Jimmy Blanton

Jimmy Blanton is a American born in October 1918 with Chattanooga, Tennessee, and dead Contrebassiste the July 30th 1942 with Los Angeles, California.

Biography

He learns very young person the Violon with his mother, who directs an orchestra, and the musical theory with his uncle. Raise of “Tennessee State College”, it learns there the Contrebasse and fact bets orchestra of the school, then several local orchestras of which that of Fate Marable, which occurs on the riverboats. It gives up its studies in 1937 and leaves to Saint Louis, where it integrates the To throw-Pillars Orchestrated. It is at Saint Louis that Duke Ellington discovers it: it urges it to divide the post of double bass player of its orchestra, at the sides of Billy Taylor. But Jimmy Blanton is reached of tuberculosis and, hospitalized with fine Los Angeles 1941, dies a few months later at the twenty-four years age.

Jimmy Blanton is the cousin of Wendell Marshall, also double bass player of Duke Ellington.

Its style

Engulfing itself in the way half-opened by Milt Hinton, John Kirby and Slam Stewart, Jimmy Blanton completes to release the double bass of its role of simple rhythmic and harmonic support to make a voice with whole share of them. The flexibility of its play slices with the stiffness of that of the majority of its predecessors, his attack is frank, its hot and round sonority. And its follower are legion. To quote only some of them: Ray Brown, Charles Mingus, Oscar Pettiford and Scott LaFaro. Without forgetting Richard Davis, owner since the Years 1950 of the double bass of Jimmy Blanton , which Wendell Marshall gave him.

Reference mark discographics

Jack The Bear (Duke Ellington, 1940)
Jumpin' Pumpkin (idem)
John Hard' ys Wife (idem, 1941)
Pitter Panther Patter (in duet with Duke at the piano, 1940)
Squatty Roo (Johnny Hodges, 1941)

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