{{Short description|Canadian-born American jazz musician}} {{Infobox musical artist | name = Buster Harding | image = | caption = | image_size = | birth_name = Lavere Harding | alias = | birth_place = Ontario, Canada | birth_date = {{birth date|1912|3|19}}<ref name=AbdulR-2005>{{cite news |author=Abdul, Raoul |date=September 14, 2005 |title=Deep roots in 'Musical Buxton' |newspaper=New York Amsterdam News }}</ref><ref name=MillerM-1997>{{cite book |author=Miller, Mark |year=1997 |title=Such Melodious Racket: The Lost History of Jazz in Canada, 1914-1949 |url=https://archive.org/details/suchmelodiousrac0000mill |url-access=registration |publisher=Mercury Press |page=[https://archive.org/details/suchmelodiousrac0000mill/page/141 141] |isbn=978-1-55128-046-2 }}</ref><ref name=USFC-1930>''1930 United States census''. -- Ohio -- Cuyahoga -- Cleveland. - United States Census Bureau.</ref> | death_date = {{death date and age|1965|11|14|1912|3|19}} | death_place = New York City, New York, United States | origin = | instrument = Piano | genre = Swing music | occupation = Musician, composer, arranger | years_active = | label = | past_member_of = Count Basie | website = | current_members = | past_members = }}
'''Lavere''' "'''Buster'''" '''Harding''' (March 19, 1917 – November 14, 1965)<ref name="LarkinGE">{{cite book|title=The Guinness Encyclopedia of Popular Music|editor=Colin Larkin|publisher=Guinness Publishing|date=1992|edition=First|isbn=0-85112-939-0|page=1081}}</ref> was a Canadian-born American jazz pianist, composer and arranger.
==Early life== Born to Benjamin "Ben" and Ada (née Shreve) Harding in North Buxton, Ontario,<ref name=AbdulR-2005 /><ref name=USFC-1930 /> Harding was raised in Cleveland, Ohio, where as a teenager he started on his own band.<ref name=CarrI-RG-p335>{{cite book |author=Carr, Ian |author2=Digby Fairweather |author3=Brian Priestley |year=2004 |title=The Rough Guide to Jazz |url=https://archive.org/details/roughguidetojazz00carr |url-access=registration |publisher=Rough Guides |page=[https://archive.org/details/roughguidetojazz00carr/page/335 335] |isbn=9781843532569 }}</ref>
==Later life and career== In 1939, Harding went to work for the Teddy Wilson big band, and then in the early 1940s went to work for the Coleman Hawkins band, and later Cab Calloway.<ref name="LarkinGE"/> He became a freelance arranger and worked with Benny Goodman, Artie Shaw, Roy Eldridge, Dizzy Gillespie, and Count Basie, among others.<ref name=CarrI-RG-p335 />
In 1949, he was the musical director for Billie Holiday recording sessions.<ref name="LarkinGE"/> In the early 1960s, Harding played with Jonah Jones, though he was known primarily as an arranger and composer.<ref name=CarrI-RG-p335 /> Harding did not record as a leader.<ref name="AM">Yanow, Scott [http://www.allmusic.com/artist/buster-harding-mn0000539777/biography " Buster Harding – Biography by Scott Yanow"]. AllMusic. Retrieved January 25, 2016.</ref> He died on November 14, 1965, in New York City.<ref name="AM" />
==Select discography== '''With Count Basie''' *''The Count!'' (Clef, 1952 [1955]) - as arranger *''Basie'' (Clef, 1954) - as arranger *''The Story of Jazz'' (Philips Records) *''Basie Ball'' (Philips Records) *''Sounds of Jazz'' (Fontana Records) *''One O'Clock Jump'' (Columbia Records)
'''With Roy Eldridge''' *''All the Cats Join In'' (MCA Records)
'''With Dizzy Gillespie''' *''The Big Band Sound of Dizzy Gillespie'' (Verve Records) *''Dizzy Gillespie: Best of Small Groups'' (Verve Records) *''Dizzy and Strings'' (Norgan Records, 1954) also released as ''Diz Big Band'' (Verve Records) - as arranger *''Jazz Spectrum Vol. 11: Dizzy Gillespie'' (Metro Records)
'''With Billie Holiday''' *''Broadcast Performances, Vol. 1: Radio And TV Broadcasts (1949-52)'' (ESP Disk) *''Broadcast Performances, Vol. 2: Radio And TV Broadcasts (1953-56)'' (ESP Disk)
==References== {{Reflist}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Harding, Buster}} Category:1917 births Category:1965 deaths Category:Swing pianists Category:Swing arrangers Category:American jazz pianists Category:American male jazz pianists Category:American male jazz composers Category:Canadian jazz pianists Category:Canadian jazz composers Category:20th-century Canadian pianists Category:20th-century American pianists Category:Musicians from Cleveland Category:Jazz musicians from Ohio Category:20th-century Canadian jazz composers Category:20th-century Canadian male composers Category:20th-century Black Canadian musicians Category:20th-century American jazz composers Category:20th-century American male composers Category:20th-century American male pianists