Carl "Tatti" Smith (born c. 1908, date of death unknown) was an American jazz trumpeter, best known for his performances with Count Basie and others in the 1930s and 1940s.
He was born in Marshall, Texas, probably around 1908 although details are unknown. He played in bands such as those of George Corley and Terrence Holder in and around Kansas City in the early 1930s. [1] He also toured in California with Gene Coy's band, and played in Texas with Alphonso Trent. [2] By 1936 he had returned to Kansas City, where he played in Count Basie's band with Lester Young, Walter Page, Jo Jones, and Jimmy Rushing. He was also co-leader with Jo Jones of a sextet, Jones–Smith, Inc., a faux name given by John Hammond as Basie was under contract to Decca, which gave Lester Young an historical solo. [3] In 1937 he joined Skeets Tolbert's Gentlemen of Swing. In the late 1930s and early 1940s he played with a number of popular bands including those of Benny Carter, Leon Abbey, Oran "Hot Lips" Page, and Chris Columbus. [1] [3]
After the end of World War II, Smith traveled to South America. He performed in Argentina and Brazil during the 1950s. However, no record of him seems to exist after that time. [1] [3]
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With Count Basie
William James "Count" Basie was an American jazz pianist, organist, bandleader, and composer. In 1935, he formed the Count Basie Orchestra, and in 1936 took them to Chicago for a long engagement and their first recording. He led the group for almost 50 years, creating innovations like the use of two "split" tenor saxophones, emphasizing the rhythm section, riffing with a big band, using arrangers to broaden their sound, his minimalist piano style, and others.
The swing era was the period (1933–1947) when big band swing music was the most popular music in the United States, especially for teenagers. Though this was its most popular period, the music had actually been around since the late 1920s and early 1930s, being played by black bands led by such artists as Duke Ellington, Jimmie Lunceford, Bennie Moten, Cab Calloway, Earl Hines, and Fletcher Henderson, and white bands from the 1920s led by the likes of Jean Goldkette, Russ Morgan and Isham Jones. An early milestone in the era was from "the King of Swing" Benny Goodman's performance at the Palomar Ballroom in Los Angeles on August 21, 1935, bringing the music to the rest of the country. The 1930s also became the era of other great soloists: the tenor saxophonists Coleman Hawkins, Ben Webster and Lester Young; the alto saxophonists Benny Carter and Johnny Hodges; the drummers Chick Webb, Gene Krupa, Jo Jones and Sid Catlett; the pianists Fats Waller and Teddy Wilson; the trumpeters Louis Armstrong, Roy Eldridge, Bunny Berigan, and Rex Stewart.
Paul Quinichette was an American jazz tenor saxophonist. He was known as the "Vice President" or "Vice Prez" for his emulation of the breathy style of Lester Young, whose nickname was "The President", or simply "Prez". Young called Quinichette "Lady Q".
Oran Thaddeus "Hot Lips" Page was an American jazz trumpeter, singer, and bandleader. He was known as a scorching soloist and powerful vocalist.
Lester Willis Young, nicknamed "Pres" or "Prez", was an American jazz tenor saxophonist and occasional clarinetist.
The Count Basie Orchestra is a 16- to 18-piece big band, one of the most prominent jazz performing groups of the swing era, founded by Count Basie in 1935 and recording regularly from 1936. Despite a brief disbandment at the beginning of the 1950s, the band survived long past the big band era itself and the death of Basie in 1984. It continues under the direction of trumpeter Scotty Barnhart.
Walter Sylvester Page was an American jazz multi-instrumentalist and bandleader, best known for his groundbreaking work as a double bass player with Walter Page's Blue Devils and the Count Basie Orchestra.
The Oklahoma City Blue Devils was the premier American Southwest territory jazz band in the 1920s. Originally called Billy King's Road Show, it disbanded in Oklahoma City in 1925 where Walter Page renamed it. The name Blue Devils came from the name of a gang of fence cutters operating during the early days of the American West.
William Wells, known professionally as Dicky Wells, was an American jazz trombonist.
From Spirituals to Swing was the title of two concerts presented by John Hammond in Carnegie Hall on 23 December 1938 and 24 December 1939. The concerts included performances by Count Basie, Benny Goodman, Big Joe Turner and Pete Johnson, Helen Humes, Meade Lux Lewis, Albert Ammons, Mitchell's Christian Singers, the Golden Gate Quartet, James P. Johnson, Big Bill Broonzy and Sonny Terry.
Kansas City jazz is a style of jazz that developed in Kansas City, Missouri during the 1920s and 1930s, which marked the transition from the structured big band style to the much more improvisational style of bebop. The hard-swinging, bluesy transition style is bracketed by Count Basie, who in 1929 signed with Bennie Moten's Kansas City Orchestra, and Kansas City native Charlie Parker, who promoted the bebop style in America.
Henry Franklin "Buster" Smith, also known as Professor Smith, was an American jazz alto saxophonist and mentor to Charlie Parker. Smith was instrumental in instituting the Texas Sax Sound with Count Basie and Lester Young in the 1930s.
Herschel "Tex" Evans was an American tenor saxophonist who was a member of the Count Basie Orchestra. He also worked with Lionel Hampton and Buck Clayton. He is also known for starting his cousin Joe McQueen's interest in the saxophone. Joe McQueen, living until 2019 at age 100, may well have been the last surviving person to have known Herschel during his lifetime.
"One O'Clock Jump" is a jazz standard; a 12-bar blues instrumental, written by Count Basie in 1937.
Edward Durham 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.
Gene Ramey was an American jazz double bassist.
Lester Rallingston "Shad" Collins was an American jazz trumpet player, composer and arranger, who played in several leading bands between the 1930s and 1950s, including those led by Chick Webb, Benny Carter, Count Basie, Lester Young, Cab Calloway and Sam "The Man" Taylor.
Joe Keyes was an American jazz trumpeter during the 1930s and 1940s with the band of Bennie Moten, Count Basie, and Hot Lips Page.
The Original American Decca Recordings is a 1992 compilation 3-CD set of sessions led by jazz bandleader Count Basie recorded for the Decca label between 1937 and 1939.
Classic Columbia, Okeh and Vocalion: Lester Young with Count Basie (1936–1940) is a compilation album featuring recordings of some of 1936–1940 sessions by jazz musicians Lester Young and Count Basie. Released by Mosaic Records in 2008, the box set was limited to 5,000 copies. The compilation was reviewed positively by music critics, with most of them commending the artists and their performances, as well as the technical quality of the record.