Slim Gaillard
Bulee "Slim" Gaillard ( born January 4, 1916 in Detroit, † February 26, 1991 in London) was an American jazz singer, pianist and guitarist, best known for his duo Slim & Slam.
Life and work
He was born as the son of German immigrant Theopolous Rothschild and the African American Liza Gaillard and grew up in Detroit. His father worked as a steward on a cruise ship and took Gaillard sometimes with ( according to his stories he once even "forget" him on Crete have ). He played piano ( boogie -woogie style), guitar and vibraphone. In Detroit, he worked - as its own data - temporarily as a mortician, trying to be a boxer and during Prohibition than alcohol smugglers for the " Purple Gang ". Then he went on with a number, in which he played guitar and quilted at the same time, so he wanted to perform in the 1930s in New York City in vaudeville.
1936-1942 he had great success there as part of the duo Slim and Slam with bassist Slam Stewart. They had the 1938 hit Flatfoot Floogie ( Floy Floy with a ), which followed, more like Laughin ' in rhythm and Tutti Frutti ( no identity with Little Richard's Tutti Frutti, but composed by Doris Fisher) of the improvisational artist Gaillard at performances often varied greatly. With the humorous presented Dada -like nonsense texts in which Gaillard likes to speak Spanish, Chinese or other gibberish and themed play an important role, the duo enjoyed then cult status (as in Jack Kerouac 's On the road described in 1957 ), in particular in Hollywood, where she appeared in the comedy Hellzapoppin ' (directed by Henry Codman Potter) 1941. Gaillard's conscription for military service in the U.S. Air Force during the war led to the end of cooperation as Slim & Slam.
After his release in 1944 Gaillard moved to Los Angeles where he worked in a similar formation as with Stewart in "Billy Berg 's Hollywood Boulevard Club" occurred with bassist Bam Brown ( Slim and Bam ). In 1945, she had hit the Cement Mixer ( Puti Puti ), 1946 had Gaillard 's longer piece The Groove Juice special ( Opera in Vout) in Los Angeles Premiere ( " Vout " called Gaillard his nonsense language ). In 1945 he can be heard in a bebop session with, inter alia, Dizzy Gillespie and Charlie Parker (Slim 's Jam ). They played his hit Flatfoot Floogie than typical bop number that is interrupted by scat singing, they also took Slim's Jam, Dizzy Boogie and Popity pop on.
Gaillard played with Miles Davis, Percy Heath and John Lewis. In Los Angeles he recorded in a combo with Zutty Singleton, Dodo Marmarosa and Brown. Other hits were down by the station of 1948 and Yep Roc 's Heresay of 1951. At the height of its popularity in the late 1940er/Anfang the 1950s he was sought after as the opening number at Birdland in 1953 was with Jazz at the Philharmonic and also adopted for Verve on. In the late 1950s he was with Stan Kenton on tour.
From the 1960s on, he had a variety of occupations as a Hatter, Motel Manager in San Diego, electricians and even as a fruit farmer in Tacoma. From the late 1960s he was more common in television films. As an actor he played in the second season of the television series Roots in 1979.
In 1970 he again played at the Monterey Jazz Festival with Slam Stewart and in the 1970s also with Gillespie, who persuaded him in 1982, in jazz to become active again. In the 1980s, he had a comeback, toured European jazz festivals ( with principal residence London), but also with Daniel Huck with great success in Japan, and released the album Anytime, Anyplace, Anywhere, in which, inter alia, Buddy Tate Jay McShann, Peter Ind and Digby Fairweather participated. In the musical film Absolute Beginners in 1986 (directed by Julien Temple ) he sings at a party selling out. The BBC turned in 1989 a multi-part film The World of Slim Gaillard about him. He died in London in 1991 from cancer.
His daughter Janis Hunter was 1977-1981 wife of Marvin Gaye and is the mother of actress and singer Nona Gaye (b. 1974).
Discography (selection)
The work of Slim Gaillard is on Classics - documented 1937-38, 1939-40, 1940-42, 1945 Vol 1 & 2, 1946 and 1947-1951. On Slim Gaillard 1945 Vol 2 he plays with Slam Stewart, Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie and Dodo Marmarosa (Slim 's Jam ). On BeBop 's Heartbeat Floogie can be found next to the Flatfoot also written by Gaillard numbers Dizzy Boogie, Popity pop and Slim's Jam.
Further issues are:
- Slim's Jam ( Topaz, 1938-46 )
- The Absolute Voutest, '46 (Hep Records, 1946)
- BeBop 's Heartbeat (Rec. 1945 & 1947), with Slim Gaillard, Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie, John Lewis, Al McKibbon, Joe Harris and Zutty Singleton
- The Legendary McVouty (Hep, 1946)
- Cement Mixer, Putti Putti ( President, 1945-49)
- Slim Gaillard Rides Again ( Verve, 1959)
- Anytime, Anyplace, Anywhere (Hep, 1982)