{{short description|American jazz trumpeter, saxophonist, accordionist, and bandleader (1890–1951)}} {{Moresources|date=May 2024}}

'''Charles Cyril Creath''' (December 30, 1890, [[Ironton, Missouri]] &ndash; October 23, 1951, [[Chicago|Chicago, Illinois]]), known as '''Charlie Creath''', was an American [[jazz]] trumpeter, saxophonist, accordionist, and bandleader.<ref>{{cite web |title=Charlie Creath (1890-1951)|url=https://syncopatedtimes.com/charlie-creath-1890-1951/ |website=Red Hot Jazz Archive |accessdate=August 28, 2020 }}</ref>

Creath played in [[circus|traveling circus]]es and in theater bands in the decade of the 1900s, and moved back to [[St. Louis|St. Louis, Missouri]] around 1919. There he led bands playing on the [[Streckfus Steamers|Streckfus]] company's [[riverboat]]s traveling on the [[Mississippi River]] between [[New Orleans]] and St. Louis. His ensembles were so popular that he had several bands under his own name at one time in the 1920s. A young [[Gene Sedric]], later a mainstay of [[Fats Waller]]'s combo and orchestra, played with Creath on riverboats in the 1920s, and perhaps early 1930s. He {{who|date=May 2024}} co-led a group on the ''SS Capitol'' in 1927 with [[Fate Marable]].{{citation needed|date=January 2022}}

Late in the 1920s he suffered from an extended illness, and primarily played saxophone and accordion instead of trumpet afterwards. He and Marable played together again from 1935 to 1938, and toward the end of the decade Creath opened a [[nightclub]] in Chicago. He worked in an airplane manufacturing plant during [[World War II]] and retired in 1945. His last years were plagued with illness.{{citation needed|date=January 2022}}

Aside from his brother-in-law, [[Zutty Singleton]], members of Creath's bands included [[Ed Allen (musician)|Ed Allen]], [[Pops Foster]], [[Jerome Don Pasquall]], [[Leonard Davis (musician)|Leonard Davis]], and [[Lonnie Johnson (musician)|Lonnie Johnson]]. He recorded as a leader for [[Okeh Records]] between 1924 and 1927 billed as ''Chas. Creath's Jazz-O-Maniacs'', which were some of hottest and most collectable jazz items recorded for OKeh's race 8000 series.<ref>{{cite web |title=Charles Creath's Jazz-O-Maniacs|url=https://syncopatedtimes.com/charles-creaths-jazz-o-maniacs/ |website=Red Hot Jazz Archive |accessdate=August 28, 2020 }}</ref>

==References== {{Reflist}}

==Sources== *[[Leonard Feather]] and [[Ira Gitler]], ''The Biographical Encyclopedia of Jazz''. Oxford, 1999, p.&nbsp;155. *Lawrence Koch, "Charlie Creath". ''[[The New Grove|Grove Jazz]]'' online.

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Creath, Charlie}} [[Category:1890 births]] [[Category:1951 deaths]] [[Category:American jazz trumpeters]] [[Category:American male trumpeters]] [[Category:American jazz bandleaders]] [[Category:Okeh Records artists]] [[Category:Jazz musicians from Missouri]] [[Category:20th-century American conductors (music)]] [[Category:20th-century American trumpeters]] [[Category:People from Ironton, Missouri]] [[Category:20th-century American male musicians]] [[Category:American male jazz musicians]]