Albert Lavada Durst (January 12, 1913 – October 31, 1995),
known as Dr. Hepcat, was an American
blues
Blues is a music genre and musical form which originated in the Deep South of the United States around the 1860s. Blues incorporated spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts, chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads from the Afr ...
pianist, singer, and
baseball
Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding tea ...
commentator who became the first black
radio DJ
A disc jockey, more commonly abbreviated as DJ, is a person who plays recorded music for an audience. Types of DJs include radio DJs (who host programs on music radio stations), club DJs (who work at a nightclub or music festival), mobile D ...
in
Texas
Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...
, influential in the spread of
rhythm and blues
Rhythm and blues, frequently abbreviated as R&B or R'n'B, is a genre of popular music that originated in African-American communities in the 1940s. The term was originally used by record companies to describe recordings marketed predominantly ...
and
rock and roll
Rock and roll (often written as rock & roll, rock 'n' roll, or rock 'n roll) is a Genre (music), genre of popular music that evolved in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s. It Origins of rock and roll, originated from Africa ...
music.
Biography
Durst was born in
Austin, Texas
Austin is the capital city of the U.S. state of Texas, as well as the county seat, seat and largest city of Travis County, Texas, Travis County, with portions extending into Hays County, Texas, Hays and Williamson County, Texas, Williamson co ...
, and learned to play piano as a child.
He grew up playing
barrelhouse blues locally, and developing a talent for hip rhythmic
jive talk
Jive talk, also known as Harlem jive or simply Jive, the argot of jazz, jazz jargon, vernacular of the jazz world, slang of jazz, and parlance of hip is an African-American Vernacular English slang or vocabulary that developed in Harlem, where "ji ...
, which won him a position as announcer at
Negro league baseball
The Negro leagues were United States professional baseball leagues comprising teams of African Americans and, to a lesser extent, Latin Americans. The term may be used broadly to include professional black teams outside the leagues and it may be ...
games in Austin.
[
He was heard by radio station KVET manager ]John Connally
John Bowden Connally Jr. (February 27, 1917June 15, 1993) was an American politician. He served as the 39th governor of Texas and as the 61st United States secretary of the Treasury. He began his career as a Democrat and later became a Republican ...
, later the Governor of Texas
The governor of Texas heads the state government of Texas. The governor is the leader of the executive and legislative branch of the state government and is the commander in chief of the Texas Military. The current governor is Greg Abbott, who ...
. With the support of station owner Jake Pickle
James Jarrell "Jake" Pickle (October 11, 1913 – June 18, 2005) was a United States Representative from the 10th congressional district of Texas from 1963 to 1995.
Pickle was born in Roscoe, Texas and brought up in Big Spring. He acquired h ...
, he hired Durst to be the station's baseball commentator and first black disc jockey
A disc jockey, more commonly abbreviated as DJ, is a person who plays recorded music for an audience. Types of DJs include Radio personality, radio DJs (who host programs on music radio stations), club DJs (who work at a nightclub or music f ...
, in 1948. Naming himself "Dr. Hepcat", Durst's presentation made him successful with white as well as black radio listeners, and according to the Texas State Historical Association
The Texas State Historical Association (TSHA) is a non-profit educational organization, dedicated to documenting the history of Texas. It was founded in Austin, Texas, on March 2, 1897. , TSHA moved their offices from Austin to the University of N ...
he "can be credited for introducing an entire generation of white Austin listeners to jazz, blues, and rhythm and blues."[ "Durst, Albert Lavada", ''Texas State Historical Association'']
Retrieved 23 November 2016. Pickle said of Durst: " ehad a lingo all his own... A lot of people listened to Senator
A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...
games solely for the pleasure of hearing Dr. Hepcat.... He was as good an entertainer as he was an announcer, and he became famous all over Austin...".
