Billy Banks (singer)

William " Billy" Banks ( * 1908 in Alton, Illinois, † October 19, 1967 in Tokyo ) was an American jazz singer.

Billy Banks was known in jazz circles, as the producer Irving Mills invited him in 1932 to recordings with a racially mixed group of musicians such as Red Allen, Pee Wee Russell, Fats Waller, Tommy Dorsey, Eddie Condon and Zutty Singleton under the name of Billy Banks ' Rhythm Makers; while the title "Spider Crawl " and " Yellow Dog Blues" emerged. Most of the African-American musicians were from the band of Luis Russell, while the white musicians of Mills were brought into the studio. Because of its female voice you thought at the time the recordings were from Una Mae Carlisle, but Banks was indeed the singer. With Luis Russell's band he worked as a showman and singer who later worked with Noble Sissle. From 1938 to 1951 he performed in cabaret shows by Billy Rose, as his Diamond Horseshoe; then he settled down in England in 1952, where recorded with Freddy Randall's orchestra emerged. In the 1950s he toured Europe, Australia and East Asia. In 1954 an album in Denmark with Cy Laurie was born. In the late 1950s he moved to Japan, where he died in Tokyo in 1967.

Disco Graphical Notes

• Billy Banks 1932 ( Classics ) by Fats Waller, Gene Krupa, Eddie Condon, Red Allen, Pee Wee Russell, Zutty Singleton, Tommy Dorsey
• Henry Red Allen: Henry Allen Collection Vol 1 ( Collector, 1932)
• Sidney Bechet: 1937-1938 ( Classics )
• Pee Wee Russell The Land of Oz ( Topaz, 1927-1944 )

Web Links / Source

• Billy Banks at All Music Guide

Swell

• John Jorgensen & Erik Wiedemann: Jazz Encyclopedia. Munich, Mosaic, 1960

• Jazz Singer
• American musician
• Born in 1908
• Died in 1967
• Man