Al Casey

Renowned for his lengthy collaboration with Fat Waller, Al Casey towers alongside the best possible acoustic guitarists from the golf swing era, boasting a subtly effective presence that flourished in personal musical contexts. Created Sept 15, 1915, in Louisville, KY, Casey was a kid prodigy who 1st used the violin, briefly shifting towards the ukulele before zeroing in on your guitar, which he researched at NY City’s DeWitt Clinton SENIOR HIGH SCHOOL. He became a member of Waller during his mid-teens, suggested to the famous pianist by his uncles, who fulfilled Waller while on tour making use of their gospel group the Southern Performers. Waller insisted Casey stay in college and earn his diploma just before he could join the group full-time, however the guitarist was a fixture of documenting sessions from the first ’30s onward, and also became a member of Waller on tour during prolonged vacation breaks. Casey continued to be using the group until Waller’s 1943 loss of life, appearing on a lot more than 200 traditional golf swing sides; the popular blues quantity “Buck Jumpin'” got form after Casey made an appearance late to some gig, prompting Waller to solitary him out on-stage and ask him to try out a solo. The effect was so electrifying that it had been later captured within the studio room. Casey also documented with trumpeter Louis Armstrong, vocalist Billie Vacation, vibist Lionel Hampton, and pianist Teddy Wilson, also signing up for the latter’s short-lived big music group in 1939. After Waller’s transferring, he used pianist Clarence Profit’s trio before assembling his very own trio, which headlined New York’s Onyx Membership for near per year before moving towards the Down Defeat. Around this period Casey transferred to the guitar, and in both 1944 and 1945 he was called the instrument’s best participant in Esquire magazine’s annual jazz poll; he spent a lot of the 10 years to follow being a gun-for-hire, capped off by way of a four-year cooperation with R&B saxophonist Ruler Curtis initiated in 1957. Casey briefly retired from music in 1961, employed in a Xerox duplicate shop before time for performing, recording periods to get vocalist Helen Humes and pianist Jay McShann. After another expanded period of pension, he resurfaced in 1981 using the Harlem Jazz and Blues Music group, which continued to be his primary automobile for another 2 decades; in 1994, he also trim his initial headlining date, putting your signature on towards the Jazzpoint label for the Tribute to “Fatty acids”. Following a long struggle with cancer of the colon, Casey passed away on Sept 11, 2005, simply days lacking his 90th birthday.