Shifty Henry

John Willie " Shifty " Henry ( born October 4, 1921 in Edna, Texas, † November 30, 1958 in Los Angeles ) was an American musician (bass, trumpet) and composer in the field of jazz and R & B music.

Life and work

Henry studied music at the Prairie View A & M University near Houston and moved in 1944 to the conclusion to Los Angeles, where he was a musician, bandleader and arranger, inter alia, with Ernestine Anderson ( Cool Lovin 'Baby ), Billy Eckstine ( Sophisticated Lady 1947 # 24 on the charts ), Sonny Criss, Jack McVea, Dizzy Gillespie, Dexter Gordon, Big Joe Turner, Johnny Otis and the Treniers worked. One of his most famous songs, Let Me Go Home Whiskey was first recorded by Amos Milburn and was later a hit the country band Asleep At The Wheel. More songs like Henry's Dark Shadows, Hyping Woman Blues, Vacation Blues and Whiskey Do Your Stuff been covered, inter alia, by Ray Charles, BB King, Charlie Parker and T -Bone Walker. With its Shifty Henry All-Stars he played regularly at the New Year festival of Dorothy Chandler and her husband Otis, publisher of the Los Angeles Times.

For Leo Fender he played as one of the first musicians to the E -Bass Fender Precision Bass; Henry became a pioneer on this instrument. As a bassist, he can be seen in the film noir classic DOA ( 1950); Furthermore, he worked as a studio musician in television programs such as Dixie Showboat and also appeared in shows of Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis. He died in 1958 at the age of 37 years. His name was in the Leiber Stoller - song called Jailhouse Rock.