# Curtis Mosby > Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Curtis_Mosby > Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Curtis_Mosby.md > Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Curtis_Mosby > Source revision: 1311926771 > License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/) American jazz drummer and bandleader (c. 1895–1957) Curtis Mosby Born Kansas City, Missouri Died (1957-06-25)June 25, 1957 San Francisco, California Genres Jazz Occupations Jazz drummer and businessman Instrument Drums Musical artist **Curtis J. Mosby** (July 7, 1895 (or 1892)[1] in [Kansas City, Missouri](/source/Kansas_City%2C_Missouri) – June 25, 1957 in San Francisco) was an American jazz drummer, bandleader, and businessman.[2][3] ## Biography Mosby toured with the Tennessee Ten in the 1910s, and also led his own ensemble in Chicago. He then moved to California early in the 1920s, where he opened a [record store](/source/Record_store) and then toured with [Mamie Smith](/source/Mamie_Smith). He also led a band called the Blue Blowers in California and appeared with them in the 1929 film *[Music Hath Harms](/source/Music_Hath_Harms)*. He took an extended residency in 1924 at Solomon's Dance Pavilion in Los Angeles; this ensemble recorded privately, and some of these cuts have survived. The band recorded for [Columbia Records](/source/Columbia_Records) in 1927, and included [Jake Porter](/source/Jake_Porter), [Les Hite](/source/Les_Hite), and [Henry Starr](/source/Henry_Starr) as sidemen. In 1927 they played at the Bronx Palm Gardens and in 1928 at the Lincoln Theater. Mosby opened his own nightclub, the Apex, in 1928, and his band appeared in the films *Thunderbolt* and [King Vidor](/source/King_Vidor)'s *[Hallelujah](/source/Hallelujah!_(1929_film))* the next year. Late in 1929 a police raid shut the club down, but he reopened after an acquittal soon after. He opened another club in San Francisco at the end of 1930. He went bankrupt in 1931, and moved to San Francisco. Over the course of the 1930s he opened several clubs, not all of them successful, along the California coastline; musicians who appeared in his bands included [Lawrence Brown](/source/Lawrence_Brown_(jazz_trombonist)), [Marshal Royal](/source/Marshal_Royal), [Wilbert Baranco](/source/Wilbert_Baranco), [Baron Moorehead](https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Baron_Moorehead&action=edit&redlink=1), and [Buck Clayton](/source/Buck_Clayton). Mosby and [Leon Hefflin Sr.](/source/Leon_Hefflin%2C_Sr.) financed and produced the *Sweet N' Hot* musical featuring [Dorothy Dandridge](/source/Dorothy_Dandridge) and a cast of 50, at the [Mayan theatre](/source/Mayan_Theater) in Los Angeles in 1944.[4] He also eventually has his 15-piece band as part of the production after reviews made suggestion. It successfully runs nightly for eleven weeks. His successful Club Alabam featured [Harlan Leonard](/source/Harlan_Leonard) in 1943, [Roy Milton](/source/Roy_Milton) in 1944, and [Johnny Otis](/source/Johnny_Otis) in 1945, all in succession. He was jailed for [tax evasion](/source/Tax_evasion) from 1947 to 1949 and lost control of his clubs; after serving his time, he reopened some of them and then permanently moved to San Francisco. In 1947, Leon Hefflin Sr. took over Club Alabam and renamed it the Congo Club.[5] He declared bankruptcy in the late 1940s, but he had hidden the part ownership of Club Alabam and other assets from the creditors and bankruptcy court. As a result he served a short prison term.[6] ## References **Footnotes** 1. **[^](#cite_ref-1)** Wintz, Cary D.; Glasrud, Bruce A. (May 22, 2012). [*The Harlem Renaissance in the American West: The New Negro's Western Experience*](https://books.google.com/books?id=4CGpAgAAQBAJ&q=Curtis+Mosby+born&pg=PA92). Routledge. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [978-1-136-64911-0](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-1-136-64911-0). 1. **[^](#cite_ref-2)** Bryant, Clora; Collette, Buddy; Green, William; Isoardi, Steve; Young, Marl (August 31, 1999). [*Central Avenue Sounds: Jazz in Los Angeles*](https://books.google.com/books?id=ctNSi1g34CgC&q=Curtis+Mosby&pg=PA33). University of California Press. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [978-0-520-22098-0](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-0-520-22098-0). 1. **[^](#cite_ref-3)** McCarthy, Albert (1983). [*Big Band Jazz*](https://books.google.com/books?id=8BaYxi6ZuSAC&q=Curtis+Mosby). Peerage Books. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [978-0-907408-70-3](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-0-907408-70-3). 1. **[^](#cite_ref-4)** "*Sweet'n Hot* Reveals Promise in Mayan Debut" by John L. Scott *Los Angeles Times* January 27, 1944 1. **[^](#cite_ref-5)** "Alabam Becomes Club Congo" Article *Los Angeles Sentinel*, December 25, 1947 1. **[^](#cite_ref-6)** Gioia, Ted (October 1998). [*West Coast Jazz: Modern Jazz in California, 1945-1960*](https://books.google.com/books?id=O-b1Qmta2wsC&q=Curtis+Mosby&pg=PA9). University of California Press. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [978-0-520-21729-4](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-0-520-21729-4). **General references** - [Curtis Mosby](https://www.allmusic.com/artist/p508185/biography) at [Allmusic](/source/Allmusic) - Howard Rye, "Curtis Mosby". *[Grove Jazz](/source/The_New_Grove)* online. Authority control databases International VIAF WorldCat National United States Artists Discography of American Historical Recordings Other Yale LUX --- Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Curtis Mosby](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Curtis_Mosby) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Curtis_Mosby?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.