Charlie Irvis (May 6, 1899 – 1939) was an American
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 ...
trombonist
The trombone (german: Posaune, Italian, French: ''trombone'') is a musical instrument in the brass family. As with all brass instruments, sound is produced when the player's vibrating lips cause the air column inside the instrument to vibrate ...
, best known for performing in
Duke Ellington
Edward Kennedy "Duke" Ellington (April 29, 1899 – May 24, 1974) was an American jazz pianist, composer, and leader of his eponymous jazz orchestra from 1923 through the rest of his life. Born and raised in Washington, D.C., Ellington was based ...
's band.
Career
Irvis played with
Bubber Miley Bubber is a nickname and surname which may refer to:
People:
* Bubber or Bubba Brooks (1922-2002), American jazz tenor saxophonist
* James Bubber Epps (born 1943), American politician
* Clarence James Bubber Jonnard (1897-1977), American Major Leag ...
in his youth and then with blues singer
Lucille Hegamin
Lucille Nelson Hegamin (November 29, 1894 – March 1, 1970) was an American singer and entertainer and an early African-American blues recording artist.
Life and career
Lucille Nelson was born in Macon, Georgia, the daughter of John and Minni ...
and her Blue Flame Syncopators from 1920 to 1921.
Following this he played with
Willie "The Lion" Smith
William Henry Joseph Bonaparte Bertholf Smith (November 23, 1893 – April 18, 1973), nicknamed "The Lion", was an American jazz and stride pianist.
Early life
William Henry Joseph Bonaparte Bertholf, known as Willie, was born in 1893 in Goshen, ...
and with
Duke Ellington
Edward Kennedy "Duke" Ellington (April 29, 1899 – May 24, 1974) was an American jazz pianist, composer, and leader of his eponymous jazz orchestra from 1923 through the rest of his life. Born and raised in Washington, D.C., Ellington was based ...
's orchestra (1924–1926), as well as recording occasionally with
Clarence Williams between 1923 and 1927.
Irvis, along with friends Miley and
Tricky Sam Nanton
Joe "Tricky Sam" Nanton (February 1, 1904 – July 20, 1946) was an American trombonist with the Duke Ellington Orchestra.
Early life
Joe Nanton was born Joseph Irish Nanton in New York City, United States. His parents were John Barzly Nanton an ...
, all contributed to the development of "jungle sounds" (
growl effects) in trombone playing. After leaving Ellington's band, he recorded with
Fats Waller
Thomas Wright "Fats" Waller (May 21, 1904 – December 15, 1943) was an American jazz pianist, organist, composer, violinist, singer, and comedic entertainer. His innovations in the Harlem stride style laid much of the basis for modern jazz pi ...
(1927, 1929) and played with
Charlie Johnson (1927–1928) and
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 ...
(1929–1930).
Some of his latest recordings were in 1931 with Miley again,
and shortly thereafter with
Elmer Snowden
Elmer Chester Snowden (October 9, 1900 – May 14, 1973) was an American banjo player of the jazz age. He also played guitar and, in the early stages of his career, all the reed instruments. He contributed greatly to jazz in its early days as b ...
.
Personal life
After the early 1930s, Irvis apparently stopped playing, and died around 1939 in obscurity.
References
1939 deaths
1899 births
20th-century American musicians
American jazz trombonists
Male trombonists
Musicians from New York (state)
Duke Ellington Orchestra members
20th-century trombonists
American male jazz musicians
20th-century American male musicians
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