Topsy - Edger Battle - Eddie Durham - Jazz Piano

Gotta Love Piano
Gotta Love Piano
449
0
Published 2023-04-21
Topsy
Jazz Piano
Written by Edger Battle and Eddie Durham
-
Brave Users: We now accept BAT coins! However, if you know a charity that accepts BAT coin please donate it to them. They probably need it more than we do. (Please let me know the charity name in the comments).
-
On Wikipedia (dated 4/21/2023):
Edgar "Puddinghead" Battle (October 3, 1907 – February 6, 1977) was an American jazz multi-instrumentalist, composer, and arranger. He performed on trumpet, trombone, saxophone, and keyboard.

Battle was born into a musical family in Atlanta. He started playing trumpet and formed his own band, the Dixie Serenaders, while he was a student at Morris Brown University in 1921. The group changed their name to Dixie Ramblers a few years later.

Battle played with Eddie Heywood Sr., and toured with the 101 Ranch Boys traveling show. In the 1920s, he worked with Gene Coy, Andy Kirk, Blanche Calloway, Ira Coffey, and Willie Bryant. He moved to New York City in the early 1930s and did short stints with Benny Carter and Sam Wooding before joining George White's ensemble on Broadway. Over time, he began doing more work as a studio musician and arranger, writing charts for Cab Calloway, Paul Whiteman, Fats Waller, Earl Hines, Rudy Vallee, and Count Basie.

During World War II, Battle held a position as an electrician in a shipyard, concomitantly running a big band with Shirley Clay. In the 1950s, he founded Cosmopolitan Records, and continued to play in big bands part-time through the 1960s. Among his numerous jazz compositions are the pieces "Topsy" (co-composed with Eddie Durham) and "Doggin' Around" (with Herschel Evans).

Edgar Battle died in New York in February 1977, at the age of 69.
-
Edward Durham (August 19, 1906 – March 6, 1987)[1] was an American jazz guitarist, trombonist, composer, and arranger. He was one of the pioneers of the electric guitar in jazz. The orchestras of Bennie Moten, Jimmie Lunceford, Count Basie, and Glenn Miller took great benefit from his composing and arranging skill.

With Edgar Battle he composed "Topsy", which was recorded by Count Basie and became a hit for Benny Goodman.

In 1938, Durham wrote "I Don't Want to Set the World on Fire" with Bennie Benjamin, Sol Marcus, and Eddie Seiler. During the 1940s, Durham created Eddie Durham's All-Star Girl Orchestra, an African-American all female swing band that toured the United States and Canada.

Durham was born in San Marcos, Texas, on August 19, 1906, to Joseph Durham Sr. and Luella Rabb (née Mohawk) Durham. From an early age, Durham performed with his family in the Durham Brothers Band. At the age of eighteen, he began traveling and playing in regional bands.

From 1929, Durham started experimenting to enhance the sound of his guitar using resonators and megaphones. In 1935, he was the first to record an electrically amplified guitar with Jimmie Lunceford in "Hittin' the Bottle" that was recorded in New York for Decca. In 1938, Durham recorded single string electric guitar solos with the Kansas City Five (or Six), which were both smallish groups that included members of Count Basie's rhythm section along with the tenor saxophone playing of Lester Young.

Discography
As leader
~ Eddie Durham (RCA, 1974)
~ Blue Bone (JSP, 1981)
As sideman
~ Bennie Moten, Band Box Shuffle (2CD) (Hep 1929–32)
~ Jimmie Lunceford, The Complete Jimmie Lunceford Vol. 3, 4, 5 (Decca, 1935–39) - Reissued in ~ Europe by Medià 7
~ Count Basie, The Complete Decca Recordings (3CD) (Decca 1937–41)
~ Lester Young, Lester Young with the Kansas City Five (Commodore, 1938)
~ Glenn Miller, The Complete Glenn Miller (13CD) (RCA Bluebird 1938–42)

Selected compositions and arrangements
Bennie Moten:
"Moten Swing" (1932) (c, a)
Jimmie Lunceford:
"Rhapsody junior" (1935) with Edwin Wilcox
"Oh! Boy" (1935)
"Avalon" (1935)
"Hittin' the Bottle" (1935)
"Harlem Shout" (1936)
"Runnig A Temperature" (1936)
"Honey Keep Your Mind On Me" (1936)
"Count Me Out" (1936)
"Pigeon Walk" (1937)
"Wham (Re.Bop.Boom-Bam)" (1939)
"Lunceford Special" (1939)
"Blues In The Groove" (1939)
"It's Time To Jump And Shout" (1939)
Count Basie:
"Time Out" (Decca, 1937)
"Topsy" (Decca, 1937)
"Swinging the Blues" (Decca, 1938)
"Jumpin' at the Woodside" (Decca, 1938)[7]
Glenn Miller
"In The Mood" (RCA Bluebird 1939)
"Slip Horn Jive" (RCA Bluebird 1939)
"Wham (Re.Bop.Boom-Bam)" (RCA Bluebird 1939)
All Comments (21)