Nicholas Rodriguez

This artist was one of the primary wave of Cuban immigrants who became heavily involved with American jazz. A niche throughout his profession was working like a “second” or back-up pianist in a variety of big-name clothes. He both toured and documented with Jelly Move Morton with this capability in the past due ’20s and early ’30s, turning up in a few credits beneath the name of Goodwin Rodriques. He also found the nickname “Pole” in early stages in the jazz picture, occasionally manipulated by vowel-switchers into “Crimson” — probably because there are a lot of music artists with this nickname, probably because he hailed from Havana. In the ’60s this pianist was still recognized to play the alternative game, often getting the piano bench from Billy Kyle in the continuously toiling combo of Louis Armstrong. Additional traditional jazz bandleading greats that positioned Rodriguez within their tempo areas included Benny Carter in 1933 and Don Redman in both 1938 and 1940. Among the pianist’s Latin jazz contacts had been the San Domingans, an ensemble centered out of NEW YORK, as well as the talented Alberto Socarras, who kept down a reliable gig at a internet casino. In the middle-’40s Rodriguez was on many USO trips abroad, usually associated the vocalist Frances Brooks. The pianist was known for support seniors trumpet statesman in the ’50s and ’60s — included in this the earlier mentioned Satchmo, Doc Cheatham, and Johnny Coles.