Freddie Slack
Freddie Slack ( born August 7, 1910 in Westby at La Crosse (Wisconsin ) as Frederick Charles Slack, † August 10 1965 in Los Angeles ) was an American pianist, composer and big band leader in the swing and boogie woogie.
Life and work
Freddie Slack was at first drummer and came to Chicago in 1927, where he soon switched to piano; During this time he played in Johnny Tobin's Orchestra. In 1931, he moved to Los Angeles, where he played in the bands of Henry Halstead, Earl Burtnett, Archie Lennie Hayton and Rosate. From 1934 to 1936 he was with Ben Pollack, then went to Jimmy Dorsey, where the drummer Ray McKinley played, whom he knew from his early days. In 1939 he was a founding member of the Will Bradley Orchestra with Ray McKinley. Slack had the nickname Daddy Slack and played the piano solo in a well-known recordings of Bradley's "Beat me Daddy, Eight to the Bar", which was one of the early boogie -woogie hits and a tribute to the legendary pianist Peck Kelley.
1942 broke up after the departure of the McKinley Bradley band due to the entry into the war on and Slack put a band together; Theme song was composed in collaboration with McKinley "Strange Cargo". However, the major breakthrough came in 1942, when the seventeen -year-old Ella Mae Morse was come as a band singer. This year also first recordings were for the newly founded by Johnny Mercer Label Capitol, so in May 1942 his " Cow Cow Boogie" with Ella Mae Morse, who was a number-one hit in the U.S. soon. The single was a huge sales success for Capitol and earned him the first gold record. Another hit for Slacks band was "Mr. Five by Five ". It came even to 1947 further recordings for Capitol.
The arrangers of the Slack Band was Les Baxter, who also played tenor saxophone in the band, and Phil Moore, who also wrote an ambitious composition for the Slack Band, the " Fugue for barroom piano ( and Symphony Orchestra ) ", which, although was performed in Los Angeles, but never recorded. In Slacks band occasionally played Charlie Byrd, Floyd O'Brien, Howard Rumsey, Cliffie Stone, Buzz Gardner and Herbie Steward; 1942-1944 was also T-Bone Walker Member of Slacks band; this also worked on Walker's first recordings under his own name ( "I Got a Break Baby" / "Mean ld World"). Jimmy Knepper Also, Dick and Cliffie Stone Meldonian were briefly at the Slack Band.
During this period, Freddie Slack's band also appeared in some Hollywood films, B-movies from Universal and Republic with how Reveille with Beverly, Hat Check Honey 1943 Seven Days Ashore, Take it Big, Babes on Swing Street 1944 High School Hero in the year 1946. 1943 the band in the Sky 's the Limit was seen, with Fred Astaire and Joan Leslie in the lead roles.
The late 1940s, Freddie Slack fell into oblivion and had to give up the band in the early 1950s. He worked primarily as an arranger and went on until the 1960s in clubs of Los Angeles; occasionally he led smaller ensembles, so at a recording session for EmArcy in 1955, when the album Boogie Woogie on the 88 came with a brass section, inter alia, from Shorty Sherock and Herbie Harper; the arrangements originated by Benny Carter. Slack also worked on recordings and Others by Big Joe Turner, Johnny Mercer, Margaret Whiting ( " That Old Black Magic" ) and Lisa Morrow.
Freddie Slack composed about 20 to 30 items; probably be biggest success was "The House of Blue Lights ," which he wrote with Don Raye. The song was later interpreted by numerous artists, including the Andrew Sisters, Commander Cody, Asleep At The Wheel, Meat Puppets, Chuck Berry and George Thorogood.
In the original version of Don Raye song " Down the Road a Piece", which was first recorded in 1940 by the Will Bradley Orchestra, Slack is mentioned in the lyrics:
If you like to boogie woogie, I know the place. It's just an old piano and a knocked out bass. The drummer man's a guy they call Eight Beat Mack. And you remember Doc and old " Beat Me Daddy" Slack.
Eight Beat Mack was referring to Ray McKinley, and Doc on the band bassist Doc Goldberg.
Disco Graphical Notes
- Mr. Freddie 's Boogie ( High Note )