Clarence Profit

Clarence Profit ( born June 26, 1912 in New York City; † October 22, 1944 ) was an American jazz pianist, bandleader and composer of the swing era.

Life and work

Profit began playing the piano at three years; as a teenager, he performed in various local bands; with his childhood friend Edgar Sampson, he could also be heard on the radio. He had the head of a ten -piece band, a series of engagements. 1930/31 originated with the Teddy Bunn Washboard Serenaders first recordings for Victor. Then he led an octet on Antigua, but also visited the Bermudas. In 1936 he returned to New York where he regularly made ​​guest appearances with own trio in the local clubs as well as in Boston. 1939/40, took profit on with his trio of Billy Moore or Jimmy Shirley on guitar, and with bassist Ben Brown Brunswick, Decca and Columbia, stylistically based on Swing and a bit on stride piano. Along with Edgar Sampson he composed the piece " Lullaby in Rhythm ", the later by the covers of musicians such as Joe Albany, Dave Brubeck, June Christy, Herb Geller, Benny Goodman, Dexter Gordon, Woody Herman, Charlie Parker, Bud Powell, Lucky Thompson, Art Tatum or Allan Vache became a jazz standard.

Appreciation

According to Leonard Feather reported its outgoing from Stride recordings with their harmonic richness far into the future of jazz. Scott Yanow regrets that profit with his early death was forgotten, though he was highly esteemed by his contemporaries as a very talented swing pianist.

Recordings of Clarence Profit Trio

Lexical entries

• Carlo Bohländer et al: Reclams jazz leader. Reclam, Stuttgart, 1989
• Wolf Kampmann: Reclam Jazz Encyclopedia Stuttgart 2003; ISBN 3-15-010528-5