- Born
- Died
- Birth nameJames Columbus McShann
- Nickname
- Hootie
- Blues musician Jay McShann was born in Muskogee, OK, in 1916. As a young man he taught himself to play the piano. At 20 years of age he moved to Kansas City, MO, and secured gigs playing in the city's jazz clubs and lounges. He normally played with a quartet, but in 1938 he expanded that to a seven-piece band, expanding it again to an 11-piece outfit the next year (one of its members was future sax legend Charlie Parker). The band became wildly popular in Kansas City and in 1941 it signed a recording deal with Decca Records.
The band was amassing a large following in Kansas City when World War Ii broke out, and many of its members found themselves drafted into the armed forces, including McShann himself. After the war, McShann put together another band, although a much smaller one this time and oriented more towards R&B than blues (among this band's members was Jimmy Witherspoon). The band recorded regularly, but by the 1950s the emergence of rock-and-roll meant that McShann's blues/swing/R&B sound was on its way out. The band broke up, but McShann himself continued performing. In the 1970s he made several tours of Europe. In 1988 he was inducted into the Blues Foundation Hall of Fame.
He died in Kansas City, MO, on December 7, 2006.- IMDb mini biography by: frankfob2@yahoo.com
- Jazz pianist and blues singer.
- Inducted into the Big Band and Jazz Hall of Fame in 1985.
- McShann set up his first band at Martin's in Kansas City, MO, in 1937. Among the sidemen were altoist Charlie Parker (who got his start here), tenor saxophonist Paul Quinichette and blues singer Walter Brown. The group was signed to a recording contract with Decca Records, which further cemented its popularity. McShann disbanded the band in late 1943 to join the military, reforming in 1945 with a year-long residency at the Downbeat Club in New York. From June 1946 the band was based on the West Coast, performing at the Susie Q and Cobra Clubs in L.A. During the 1950s and 1960s McShann led smaller blues-tinged combos, as well as performing solo, mainly in Kansas City. He also went on tour through Europe (1969-70) and subsequently became a regular on the international festival circuit.
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