John Kirby (musician)
Encyclopedia
John Kirby was a jazz double-bassist who also played trombone
Trombone
The trombone is a musical instrument in the brass family. Like all brass instruments, sound is produced when the player’s vibrating lips cause the air column inside the instrument to vibrate...

 and tuba
Tuba
The tuba is the largest and lowest-pitched brass instrument. Sound is produced by vibrating or "buzzing" the lips into a large cupped mouthpiece. It is one of the most recent additions to the modern symphony orchestra, first appearing in the mid-19th century, when it largely replaced the...

.

Background

Kirby may have been born in Winchester
Winchester, Virginia
Winchester is an independent city located in the northwestern portion of the Commonwealth of Virginia in the USA. The city's population was 26,203 according to the 2010 Census...

, Virginia
Virginia
The Commonwealth of Virginia , is a U.S. state on the Atlantic Coast of the Southern United States. Virginia is nicknamed the "Old Dominion" and sometimes the "Mother of Presidents" after the eight U.S. presidents born there...

, although other sources say he was born in Baltimore, Maryland, orphaned, and adopted. Kirby hit New York at 17, but after his trombone got stolen, he switched to tuba. Some link him to Baltimore in 1926, but he seems to have been based in New York until moving to California shortly before his death.

Bands and recording

Kirby joined Fletcher Henderson
Fletcher Henderson
James Fletcher Hamilton Henderson, Jr. was an American pianist, bandleader, arranger and composer, important in the development of big band jazz and swing music. His was one of the most prolific black orchestras and his influence was vast...

's orchestra as a tuba player in 1929. In the early 1930s, he performed some amazingly complicated tuba work on a number of Henderson's recordings. Kirby picked up on the double-bass at the time when tuba was falling out a favor as jazz bands' primary bass instrument.

About 1933 Kirby left Henderson and played with Chick Webb
Chick Webb
William Henry Webb, usually known as Chick Webb was an American jazz and swing music drummer as well as a band leader.-Biography:...

 (twice), back with Henderson, and with Lucky Millinder
Lucky Millinder
Lucius Venable "Lucky" Millinder was an American rhythm and blues and swing bandleader. Although he could not read or write music, did not play an instrument and rarely sang, his showmanship and musical taste made his bands successful...

. He briefly led a quartet in 1935 but generally kept busy as bassist in others' groups.

Securing a gig at the Onyx Club
Onyx Club (New York City)
The Onyx Club was a jazz club located on West 52d Street in New York City. Founded in 1928 by bootlegger Joe Helbock, the Onyx remained open through the 1940s and during its existence featured many of the jazz greats of the era, including Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie, Sarah Vaughan and Art...

 on 52nd Street, Kirby really got going as a bandleader in 1937, although in the first Onyx Club lineup, singer-drummer Leo Watson
Leo Watson
Leo Watson was an American jazz vocalese singer, drummer, trombonist and tiple player born in Kansas City, Missouri, perhaps best known as a band member of The Spirits of Rhythm which included guitarist Teddy Bunn...

 got featured billing. Soon Kirby's sextet was known as the Onyx Club Boys, and it took the shape it would basically hold until World War II, usually with
  • Kirby on bass
  • Charlie Shavers
    Charlie Shavers
    Charles James Shavers , known as Charlie Shavers, was an American swing era jazz trumpet player who played at one time or another with Dizzy Gillespie, Roy Eldridge, Johnny Dodds, Jimmy Noone, Sidney Bechet, Midge Williams and Billie Holiday...

     on trumpet
  • Buster Bailey
    Buster Bailey
    William C. "Buster" Bailey was a jazz musician specializing in the clarinet, but also well versed on saxophone...

     on clarinet
  • Russell Procope
    Russell Procope
    Russell Procope , an American clarinettist and alto saxophonist, was known best for his long tenure in the reed section of Duke Ellington's orchestra, where he was one of its two signature clarinet soloists....

     on alto saxophone
  • Billy Kyle
    Billy Kyle
    William Osborne "Billy" Kyle was an American jazz pianist.-Biography:Kyle was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He began playing the piano in school and by the early 1930s worked with Lucky Millinder, and later the Mills Blue Rhythm Band. In 1938, he joined John Kirby's band, but was drafted in...

     on piano
  • O'Neill Spencer
    O'Neill Spencer
    William "O'Neill" Spencer was a jazz drummer and singer. He is most known for his work in the John Kirby Sextet....

     on drums


"The Biggest Little Band in the Land," as its P.R. called it, began recording in August 1937 and immediately had something of a hit with a swing version of "Loch Lomond
Loch Lomond
Loch Lomond is a freshwater Scottish loch, lying on the Highland Boundary Fault. It is the largest lake in Great Britain by surface area. The lake contains many islands, including Inchmurrin, the largest fresh-water island in the British Isles, although the lake itself is smaller than many Irish...

." The group's name would vary with time and depending on who was officially credited as session leader: John Kirby and His Onyx Club Boys, John Kirby and His Orchestra, Buster Bailey and His Rhythm Busters, Buster Bailey and His Sextet. This would become one of the more significant "small groups" in the Big Band
Big band
A big band is a type of musical ensemble associated with jazz and the Swing Era typically consisting of rhythm, brass, and woodwind instruments totaling approximately twelve to twenty-five musicians...

 era and was also notable for making the first recording of Shavers's song "Undecided
Undecided
"Undecided" is a popular song written by Sid Robins and Charlie Shavers and published in 1938.The first recording was made by John Kirby and The Onyx Club Boys on October 28, 1938, and released by Decca Records as catalog number 2216, with the flip side "From A Flat to C".It was also recorded by...

