Jack Teagarden: King of the Jazz Trombone

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Jack Teagarden, born in Vernon, Texas, in 1905, was the most famous white jazz trombonist of the pre-swing era. Tommy Dorsey and Glenn Miller would soon eclipse Teagarden’s fame, but in the earliest days of jazz music, Teagarden was the trombone king. Teagarden expanded the role of the trombone from its strict “tailgate” function found in the early days of jazz music in New Orleans. Teagarden played the instrument in a more expressive manner and added a number of novel sounds in the expression of the instrument. For his influence on the development of jazz trombone, Teagarden has been dubbed “Father of the Jazz Trombone” by some.

Teagarden received tutoring from his father, who was also a musician, and would be working professionally while still in his teens in 1920. By the late twenties, Teagarden was playing and recording with a number of jazz stars, such as Louis Armstrong, Benny Goodman, Mezz Mezzrow, Eddie Condon, and Red Nichols.

In the Thirties, while the Great Depression was decimating the music business, Teagarden found shelter with the most successful band in jazz history, The Paul Whiteman Orchestra. While working with Whiteman provided him with financial security, it did not allow much in the way of creative freedom.  He later formed his own swing band but was met with failure. Eventually, Teagarden joined the ranks of the Louis Armstrong All Stars and, with Armstrong, would sing and play a number of memorable duets, of which “Rockin’ Chair” is best known. Teagarden died of a heart attack in 1964.

Despite Teagarden’s relative lack of recordings bearing his name, several compilations can be found of his excellent singing and trombone playing for other bandleaders. His 1961 album, “Mis’ry and the Blues,” is also worth checking out.

                                   

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JImmy Cliff: Too Many Rivers to Cross

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With the exception of Bob Marley, Jimmy Cliff is probably the most successful and well-known of Jamaica’s reggae exports. While Marley concentrated on roots reggae music and its inherent emphasis on politics and spiritual matters such as the Rastafarian religion, Cliff was much more of a pop performer, and his style of music is often referred to as pop reggae. As such, Cliff’s music is often appealing to non-reggae fans.

 Cliff was born James Chambers in Adelphi, St. James, Jamaica, in 1948. He made his recording debut as a teenager in 1962 with the hit song “Hurricane Hatty.” Two more hits, “Miss Jamaica” and “King of Kings,” would follow shortly thereafter.

In the late Sixties, Cliff would begin recording full-length albums, starting with his debut, “Hard Road to Travel” (1967), which was a pop recording with very little reggae content. His next release, “Jimmy Cliff” (1969), was a superb effort that was far superior to his tepid debut. The album was pure pop-reggae, replete with memorable tunes. The songs “Too Many Rivers to Cross” and “Vietnam” would become hits.

Cliff would record several more fine albums in the Seventies, including “Two Worlds” (1971) and “Struggling Man” (1973). Cliff appeared in the film “The Harder They Come,” about life in the slums of Jamaica, and several of his songs, including the title track, appear on the soundtrack to the film “The Harder They Come” (1972). This soundtrack is considered to be among the greatest movie soundtracks ever recorded.

 As roots-reggae artists such as Bob Marley, Peter Tosh, and Toots and the Maytals came to the fore, Cliff’s brand of

Pop-reggae began to lose prominence, and his star began to wane. Cliff continued to record into the 21st century and sadly passed on November 24, 2025.

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