Booker Pittman or Pitman (3 March 1909,

Fairmount Heights, Maryland Fairmount Heights is a town in Prince George's County, Maryland, United States. Per the 2020 census, the population was 1,528. The town was formally incorporated in 1935, making the town the second oldest African-American-majority municipality ...

, USA – 19 October 1969,

Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro ( , , ; literally 'River of January'), or simply Rio, is the capital of the state of the same name, Brazil's third-most populous state, and the second-most populous city in Brazil, after São Paulo. Listed by the GaWC as a b ...

, Brasil) was a

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a major ...

clarinet The clarinet is a musical instrument in the woodwind family. The instrument has a nearly cylindrical bore and a flared bell, and uses a single reed to produce sound. Clarinets comprise a family of instruments of differing sizes and pitches ...

ist who played with

Louis Armstrong Louis Daniel Armstrong (August 4, 1901 – July 6, 1971), nicknamed "Satchmo", "Satch", and "Pops", was an American trumpeter and vocalist. He was among the most influential figures in jazz. His career spanned five decades and several era ...

and Count Basie in the US and Europe in the 1920s and 1930s. He also played alto and soprano saxophones.

Musical career

In 1930, Pittman was with Jap Allen's Cotton Club Orchestra, which featured Joe Keyes, Ben Webster, Jim "Big Daddy" Walker,

Clyde Hart Clyde Hart (born 1935) is the director of track and field at Baylor University. Hart retired as head coach for the Baylor track program on June 14, 2005 after 42 years with the program. Hart is primarily known as the only coach to have instructed ...

, Slim Moore, Raymond Howell, Eddie "Orange" White, Al Denny, O.C. Wynne, and Durwood "Dee" Stewart."Jap Allen's Cotton Club Orchestra, 1930".
University of Missouri-Kansas City. Retrieved 11 December 2022. He later joined Bennie Moten's band.''Jet'', pp. 58-61. 28 June 1962.
''Google Books''. Retrieved 11 December 2022. He left the US for the first time in 1933, when he went with

Lucky Millinder Lucius Venable "Lucky" Millinder (August 8, 1910 – September 28, 1966) was an American swing and rhythm-and-blues bandleader. Although he could not read or write music, did not play an instrument and rarely sang, his showmanship and musical ...

's orchestra to Monte Carlo, and then went to Paris, where he stayed for four years. During that period, he met a Brazilian musician named Romeo Silva, who took him on a tour of Brazil along with other musicians. After a year in Brazil, he moved to Buenos Aires, where he formed his own band, staying there until 1946, before returning to Brazil, where he was known by the nickname "Buca", and continuing his musical career there, playing at the Urca Casino.

Personal life

Pittman was the son of Portia Washington Pittman and William S. Pittman and a grandson of

Booker T. Washington Booker Taliaferro Washington (April 5, 1856November 14, 1915) was an American educator, author, orator, and adviser to several presidents of the United States. Between 1890 and 1915, Washington was the dominant leader in the African-American c ...

. He lived in Copacabana and befriended Jorge Guinle and Pixinguinha. He died of laryngeal

cancer Cancer is a group of diseases involving abnormal cell growth with the potential to invade or spread to other parts of the body. These contrast with benign tumors, which do not spread. Possible signs and symptoms include a lump, abnormal b ...

at his home in the São Paulo quarter of Vila Nova Conceição at the age of 60. At the behest of his wife Ofélia, he was transferred to

and laid to rest at the Cemitério São João Batista, in the quarter of

Botafogo Botafogo (local/standard alternative Brazilian Portuguese pronunciation: ) is a beachfront neighborhood (''bairro'') in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. It is a mostly upper middle class and small commerce community, and is located between the hills of M ...

. His stepdaughter

Eliana Pittman Eliana Pittman (born Eliana Leite Da Silva; August 14, 1945), is a Brazilian former singer and actress. Pittman was one of the more soulful singers of the early 1970s. The stepdaughter of the jazz saxophonist Booker Pittman, she was deeply infl ...

is a Brazilian jazz singer and actress.

References

Sources

*
Booker Pittman
' at

Dicionário Cravo Albin da Música Popular Brasileira The Dicionário Cravo Albin da Música Popular Brasileira (''Cravo Albin Dictionary of Brazilian Pop Music'') is a non-commercial website maintained by the Instituto Cultural Cravo Albin (Cravo Albin Cultural Institute). Its objective is to gathe ...

. * Booker Pittmanat

Allmusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...

Official Website of Eliana Pittman Kripto Para
1909 births 1969 deaths American jazz clarinetists 20th-century American musicians American expatriates in France American emigrants to Brazil {{US-clarinetist-stub