{{Short description|American jazz guitarist (1910–1978)}} {{Infobox musical artist | name = Teddy Bunn | image = Theodore Leroy Bunn.jpeg | birth_name = Theodore Leroy Bunn | birth_place = Freeport, New York, U.S. | birth_date = {{Birth date|1910|05|07}} <ref>{{Cite web |url=https://rucore.libraries.rutgers.edu/rutgers-lib/61125/JPEG/read/#page/3/mode/1up |title=Archived copy |access-date=2021-06-03 |archive-date=2021-06-03 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210603071112/https://rucore.libraries.rutgers.edu/rutgers-lib/61125/JPEG/read/#page/3/mode/1up |url-status=dead }}</ref> | death_place = Lancaster, California | death_date = {{Death date and age|1978|7|20|1909|5|7}} | genre = Jazz, swing | occupation = Musician, singer | instrument = Guitar, vocals | years_active = 1929–1960s | past_member_of = Spirits of Rhythm }}

'''Theodore Leroy Bunn''' (May 7, 1910{{efn|The previous version of this entry showed Bunn's birth year as 1909, with the note "Some sources give 1910, based on a social security application."<ref name="Grove">Simmen, Johnny; Rye, Howard; Kernfeld, Barry [http://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/subscriber/article/grove/music/J066900 "Bunn, Teddy"]. In ''The New Grove Dictionary of Jazz'' (Second ed.) Grove Music Online. Oxford Music Online. Oxford University Press. Retrieved December 9, 2014. [Subscription required].</ref>}} – July 20, 1978)<ref name="LarkinJazz"/> was an American jazz and blues guitarist who was a member of the Spirits of Rhythm during the 1930s.

==Early life== Bunn, who was of African American heritage, was born in Freeport, New York.<ref name="Story">Tanner, Peter (October–November 1978) "The Late Teddy Bunn". ''Storyville''. Volume 79.</ref>{{rp|3}} He had two brothers, Kenneth and Jimmy.<ref name="Story" />{{rp|3}} Bunn's father played accordion and harmonica; his mother played organ in a church.<ref name="Story" />{{rp|3}} Bunn was given a guitar by his father, who also gave him some basic instruction; apart from this, Bunn was self-taught.<ref name="Story" />{{rp|3}} He never learned to read music, so he played by ear.<ref name="Story" />{{rp|6}}

==Career== Bunn was considered one of the best acoustic guitarists of the 1930s.<ref name="LarkinJazz">{{cite book|title=The Guinness Who's Who of Jazz|editor=Colin Larkin|publisher=Guinness Publishing|date=1992|edition=First|isbn=0-85112-580-8|page=69}}</ref> He appeared on record for the first time in 1929 as a member of a trio with trumpeter Red Allen and pianist Fats Pichon, then as a guest with the Duke Ellington Orchestra. Soon after, he recorded with the Six Jolly Jesters in the first of many washboard-and-kazoo sessions during his career with bands such as The Washboard Rhythm Kings and the Washboard Serenaders. During the following year, he participated in a rare session with Jelly Roll Morton and clarinetist Wilton Crawley. He also accompanied vocalists Victoria Spivey, Lizzie Miles, and Spencer Williams. For the rest of the decade, he recorded with the swing band Spirits of Rhythm led by vocalist Leo Watson.<ref name="Yanow">{{cite book|last1=Yanow|first1=Scott|title=The Great Jazz Guitarists|date=2013|publisher=Backbeat|location =San Francisco|isbn=978-1-61713-023-6|pages=34–35}}</ref>

Bunn recorded with such musicians as Sidney Bechet, Hadda Brooks, Johnny Dodds, J. C. Higginbotham, Lionel Hampton, and Jimmie Noone.<ref name="LarkinJazz"/> He played electric guitar from 1940.<ref name="Story" />{{rp|4}} He recorded solo numbers for Blue Note in 1940;<ref name="Story" />{{rp|6}} after this, his popularity declined.<ref name="LarkinJazz"/>

By the 1970s, Bunn played electric guitar almost exclusively in R&B bands.<ref name="LarkinJazz"/> He suffered a stroke after joining Louis Jordan's band,<ref name="Story" />{{rp|7}} and was sick for more than a decade.<ref name="Story" />{{rp|3}} He died on July 20, 1978, in Lancaster, California.<ref name="Story" />{{rp|3}}

==Playing style== Bunn's playing was "predominantly melodic rather than chordal".<ref name="Grove" /> He did not use a pick; he used "mostly my thumb, that's how I figured it when I first had that first guitar."<ref name="Story" />{{rp|6}}

==Notes== {{Reflist|group=lower-alpha}}

==References== {{Reflist}}

==External links== * [https://adp.library.ucsb.edu/names/103512 Teddy Bunn recordings] at the Discography of American Historical Recordings

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Bunn, Teddy}} Category:1910 births Category:1978 deaths Category:20th-century American male composers Category:American jazz guitarists Category:Swing guitarists Category:American blues guitarists Category:American male guitarists Category:20th-century American composers Category:20th-century American guitarists Category:American male jazz musicians Category:Spirits of Rhythm members Category:The Washboard Rhythm Kings members Category:African-American jazz guitarists Category:Composers from New York (state)