Eddie South

Eddie South ( born November 27, 1904 in Louisiana / Missouri, † April 25, 1962 in Chicago) was an American violinist.

Life and work

South was considered a musical prodigy, and received at the Chicago Musical College ( Florence Ziegfeld founded in 1867 ) is a classical training on the violin. Due to the limited performance opportunities for African Americans in this area, he turned to jazz music. At first, he played in vaudeville orchestras, which were open to jazz influences, especially at Freddie Keppard, Jimmy Wade, Charles Elgar, and Erskine Tate. In 1927 he founded his own group, Eddie South and his Alabamians, which was named after the Alabama Club in Chicago, where they performed first. He toured with this group through Europe ( 1928-1930 ). After spending time in Europe, originated in the recordings for the label Swing, showed in his game influences of Hungarian folk music and Roma music. In later bands Billy Taylor, Milt Hinton and Tommy Benford played. On a visit to Europe in 1937, he also played with Django Reinhardt and Stéphane Grappelli.

South was heard regularly on the radio and sometimes on television, but took in the LP era, only on a plate, The Distinguished Violin of Eddie South (1958).

Swell

• Red Hot Jazz Archive: Eddie South and his Alabamians ( discography )
• African- American Registry: Eddie South ( Biography, Eng. )