Bobby Stark

Among the great unsung trumpeters from the 1920s, Bobby Stark was a significant soloist using the Fletcher Henderson Orchestra; his improvisations on three documented variations of “Ruler Porter Stomp” (the 1st one becoming in 1928) had been arguably more fascinating and innovative than Bunny Berigan’s popular single on Benny Goodman’s strike record in 1935. Stark, who began playing alto horn when he was 15, analyzed piano and reeds before buying the trumpet. He previously brief stints in NY with June Clark (1925), Edgar Dowell, Leon Abbey, Duncan Mayers, Bobby Lee, Billy Butler, Charles Turner, the first edition of McKinney’s Natural cotton Pickers and Chick Webb (1926-1927). Stark was a significant asset with Fletcher Henderson’s Orchestra during 1927-1933, soloing on many information and, although displaying the impact of Louis Armstrong, he frequently sounded quite initial. With Henderson, Stark kept his personal with such fellow trumpeters as Cootie Williams, Rex Stewart, and Henry “Crimson” Allen. Ironically, his following association, with Chick Webb’s Orchestra during 1934-1939, discovered him overshadowed totally by trumpeter Taft Jordan; both trumpeters had comparable styles through the period and Jordan (who doubled like a vocalist) got almost all from the promotion. After Webb’s loss of life in 1939, Stark remained with the music group (beneath the management of Ella Fitzgerald) for yet another year and freelanced. He was within the Army for any year (1942-1943), used Garvin Bushell (1944) and Benny Morton’s Sextet, and passed away prematurely. How he’d have dealt with the innovations from the bop period will never become known. Bobby Stark, who by no means led an archive day of his personal, has a right to be rediscovered for his efforts to Fletcher Henderson’s Orchestra.