". Vocals were often performed by Maxine Sullivan
Maxine Sullivan
Maxine Sullivan , born Marietta Williams, was an American blues and jazz singer.She was born in Homestead, Pennsylvania, and married jazz musician John Kirby in 1938 , and stride pianist Cliff Jackson in 1956...

, who became Kirby's wife in 1938 (divorced 1941). In 1938 four members of the group (Shavers, Bailey, Kyle and Kirby) participated in two recording sessions for Vocalion Records
Vocalion Records
Vocalion Records is a record label active for many years in the United States and in the United Kingdom.-History:Vocalion was founded in 1916 by the Aeolian Piano Company of New York City, which introduced a retail line of phonographs at the same time. The name was derived from one of their...

 (11th May and 23rd June) accompanying singer Billie Holiday
Billie Holiday
Billie Holiday was an American jazz singer and songwriter. Nicknamed "Lady Day" by her friend and musical partner Lester Young, Holiday had a seminal influence on jazz and pop singing...

 as Billie Holiday and her Orchestra.

Kirby tended toward a lighter, classically influenced style of jazz, often referred to as chamber jazz
Chamber jazz
Chamber jazz is a genre of jazz based around small, acoustic-based ensembles where group interplay is important. It is influenced aesthetically by musical neoclassicism and is often influenced by classical forms of non-Western music. That stated in many cases the influence is traditional Celtic...

, which has both strong defenders and ardent critics. He was very prolific and extremely popular from 1938-1941, but World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

 took away Kyle and Procope; bad emotional health ruined Spencer, who died from tuberculosis in 1944. Nevertheless, Kirby kept trying to lead a group in clubs and in the studio, occasionally managing to attract such talents as Dizzy Gillespie
Dizzy Gillespie
John Birks "Dizzy" Gillespie was an American jazz trumpet player, bandleader, singer, and composer dubbed "the sound of surprise".Together with Charlie Parker, he was a major figure in the development of bebop and modern jazz...

, Benny Carter
Benny Carter
Bennett Lester Carter was an American jazz alto saxophonist, clarinetist, trumpeter, composer, arranger, and bandleader. He was a major figure in jazz from the 1930s to the 1990s, and was recognized as such by other jazz musicians who called him King...

, Ben Webster
Ben Webster
Benjamin Francis Webster , a.k.a. "The Brute" or "Frog," was an influential American jazz tenor saxophonist. Webster, born in Kansas City, Missouri, was considered one of the three most important "swing tenors" along with Coleman Hawkins and Lester Young...

, Clyde Hart
Clyde Hart
Clyde Hart is the director of track and field at Baylor University. Hart retired as head coach for the Baylor track program on June 14, 2005 after 42 years with the program....

, Budd Johnson
Budd Johnson
Not to be confused with Buddy Johnson.Budd Johnson was an American jazz saxophonist and clarinetist who worked extensively with Ben Webster, Benny Goodman, Big Joe Turner, Coleman Hawkins, Dizzy Gillespie, Duke Ellington, Billie Holiday and Earl Hines, among others.-Biography:He initially played...

, and Zutty Singleton.

As Kirby's career declined, he drank too much and was beset by diabetes. After the war Kirby got the surviving sextet members back, with Sarah Vaughan
Sarah Vaughan
Sarah Lois Vaughan was an American jazz singer, described by Scott Yanow as having "one of the most wondrous voices of the 20th century."...

 as vocalist, but this didn't last long. He had one last hope with a December 1950 concert at Carnegie Hall, again reuniting with Bailey plus drummer Sid Catlett
Sid Catlett
Sidney Catlett , was a swinging jazz drummer often referred to as "Big Sid Catlett" because of his large frame.-Biography:...

, but the small turnout "crushed Kirby's spirit and badly damaged what little was left of his career." Kirby moved to Hollywood, 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...

, where he died just before a planned comeback.

Legacy

In 1993 Kirby was inducted into the Big Band and Jazz Hall of Fame
Jazz hall of fame
The term Jazz hall of fame can refer to the following institutions:* Alabama Jazz Hall of Fame * The Big Band and Jazz Hall of Fame , a defunct annual recognition by a non-profit organization based in North San Diego County, California...

. Unlike other then-popular "novelty" jazz groups (like Raymond Scott
Raymond Scott
Raymond Scott was an American composer, band leader, pianist, engineer, recording studio maverick, and electronic instrument inventor....

), the Kirby sextet is not particularly well remembered today, although in New York the Wayne Roberts Sextet (formerly the Onyx Club Sextet) pays tribute, and in France it is commemorated by the band Kirby Memory, with vocals by Flora Sicot. His small-group, light-jazz style is a great example of how swing can also be elegant.

Recently in the UK, trumpeter Enrico Tomasso played John Kirby arrangements with his Swing Six at the Naturist Foundation Jazz Festival, following success at a concert at the Cadogan Hall, London, with a group led by drummer Richard Pite. The Swing Six will be returning to the Naturist Foundation for the 2011 Festival at the end of June.

External links

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