Jabbo Smith

{{Short description|American jazz trumpeter (1908–1991)}} {{Use mdy dates|date=January 2015}} {{more citations needed|date=August 2016}} {{Infobox musical artist | name = Jabbo Smith | image = Jabbo Smith.jpg | image_size = | alt = | caption = Cladys "Jabbo" Smith at Turk Murphy's Earthquake McGoon's, San Francisco CA, 1981 | background = non_vocal_instrumentalist | birth_name = Cladys Smith | alias = | birth_date = {{birth date|1908|12|24}} | birth_place = [[Pembroke, Georgia]], United States | origin = | death_date = {{death date and age|1991|1|16|1908|12|24}} | death_place = | genre = [[Jazz]] | occupation = Musician | instrument = Trumpet | years_active =  | label = | website =  }}

'''Jabbo Smith''' (born '''Cladys Smith'''; December 24, 1908 – January 16, 1991)<ref name="LarkinJazz">{{cite book|title=[[Encyclopedia of Popular Music|The Guinness Who's Who of Jazz]]|editor=[[Colin Larkin (writer)|Colin Larkin]]|publisher=[[Guinness Publishing]]|date=1992|edition=First|isbn=0-85112-580-8|page=369}}</ref> was an American [[jazz]] musician, known for his virtuoso playing on the trumpet.<ref>Obituary ''[[Variety Obituaries|Variety]]'', January 28, 1991.</ref>

==Biography== Smith was born in [[Pembroke, Georgia]], United States.<ref name="LarkinJazz"/> At the age of six he went into the [[Jenkins Orphanage]] in [[Charleston, South Carolina]] where he learned trumpet and [[trombone]], and by the age of 10 was touring with the Jenkins Band.<ref name="LarkinJazz"/> At the age of 16 he had left the Orphanage to become a professional musician, at first playing in bands in [[Philadelphia, Pennsylvania]], and [[Atlantic City, New Jersey]], before making his base in [[Manhattan]], [[New York City]], from about 1925 through 1928, where he made the first of his well regarded recordings.<ref name="LarkinJazz"/>

From February to May 1928, Smith was featured in the band along with [[Fats Waller]] and [[James P. Johnson]] in the Waller/[[Andy Razaf]] [[Broadway theatre|Broadway]] musical and dance revue ''Keep Shufflin''' which ran for 104 performances.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.playbill.com/personlistpage/person-list?production=00000150-aea1-d936-a7fd-eef5dd4b0004&type=op#oc |title=Keep Shufflin' |author= |date=17 June 1943 |website=Playbill.com |publisher=Playbill, Inc. |access-date=26 January 2021 |quote=Jabbo Smith "Behind the Bugle"}}</ref>

Later on in 1928 he toured with James P. Johnson's Orchestra, when their show broke up in [[Chicago]], [[Illinois]], where Smith stayed for a few years.<ref name="LarkinJazz"/> His series of 20 recordings for [[Brunswick Records]] in 1929 are his most famous (19 were issued), and Smith was billed as a rival to [[Louis Armstrong]].<ref name="LarkinJazz"/> Most of these records did not sell well enough for Brunswick to extend his contract.

In March 1935, in Chicago, Smith was featured in a recording session produced by [[Helen Oakley Dance|Helen Oakley]] under the name of [[Charlie LaVere|Charles LaVere]] & His Chicagoans, which included a vocal by both Smith and LaVere on LaVere's composition and arrangement of "Boogaboo Blues". It is an early example of inter-racial blues recordings, although far from the first as such had been made at least since about 1921.

In the 1930s, Smith moved to [[Milwaukee, Wisconsin]], which would be his main base for many years, alternating with returns to New York.<ref name="LarkinJazz"/> In Milwaukee he collaborated with saxophonist [[Bill Johnson (reed player)|Bill Johnson]]. Subsequently, Smith dropped out of the public eye, playing music part-time in Milwaukee with a regular job at an [[automobile]] hire company.<ref name="LarkinJazz"/>

Smith made a comeback starting in the late 1960s, successfully playing with bands and shows in New York, [[New Orleans, Louisiana]], London, and France through the 1970s and into the 1980s. He was one of the musicians in the musical ''[[One Mo' Time (musical)|One Mo’ Time]]'' about an African-American vaudeville in the 1920s. A recording with the original cast including Jabbo Smith was produced (Warner Bros Records WB 56850).

Concerts in France, Italy, Switzerland and Netherlands took place with Smith and the Hot Antic Jazz Band. They were recorded in concert in 1982, and the live album, ''Jabbo Smith and the Hot Antic Jazz Band: European Concerts'', was released.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xJB16RjX3z8C&dq=Jabbo+Smith%2C+European+Concerts+with+the+Hot+Antic+Jazz+Band&pg=PA233|title=Voices of the Jazz Age: Profiles of Eight Vintage Jazzmen|first=Chip|last=Deffaa|page=233|date=August 1, 1992|publisher=[[University of Illinois Press]]|isbn=9780252062582|access-date=August 1, 2021|via=Google Books}}</ref>

In January 1991, Jabbo Smith died in New York City, at the age of 82.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.allmusic.com/artist/jabbo-smith-mn0000103408/biography|title=Jabbo Smith | Biography & History|website=[[AllMusic]]|access-date=August 1, 2021}}</ref>

==References== {{Reflist}}

==External links== * [https://syncopatedtimes.com/cladys-jabbo-smith-1908-1991/ Jabbo Smith on Red Hot Jazz site] – with audio files of some of his vintage recordings * [https://adp.library.ucsb.edu/names/104816 Jabbo Smith recordings] at the [[Discography of American Historical Recordings]]. * [https://web.archive.org/web/20041123192022/http://northbysouth.kenyon.edu/1998/music/jabbo/jabbo.htm Cladys "Jabbo" Smith on kenyon.edu] – with audio files and a short interview

{{DEFAULTSORT:Smith, Jabbo}} [[Category:1908 births]] [[Category:1991 deaths]] [[Category:American jazz trumpeters]] [[Category:American male trumpeters]] [[Category:20th-century American trumpeters]] [[Category:20th-century American male musicians]] [[Category:American male jazz musicians]] [[Category:Biograph Records artists]] [[Category:20th-century African-American musicians]]