Rozelle Claxton

Last updated February 19, 2019

Rozelle Claxton (February 5, 1913, Bartlett, Tennessee - March 30, 1995, Lake Forest, Illinois) was an American jazz pianist.

Bartlett is a city in Shelby County, Tennessee, United States, located northeast of Memphis. The population was 54,613 at the 2010 U.S. Census.

Lake Forest is a city located in Lake County, Illinois, United States. As of the 2010 census it had a population of 19,375. The city is along the shore of Lake Michigan, and is a part of the Chicago metropolitan area and the North Shore.

Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, United States, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, and developed from roots in blues and ragtime. Jazz is seen by many as "America's classical music". Since the 1920s Jazz Age, jazz has become recognized as a major form of musical expression. It then emerged in the form of independent traditional and popular musical styles, all linked by the common bonds of African-American and European-American musical parentage with a performance orientation. Jazz is characterized by swing and blue notes, call and response vocals, polyrhythms and improvisation. Jazz has roots in West African cultural and musical expression, and in African-American music traditions including blues and ragtime, as well as European military band music. Intellectuals around the world have hailed jazz as "one of America's original art forms".

Claxton learned piano at age 11 and was playing professionally with Clarence Davis by age 17, whose band was working with W.C. Handy. He played and arranged for Harlan Leonard and played solo in Chicago in the 1930s. Following this he played with Ernie Fields and Eddie South, and had a short stint as a substitute pianist in Count Basie's orchestra. Later in the 1940s he played with Walter Fuller, George Dixon, Earl Hines, Red Norvo, Jimmie Lunceford, and Andy Kirk. In the 1950s he did much work accompanying vocalists, including Pearl Bailey. He worked with Franz Jackson from 1959 well into the 1960s, in addition to continuing solo appearances in Chicago as an organist and pianist.

Clarence Eugene Davis is a former American football running back who played with the National Football League's Oakland Raiders from 1971 to 1978.

Harlan Leonard was an American jazz bandleader and clarinetist from Kansas City, Missouri.

Chicago, officially the City of Chicago, is the most populous city in Illinois and the third most populous city in the United States. As of the 2017 census-estimate, it has a population of 2,716,450, which makes it the most populous city in the Midwestern United States. Chicago is the county seat of Cook County, the second most populous county in the United States, and the principal city of the Chicago metropolitan area, which is often referred to as "Chicagoland." The Chicago metropolitan area, at nearly 10 million people, is the third-largest in the United States, the fourth largest in North America, and the third largest metropolitan area in the world by land area.

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Claxton is a surname. Notable people with the surname include:

References

Rozelle Claxton at Allmusic

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