Elmer Chester Snowden (October 9, 1900 – May 14, 1973)
was an American
banjo
The banjo is a stringed instrument with a thin membrane stretched over a frame or cavity to form a resonator. The membrane is typically circular, and usually made of plastic, or occasionally animal skin. Early forms of the instrument were fashi ...
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 both a player and a bandleader, and launched the careers of many top musicians.
Biography
Elmer Snowden was born in
Baltimore
Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the List of municipalities in Maryland, most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, and List of United States cities by popula ...
,
Maryland
Maryland ( ) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It shares borders with Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware and the Atlantic Ocean to ...
, United States,
to Gertude Snowden, and had a brother, James. His mother worked as a laundress, but by the time of the 1917
World War I draft registration
The Selective Service Act of 1917 or Selective Draft Act () authorized the United States federal government to raise a national army for service in World War I through conscription. It was envisioned in December 1916 and brought to President ...
, a month before his 17th birthday, he was already listing his occupation as "musician," while living with his mother, and the 1920 Federal Census lists him still living at home, employed as a "musician in a dance hall."
Snowden was the original leader of the Washingtonians, a group he brought to
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
from the capital in 1923.
Unable to gain a booking, Snowden sent for
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 ...
,
who was with the group when it recorded three test sides for Victor that were never issued. Ellington eventually took over leadership of the band, which contained the nucleus of what later became his orchestra.
Snowden was also a renowned band leader –
Count Basie
William James "Count" Basie (; August 21, 1904 – April 26, 1984) was an American jazz pianist, organist, bandleader, and composer. In 1935, he formed the Count Basie Orchestra, and in 1936 took them to Chicago for a long engagement and the ...
,
Jimmie Lunceford
James Melvin Lunceford (June 6, 1902 – July 12, 1947) was an American jazz alto saxophonist and bandleader in the swing era.
Early life
Lunceford was born on a farm in the Evergreen community, west of the Tombigbee River, near Fulton, Mis ...
,
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 ...
,
"Tricky Sam" Nanton,
Frankie Newton
Frankie Newton (William Frank Newton, January 4, 1906 – March 11, 1954) was an American jazz trumpeter from Emory, Virginia, United States. He played in several New York City bands in the 1920s and 1930s, including those led by Sam Wooding, Chic ...
,
Benny Carter
Bennett Lester Carter (August 8, 1907 – July 12, 2003) was an American jazz saxophonist, clarinetist, trumpeter, composer, arranger, and bandleader. With Johnny Hodges, he was a pioneer on the alto saxophone. From the beginning of his career ...
,
Rex Stewart
Rex William Stewart Jr. (February 22, 1907 – September 7, 1967) was an American jazz cornetist who was a member of the Duke Ellington orchestra.
Career
As a boy he studied piano and violin; most of his career was spent on cornet. Stewart drop ...
,
Roy Eldridge
David Roy Eldridge (January 30, 1911 – February 26, 1989), nicknamed "Little Jazz", was an American jazz trumpeter. His sophisticated use of harmony, including the use of tritone substitutions, his virtuosic solos exhibiting a departure from t ...
and
Chick Webb
William Henry "Chick" Webb (February 10, 1905 – June 16, 1939) was an American jazz and swing music drummer and band leader.
Early life
Webb was born in Baltimore, Maryland, to William H. and Marie Webb. The year of his birth is disputed. ...
are among the musicians who worked in his bands.
Very active in the 1920s as an agent and musician,
Snowden at one time had five bands playing under his name in New York, one of which was led by pianist
Cliff Jackson. Most of his bands were not recorded, but a Snowden band that included Eldridge,
Al Sears
Albert Omega Sears (February 21, 1910 – March 23, 1990) was an American jazz tenor saxophonist and bandleader, sometimes credited as Big Al Sears.
Sears was born in Macomb, Illinois, United States. His first major gig came in 1928 when he r ...
,
Dicky Wells
William Wells (June 10, 1907 – November 12, 1985), known professionally as Dicky Wells (sometimes Dickie Wells), was an American jazz trombonist.
Career
Dickie Wells is believed to have been born on June 10, 1907 in Centerville, Tennessee, Uni ...
and
Sid Catlett
Sidney "Big Sid" Catlett (January 17, 1910 – March 25, 1951) was an American jazz drummer. Catlett was one of the most versatile drummers of his era, adapting with the changing music scene as bebop emerged.
Early life
Catlett was born in Eva ...
appeared in a
Vitaphone Varieties
Vitaphone Varieties is a series title (represented by a pennant logo on screen) used for all of Warner Bros.', earliest short film "talkies" of the 1920s, initially made using the Vitaphone sound on disc process before a switch to the sound-on-film ...
short film, ''
Smash Your Baggage
Smash Your Baggage is a 1932 Vitaphone pre-Code short musical comedy film released by Warner Bros., as part of their Vitaphone Varieties series on October 29, 1932. Directed by Roy Mack, the film features African American performers Carrie Marrie ...
'' (1932).
Although Snowden continued to be musically active throughout his life, after the mid 1930s, with the retirement of his long-time musical partner Bob Fuller, his career was one of relative obscurity in New York. He continued to play through to the 1950s, but outside the limelight.
