Burt Bales was an American jazz

Jazz

Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...

 stride pianist

Stride piano

Harlem Stride Piano, Stride Piano, or just Stride, is a jazz piano style that was developed in the large cities of the East Coast, mainly in the New York, during 1920s and 1930s. The left hand may play a four-beat pulse with a single bass note, octave, seventh or tenth interval on the first and...

.

Bales began on piano at age twelve, and played in hotels and nightclub

Nightclub

A nightclub is an entertainment venue which usually operates late into the night...

s in California

California

California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...

 in the 1930s. He played regularly in San Francisco in the 1940s, with Lu Watters

Lu Watters

Lucius "Lu" Watters was a trumpeter and bandleader of the Yerba Buena Jazz Band in the "West Coast revival" of Dixieland music...

's Yerba Buena Jazz Band among others, but was drafted in 1943 and only recorded with that group on one brief session with Bunk Johnson

Bunk Johnson

Willie Gary "Bunk" Johnson was a prominent early New Orleans jazz trumpet player in the early years of the 20th century who enjoyed a revived career in the 1940s....

. He was discharged for myopia

Myopia

Myopia , "shortsightedness" ) is a refractive defect of the eye in which collimated light produces image focus in front of the retina under conditions of accommodation. In simpler terms, myopia is a condition of the eye where the light that comes in does not directly focus on the retina but in...

 and led his own band from 1943 to 1946 before taking an extended residency at San Francisco's 1018 Club. He played with Turk Murphy

Turk Murphy

Melvin Edward Alton “Turk” Murphy was renowned as a trombonist who played traditional and dixieland jazz in San Francisco....

 (1949-50), Bob Scobey

Bob Scobey

Bob Scobey was an American jazz musician born in Tucumcari, New Mexico.He began his career playing in dance orchestras and nightclubs in the 1930s. In 1938 he worked as second trumpeter for Lu Watters in the Yerba Buena Jazz Band. By 1949 he was leading his own band under the name Bob Scobey's...

, and Marty Marsala

Marty Marsala

Marty Marsala was an American jazz trumpeter born in Chicago, perhaps best known for working from 1926-1946 with his brother Joe Marsala in a big band in New York City and Chicago. He had also toured with various artists, such as Chico Marx and Miff Mole, to name a few...

, then played mostly solo between 1954 and 1966; one of his regular gigs was at Pier 23. He recorded extensively, for the labels Good Time Jazz, Arhoolie

Arhoolie Records

Arhoolie Records is a small record label run by Chris Strachwitz. The label was founded by Strachwitz in 1960 as a way for him to record and publish previously obscure "down home blues" artists such as Lightnin' Hopkins, Snooks Eaglin and Bill Gaither...

, ABC-Paramount

ABC Records

ABC Records was an American record label, founded in New York City in 1955 as ABC-Paramount Records. It originated as the main popular music label operated the Am-Par Record Corporation, the music subsidiary of the American Broadcasting Company . ABC-Paramount Records' first president was Samuel H....

, and Euphonic.