# Jabbo Smith > Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Jabbo_Smith > Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Jabbo_Smith.md > Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jabbo_Smith > Source revision: 1319074632 > License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/) American jazz trumpeter (1908–1991) This article needs more citations. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Find sources: "Jabbo Smith" – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR (August 2016) (Learn how and when to remove this message) Jabbo Smith Cladys "Jabbo" Smith at Turk Murphy's Earthquake McGoon's, San Francisco CA, 1981 Background information Born Cladys Smith (1908-12-24)December 24, 1908 Pembroke, Georgia, United States Died January 16, 1991(1991-01-16) (aged 82) Genres Jazz Occupation Musician Instrument Trumpet Musical artist **Jabbo Smith** (born **Cladys Smith**; December 24, 1908 – January 16, 1991)[1] was an American [jazz](/source/Jazz) musician, known for his virtuoso playing on the trumpet.[2] ## Biography Smith was born in [Pembroke, Georgia](/source/Pembroke%2C_Georgia), United States.[1] At the age of six he went into the [Jenkins Orphanage](/source/Jenkins_Orphanage) in [Charleston, South Carolina](/source/Charleston%2C_South_Carolina) where he learned trumpet and [trombone](/source/Trombone), and by the age of 10 was touring with the Jenkins Band.[1] At the age of 16 he had left the Orphanage to become a professional musician, at first playing in bands in [Philadelphia, Pennsylvania](/source/Philadelphia%2C_Pennsylvania), and [Atlantic City, New Jersey](/source/Atlantic_City%2C_New_Jersey), before making his base in [Manhattan](/source/Manhattan), [New York City](/source/New_York_City), from about 1925 through 1928, where he made the first of his well regarded recordings.[1] From February to May 1928, Smith was featured in the band along with [Fats Waller](/source/Fats_Waller) and [James P. Johnson](/source/James_P._Johnson) in the Waller/[Andy Razaf](/source/Andy_Razaf) [Broadway](/source/Broadway_theatre) musical and dance revue *Keep Shufflin'* which ran for 104 performances.[3] Later on in 1928 he toured with James P. Johnson's Orchestra, when their show broke up in [Chicago](/source/Chicago), [Illinois](/source/Illinois), where Smith stayed for a few years.[1] His series of 20 recordings for [Brunswick Records](/source/Brunswick_Records) in 1929 are his most famous (19 were issued), and Smith was billed as a rival to [Louis Armstrong](/source/Louis_Armstrong).[1] 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](/source/Helen_Oakley_Dance) under the name of [Charles LaVere](/source/Charlie_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](/source/Milwaukee%2C_Wisconsin), which would be his main base for many years, alternating with returns to New York.[1] In Milwaukee he collaborated with saxophonist [Bill Johnson](/source/Bill_Johnson_(reed_player)). Subsequently, Smith dropped out of the public eye, playing music part-time in Milwaukee with a regular job at an [automobile](/source/Automobile) hire company.[1] Smith made a comeback starting in the late 1960s, successfully playing with bands and shows in New York, [New Orleans, Louisiana](/source/New_Orleans%2C_Louisiana), London, and France through the 1970s and into the 1980s. He was one of the musicians in the musical *[One Mo’ Time](/source/One_Mo'_Time_(musical))* 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.[4] In January 1991, Jabbo Smith died in New York City, at the age of 82.[5] ## References 1. ^ [***a***](#cite_ref-LarkinJazz_1-0) [***b***](#cite_ref-LarkinJazz_1-1) [***c***](#cite_ref-LarkinJazz_1-2) [***d***](#cite_ref-LarkinJazz_1-3) [***e***](#cite_ref-LarkinJazz_1-4) [***f***](#cite_ref-LarkinJazz_1-5) [***g***](#cite_ref-LarkinJazz_1-6) [***h***](#cite_ref-LarkinJazz_1-7) [Colin Larkin](/source/Colin_Larkin_(writer)), ed. (1992). *[The Guinness Who's Who of Jazz](/source/Encyclopedia_of_Popular_Music)* (First ed.). [Guinness Publishing](/source/Guinness_Publishing). p. 369. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [0-85112-580-8](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/0-85112-580-8). 1. **[^](#cite_ref-2)** Obituary *[Variety](/source/Variety_Obituaries)*, January 28, 1991. 1. **[^](#cite_ref-3)** ["Keep Shufflin'"](https://www.playbill.com/personlistpage/person-list?production=00000150-aea1-d936-a7fd-eef5dd4b0004&type=op#oc). *Playbill.com*. Playbill, Inc. June 17, 1943. Retrieved January 26, 2021. Jabbo Smith "Behind the Bugle" 1. **[^](#cite_ref-4)** Deffaa, Chip (August 1, 1992). [*Voices of the Jazz Age: Profiles of Eight Vintage Jazzmen*](https://books.google.com/books?id=xJB16RjX3z8C&dq=Jabbo+Smith%2C+European+Concerts+with+the+Hot+Antic+Jazz+Band&pg=PA233). [University of Illinois Press](/source/University_of_Illinois_Press). p. 233. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [9780252062582](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/9780252062582). Retrieved August 1, 2021 – via Google Books. 1. **[^](#cite_ref-5)** ["Jabbo Smith | Biography & History"](https://www.allmusic.com/artist/jabbo-smith-mn0000103408/biography). *[AllMusic](/source/AllMusic)*. Retrieved August 1, 2021. ## External links - [Jabbo Smith on Red Hot Jazz site](https://syncopatedtimes.com/cladys-jabbo-smith-1908-1991/) – with audio files of some of his vintage recordings - [Jabbo Smith recordings](https://adp.library.ucsb.edu/names/104816) at the [Discography of American Historical Recordings](/source/Discography_of_American_Historical_Recordings). - [Cladys "Jabbo" Smith on kenyon.edu](https://web.archive.org/web/20041123192022/http://northbysouth.kenyon.edu/1998/music/jabbo/jabbo.htm) – with audio files and a short interview Authority control databases International ISNI VIAF GND FAST WorldCat National United States France BnF data Czech Republic Norway Poland Artists MusicBrainz Discography of American Historical Recordings People Trove DDB Other SNAC Yale LUX --- Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Jabbo Smith](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jabbo_Smith) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jabbo_Smith?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.