Bob Zurke (January 7, 1912 – February 16, 1944) was an American jazz pianist, arranger, composer and briefly a bandleader during the Swing era.

Biography

Born Boguslaw Albert Zukowski in

Hamtramck, Michigan Hamtramck ( ) is a city in Wayne County in the U.S. state of Michigan. As of the 2020 census, the city population was 28,433. Hamtramck is surrounded by the city of Detroit except for a small portion that borders the fellow enclave city of ...

, United States, he was already using the name Bob Zurke professionally by the age of 16, when he first recorded with a group led by pioneering female jazz bassist Thelma Terry. At that time, Zurke also began to work as a copyist for the Detroit-based booking agency run by

Jean Goldkette John Jean Goldkette (March 18, 1893 – March 24, 1962) was a jazz pianist and bandleader. Life Goldkette was reportedly born on March 18, 1893 in Valenciennes, France,Russel B. Nye (1976). Music in the Twenties: The Jean Goldkette Orchestra ...

. Through the end of 1936, Zurke worked in various Detroit clubs, mostly as a band pianist, and occasionally went on tour with other groups; it was in this period that Zurke developed a long friendship with pianist

Marvin Ash Marvin E. Ashbaugh (October 4, 1914 – August 21, 1974) was an American jazz pianist. Early life He was born in Lamar, Colorado. His father, Roy Ashbaugh, was a barber. His mother's name was Nora (Tuttle) Ashbaugh. He grew up in Junction Cit ...

, who would later go on to record some of Zurke's compositions. At the beginning of 1937, Zurke was hired by bandleader

Bob Crosby George Robert Crosby (August 23, 1913 – March 9, 1993) was an American jazz singer and bandleader, best known for his group the Bob-Cats, which formed around 1935. The Bob-Cats were a New Orleans Dixieland-style jazz octet. He was the young ...

to fill in for

Joe Sullivan Michael Joseph O'Sullivan (November 4, 1906 – October 13, 1971) was an American jazz pianist. Sullivan was the ninth child of Irish immigrant parents. He studied classical piano for 12 years and at age 17, he began to play popular music in si ...

, then ailing with tuberculosis. It was with Crosby that Zurke gained notice; he contributed arrangements to the band's book and was a featured soloist on several numbers, including his arrangement of Meade Lux Lewis' "

Honky Tonk Train Blues "Honky Tonk Train Blues" is a song written by Meade Lux Lewis, and first recorded in 1927. A proto boogie-woogie song, it has many of the traits that would come to be identified with rock and roll. It is also the first recorded use of the term "h ...

", which became a hit. In 1938, Bob Zurke was named the winner in the piano category in the Reader's Poll from '' Down Beat'' and, in the course of

Alan Lomax Alan Lomax (; January 31, 1915 – July 19, 2002) was an American ethnomusicologist, best known for his numerous field recordings of folk music of the 20th century. He was also a musician himself, as well as a folklorist, archivist, writer, s ...

's Library of Congress interviews, was singled out by

Jelly Roll Morton Ferdinand Joseph LaMothe (later Morton; c. September 20, 1890 – July 10, 1941), known professionally as Jelly Roll Morton, was an American ragtime and jazz pianist, bandleader, and composer. Morton was jazz's first arranger, proving that a gen ...

as the "only one (jazz pianist of the present time) that has a tendency to be on the right track." In March 1939, Joe Sullivan returned to the Bob Crosby Orchestra and Zurke subsequently worked with the William Morris Agency to form his own band. They debuted at an RCA Victor recording session in July 1939, as Bob Zurke and his Delta Rhythm Orchestra, recording, among other things, Zurke's best known original compositions "Hobson Street Blues" and "Old Tom-Cat on the Keys". Critical and public reception of both the records and the Delta Rhythm Band's first appearances were initially positive, but Zurke proved to be unreliable, unpredictable and somewhat volatile as a leader, partly due to his alcohol dependency and alleged drug use. The band came to a halt not long after its final RCA Victor session in May 1940, which also proved Zurke's last visit to the commercial recording studio; afterward Zurke served a jail sentence in Detroit for failing to pay alimony to his first wife, whom he had divorced in the late 1930s. After a period of wandering from job to job following his release from jail, Zurke remarried and resettled in

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world ...

in mid-1942. In August 1942, he began an engagement at the Hangover Club in

that he held until the end of his days. In December 1943, Zurke made one final recording, synchronizing an original piano part to the

Walter Lantz Walter Lantz (April 27, 1899 – March 22, 1994) was an American cartoonist, animator, producer and director best known for founding Walter Lantz Productions and creating Woody Woodpecker. Biography Early years and start in animation Lant ...

cartoon ''Jungle Jive'' (in the '' Swing Symphony'' series), one of his most difficult and challenging solos. On February 15, 1944, Bob Zurke collapsed at the Hangover Club and was taken to the hospital; he died the following day of complications of pneumonia, aggravated by acute alcohol poisoning, aged 32.

Legacy

According to pianist Norma Teagarden, Zurke had small hands and needed to develop special techniques to adjust for his lack of reach; this led to him developing a technique and style uniquely his own. During his lifetime, Zurke was considered one of the finest white boogie-woogie pianists at a time when such players were few. His ability as an arranger and transcriber helped to put pieces by non-readers into a playable, published form, such as in his transcription of Joe Sullivan's "Little Rock Getaway". Zurke published two folios of jazz piano solos and several sheet music editions of single pieces; in addition to that, 14 original compositions from Zurke are known to exist.

Selected discography

*Bob Zurke: ''Tom Cat on the Keys'', RCA Victor LP JM-1013 *Bob Zurke: ''Honky Tonk Train Blues'', Hep CD 1076 *Bob Crosby's Bob Cats: ''The Complete Bob Cats, Vol. 1 - In the Beginning''

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Zurke, Bob 1912 births 1944 deaths People from Hamtramck, Michigan American jazz pianists American male pianists Musicians from Detroit 20th-century American male musicians 20th-century American pianists Jazz musicians from Michigan American male jazz musicians Deaths from pneumonia in California Alcohol-related deaths in California