved to New Orleans by 1906.He played with Buddy Bolden early on...
(b) Joe Watkins (d) (Atlantic LP 1411)