Joe Bushkin
Joe Bushkin (Joseph Bushkin; born November 7, 1916 in New York City; † November 3, 2004 in Santa Barbara, California ) was an American jazz pianist and band leader.
Life and work
The son of Russian immigrants learned piano as a child and later playing the trumpet and began his professional career in 1932 under Frank LaMarr at New York's Roseland Ballroom. At the age of nineteen he became a member of the Bunny Berigan Boys, which also Eddie Condon, and George Zack belonged. In 1936 he played on Billie Holiday's first own album, he also worked from 1936 to 1938 with Eddie Condon.
After Muggsy Spanier accompanied with his classic Relaxing at the Touro, he joined Tommy Dorsey's band at with which he grossed over one hundred recordings, including some with Frank Sinatra and Buddy Rich. For Sinatra, he also composed his first major title success Oh, Look at Me Now. From 1942 to 1946 Bushkin was as a trumpeter with the U.S. Army; 1944 he was musical director and arranger, a Commodore session with Lester Young and the Kansas City Six.
In 1946, he was the successor of Mel Powell in Benny Goodman's band, in the following year he undertook with Bud Freeman a tour of Brazil. Subsequently, he joined the jazz club The Embers with Milt Hinton, Buck Clayton and Jo Jones; In 1950 he released his first solo album, I Love a Piano. The following year, he headed Sinatra's band during his performances at New York's Paramount Theater. After a trip to England in 1953 he became a member of Louis Armstrong & His All-Stars.
After Bushkin had occurred with his bands in the 1950s and 1960s in the nightclubs of Manhattan, he übersiedlelte in 1969 with his family to England and settled in 1971 in Santa Barbara. 1976-77 he accompanied Bing Crosby on his last tour. In 1984, he entered into a concert on his fifty years on the stage at New York's Regis Hotel for the last time.
Discography
- I Love a Piano, solo album, 1950
- Piano Moods, solo album, 1950
- After-hours, solo album, 1951
- Midnight Rhapsody, 1955
- A Fellow Needs a Girl, Solo Album, 1956
- Bushkin Spotlights Berlin, solo album, 1956
- Skylight Rhapsody, solo album, 1956
- Joe Bushkin in Concert Town Hall with Ed Shaughnessy, Chuck Wayne, Milt Hinton, 1963 (2002)
- Night Sounds of San Francisco, solo album, 1965
- The Road to Oslo & Play It Again Joe with Bing Crosby, Howard Alden, Dan Barrett, Phil Bodner, Al Grey, Jake Hanna, Warren Vache, Major Holley, Johnny Smith, Milt Hinton, Butch Miles, Glenn Osser, 1977