After a dispute with the musicians' union in New York, he moved to
Philadelphia
Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...
, where he taught music, counting among his pupils pianist
Ray Bryant
Raphael Homer "Ray" Bryant (December 24, 1931 – June 2, 2011) was an American jazz pianist, composer, and arranger.
Early life
Bryant was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on December 24, 1931. His mother was an ordained minister who had tau ...
, his brother, bassist
Tommy Bryant
Thomas Bryant (May 21, 1930 – January 3, 1982) was an American jazz double-bassist.
Bryant grew up in a musical family in Philadelphia; his mother was a choir director, his brother Ray Bryant was a pianist, and another brother, Len Bryant, is ...
, and saxophonist
Sahib Shihab
Sahib Shihab (born Edmund Gregory; June 23, 1925 – October 24, 1989) was an American jazz and hard bop saxophonist (baritone, alto, and soprano) and flautist. He variously worked with Luther Henderson, Thelonious Monk, Fletcher Henderson, Tad ...
, originally known as Edmond Gregory.
Snowden was working as a parking lot attendant in 1959 when
Chris Albertson
Christiern Gunnar Albertson (October 18, 1931 – April 24, 2019) was a New York City-based jazz journalist, writer and record producer.
Early life
Albertson was born in Reykjavík, Iceland, on October 18, 1931, but his father left the family b ...
, then a Philadelphia disc jockey, came across him. In 1960, Albertson brought Snowden and singer-guitarist
Lonnie Johnson together for two
Prestige
Prestige refers to a good reputation or high esteem; in earlier usage, ''prestige'' meant "showiness". (19th c.)
Prestige may also refer to:
Arts, entertainment and media Films
* ''Prestige'' (film), a 1932 American film directed by Tay Garnet ...
albums, assembled a quartet that included
Cliff Jackson for a
Riverside
Riverside may refer to:
Places Australia
* Riverside, Tasmania, a suburb of Launceston, Tasmania
Canada
* Riverside (electoral district), in the Yukon
* Riverside, Calgary, a neighbourhood in Alberta
* Riverside, Manitoba, a former rural m ...
session, ''Harlem Banjo,'' and, in 1961, a sextet session with
Roy Eldridge
David Roy Eldridge (January 30, 1911 – February 26, 1989), nicknamed "Little Jazz", was an American jazz trumpeter. His sophisticated use of harmony, including the use of tritone substitutions, his virtuosic solos exhibiting a departure from t ...
,
Bud Freeman
Lawrence "Bud" Freeman (April 13, 1906 – March 15, 1991) was an American jazz musician, bandleader, and composer, known mainly for playing tenor saxophone, but also the clarinet.
Biography
In 1922, Freeman and some friends from high sc ...
,
Jo Jones
Jonathan David Samuel Jones (October 7, 1911 – September 3, 1985) was an American jazz drummer. A band leader and pioneer in jazz percussion, Jones anchored the Count Basie Orchestra rhythm section from 1934 to 1948. He was sometimes k ...
, and Ray and Tommy Bryant—it was released on the Fontana and
Black Lion Black Lion, Black Lions, or Blacklions may refer to:
Businesses and organisations
* Black Lion, Hammersmith, a London pub
* Black Lion, Kilburn, a London pub
* Black Lion Records, a British jazz record company
* Black Lions Films, associated wit ...
labels.
In 1963, his career boosted, Snowden appeared at the
Newport Jazz Festival
The Newport Jazz Festival is an annual American multi-day jazz music festival held every summer in Newport, Rhode Island. Elaine Lorillard established the festival in 1954, and she and husband Louis Lorillard financed it for many years. They hire ...
. He then moved to
California
California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...
to teach at the
University of California, Berkeley
The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant u ...
, and played with
Turk Murphy
Melvin Edward Alton "Turk" Murphy (December 16, 1915 – May 30, 1987) was an American trombonist and bandleader, who played traditional and Dixieland jazz.
Biography
He was born in Palermo, California, United States. Murphy served in the Navy ...
as well as taking private students for lessons in guitar and banjo. He toured Europe in 1967 with the Newport Guitar Workshop.
In 1969, Snowden moved back to Philadelphia, where he died on May 14, 1973.
Discography
* ''Harlem Banjo'' (Riverside, 1960) with
Cliff Jackson,
Tommy Bryant
Thomas Bryant (May 21, 1930 – January 3, 1982) was an American jazz double-bassist.
Bryant grew up in a musical family in Philadelphia; his mother was a choir director, his brother Ray Bryant was a pianist, and another brother, Len Bryant, is ...
,
Jimmy Crawford
References
External links
Elmer Snowden ephemera and artifacts Institute of Jazz Studies The Institute of Jazz Studies (IJS) is the largest and most comprehensive library and archives of jazz and jazz-related materials in the world. It is located on the fourth floor of the John Cotton Dana Library at Rutgers University–Newark in Newa ...
, Rutgers University
{{DEFAULTSORT:Snowden, Elmer
1900 births
1973 deaths
20th-century American musicians
American jazz banjoists
Duke Ellington Orchestra members
Musicians from Baltimore
Riverside Records artists
University of California, Berkeley faculty
Jazz musicians from Maryland
Jazz musicians from California