Durst also recorded for Uptown Records
Uptown Records is an American record label, based in New York City, founded in 1986 by onetime rapper Andre Harrell. From the late 1980s into the early 1990s, it was a leader in R&B and hip hop. During the 1990s, aided by its A&R worker Sean ...
, a label owned by KVET program director Fred Caldwell, and managed a gospel music
Gospel music is a traditional genre of Christian music, and a cornerstone of Christian media. The creation, performance, significance, and even the definition of gospel music varies according to culture and social context. Gospel music is com ...
group, the Charlottes. He wrote the gospel song "Let's Talk About Jesus" for the Bells of Joy, and also published a dictionary of jive talk, ''The Jives of Dr. Hepcat'', in 1953.[ The magazine '']Wax
Waxes are a diverse class of organic compounds that are lipophilic, malleable solids near ambient temperatures. They include higher alkanes and lipids, typically with melting points above about 40 °C (104 °F), melting to give low ...
'' in 1978 credited him as one of the inventors of rock'n'roll radio. He was also responsible for bringing many prominent black entertainers to perform in Austin.[ "Rev. Albert L. “Lavada” Durst (1913-1995)", ''Texas Music Office'']
Retrieved 23 November 2016.
He retired from KVET in the early 1960s and was ordained as a minister at Mount Olive Baptist Church in 1965. He gave up performing for several years, returning to play the blues from the mid-1970s at festivals and other venues. From the mid-1940s until retiring in 1979, Durst also worked as director of athletics for the Rosewood Recreation Center in Austin.[
He died in Austin in 1995.]
See also
*Hal Jackson
Harold Baron Jackson (3 November 1915 – 23 May 2012) was an American disc jockey and radio personality who broke a number of color barriers in American radio broadcasting.
Biography
Early years
Jackson was born in Charleston, South Carolina, ...
* DJ Nat D.
*Daddy-O Daylie Holmes Daylie (May 15, 1920 – February 6, 2003) was a radio jock on radio stations in the 1940s and 1950s that rhymed and rapped playing bebop
Bebop or bop is a style of jazz developed in the early-to-mid-1940s in the United States. The styl ...
*Yvonne Daniels
Yvonne Daniels (September 16, 1937 – June 21, 1991) was an American radio host in Chicago from the 1960s to 1991. Daniels was a member of the first all-woman radio team in 1967 for WSDM and the first woman radio host for WLS in 1973. Daniels ...
*Joseph Deighton Gibson Jr.
Joseph Deighton Gibson, Jr. (May 13, 1922 – January 30, 2000) was an American radio disc jockey and actor. He attended Lincoln University in Jefferson City, Missouri from 1940 to 1942, earning a bachelor's degree in science. He is regarded as t ...
*Black-appeal stations Before the development of the radio format called "Top 40" was born, "Black Appeal Stations" reinvigorated radio. By playing a specific group of songs aimed specifically at the young African American demographic, "Black Appeal Stations" helped keep ...
*WERD
WERD was the first radio station owned and programmed by African Americans. The station was established in Atlanta, Georgia on October 3, 1949, broadcasting on 860 AM (now used by WAEC). The National Black Radio Hall of Fame Atlanta Chapter is r ...
*Glossary of jive talk
Jive talk, also known as Harlem jive or simply Jive, the argot of jazz, jazz jargon, vernacular of the jazz world, slang of jazz, and parlance of hip is an African-American Vernacular English slang or vocabulary that developed in Harlem, where "jiv ...
*Jive talk
Jive talk, also known as Harlem jive or simply Jive, the argot of jazz, jazz jargon, vernacular of the jazz world, slang of jazz, and parlance of hip is an African-American Vernacular English slang or vocabulary that developed in Harlem, where "ji ...
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hepcat, Doctor
1913 births
1995 deaths
American blues pianists
American male pianists
People from Austin, Texas
American radio DJs
Radio personalities from Texas
African-American radio personalities
Radio and television announcers
20th-century American male musicians
20th-century American pianists
20th-century African-American musicians