Eddie Shu ''(ne'' Edward Shulman; 18 March 1918 New York City — 4 July 1986) was an American jazz musician who played saxophone, clarinet, trumpet, harmonica, and accordion. He was also a comedic ventriloquist.
Career
Shu learned violin and guitar as a child before picking up saxophone as a teenager. His professional career began in 1935 in
Brooklyn
Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...
. For the seven years leading up to his service in the United States Army, he performed in
vaudeville
Vaudeville (; ) is a theatrical genre of variety entertainment born in France at the end of the 19th century. A vaudeville was originally a comedy without psychological or moral intentions, based on a comical situation: a dramatic composition ...
and as a
ventriloquist
Ventriloquism, or ventriloquy, is a performance act of stagecraft in which a person (a ventriloquist) creates the illusion that their voice is coming from elsewhere, usually a puppeteered prop known as a "dummy". The act of ventriloquism is ve ...
in night clubs and a harmonica player with the
Cappy Barra Harmonica Band.
Shu played in bands while serving in the
Army
An army (from Old French ''armee'', itself derived from the Latin verb ''armāre'', meaning "to arm", and related to the Latin noun ''arma'', meaning "arms" or "weapons"), ground force or land force is a fighting force that fights primarily on ...
from 1942 to 1945. He performed with
Maurice Evans in the
Pacific
The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the contine ...
. He enlisted in the Army with
Stan Harper, and they were assigned to a unit that entertained troops. After Shu's discharge from the Army, he performed with
Tadd Dameron
Tadley Ewing Peake Dameron (February 21, 1917 – March 8, 1965) was an American jazz composer, arranger, and pianist.
Biography
Born in Cleveland, Ohio, Dameron was the most influential arranger of the bebop era, but also wrote charts for swin ...
(1947),
George Shearing
Sir George Albert Shearing, (13 August 1919 14 February 2011) was a British jazz pianist who for many years led a popular jazz group that recorded for Discovery Records, MGM Records and Capitol Records. Shearing was the composer of over 300 ...
,
Johnny Bothwell
Johnny Bothwell (May 23, 1919 – September 12, 1995) was an American jazz alto saxophonist and bandleader.
Career
Bothwell played in Chicago in 1940 and then moved to New York City, playing with Woody Herman (1943) and Sonny Dunham (1944&nda ...
,
Buddy Rich
Bernard "Buddy" Rich (September 30, 1917 – April 2, 1987) was an American jazz drummer, songwriter, conductor, and bandleader. He is considered one of the most influential drummers of all time.
Rich was born and raised in Brooklyn, New York, ...
,
Les Elgart,
Lionel Hampton (1949–1950),
Charlie Barnet
Charles Daly Barnet (October 26, 1913 – September 4, 1991) was an American jazz saxophonist, composer, and bandleader.
His major recordings were "Skyliner", " Cherokee", "The Wrong Idea", "Scotch and Soda", "In a Mizz", and "Southland Shuffl ...
,
Chubby Jackson
Greig Stewart "Chubby" Jackson (October 25, 1918 – October 1, 2003) was an American jazz double-bassist and band leader.
Biography
Born in New York City, Jackson began at the age of seventeen as a clarinetist, but quickly changed to bass in ...
, and
Gene Krupa
Eugene Bertram Krupa (January 15, 1909 – October 16, 1973), known as Gene Krupa, was an American jazz drummer, bandleader and composer who performed with energy and showmanship. His drum solo on Benny Goodman's 1937 recording of " Sing, Sing, ...
(1954–1958). He performed with Lionel Hampton's Orchestra at the Cavalcade of Jazz concert at
Wrigley Field
Wrigley Field is a Major League Baseball (MLB) stadium on the North Side of Chicago, Illinois. It is the home of the Chicago Cubs, one of the city's two MLB franchises. It first opened in 1914 as Weeghman Park for Charles Weeghman's Chicago ...
in Los Angeles which was produced by
Leon Hefflin, Sr. on July 10, 1949, and also at
Lane Field in San Diego on Sept. 3, 1949.
In the 1960s Shu moved to Florida, playing locally as well as with
Louis Armstrong's All-Stars, Hampton, and Krupa again. He was a member of the vocal jazz group
Rare Silk
Rare Silk was an American vocal jazz group that was active during the 1980s.
MaryLynn Gillaspie and her sister, Gaile, grew up in southern California. Their father played trumpet, and from an early age they heard big band music and Ella Fitzgeral ...
in 1980. During this period, he performed with this group in
Boulder, Colorado and in a
Department of Defense Department of Defence or Department of Defense may refer to:
Current departments of defence
* Department of Defence (Australia)
* Department of National Defence (Canada)
* Department of Defence (Ireland)
* Department of National Defense (Philipp ...
tour. His final recording was "Shu-Swings" with the Joe Delaney Trio.
Shu died in 1986 in
St Petersburg, Florida.
Movie dispute
Carol Shulman, the widow of Eddie Shu, filed suit against
Andy García
Andrés Arturo García Menéndez (born April 12, 1956), known professionally as Andy García, is a Cuban-born American actor, director and musician. He first rose to prominence acting in Brian De Palma's ''The Untouchables'' (1987) alongside ...
, et al. in
Los Angeles Superior Court
The Superior Court of California, County of Los Angeles, is the California superior court with jurisdiction over Los Angeles County, which includes the city of Los Angeles. It is the largest single unified trial court in the United States.
The ...
, claiming he stole the identity of her late husband for the film ''
The Lost City''. The film centers on a Cuban nightclub owner fleeing the country's oppressive regime for New York. Shulman claimed Eddie Shu was exiled from Cuba in 1958 for exercising freedom of expression after
Fidel Castro came into power.
In 1957 a group of musicians, disc jockeys, and jazz fans joined in Havana City to exchange experiences with North American musicians. The main venues were Havana 1900 and the
Tropicana Tropicana may refer to:
Companies
*Tropicana Entertainment, a former casino company that owned several Tropicana-branded casinos
*Tropicana Products, a Chicago-based food company known for orange juice
Hotels and nightclubs
*Tropicana Casino & Re ...
. Funds collected were used by the Jazz Cuban Club to bring jazz musicians to the island. These musicians included Eddie Shu,
Kenny Drew
Kenneth Sidney "Kenny" Drew (August 28, 1928 – August 4, 1993) was an American-Danish jazz pianist.
Biography
Drew was born in New York City, United States, and received piano lessons from the age of five.Feather, Leonard, & Ira Gitler ( ...
, and
Philly Joe Jones
Joseph Rudolph "Philly Joe" Jones (July 15, 1923 – August 30, 1985) was an American jazz drummer.
Biography Early career
As a child, Jones appeared as a featured tap dancer on ''The Kiddie Show'' on the Philadelphia radio station WIP. He wa ...
.
Cuban Internet Resources, Citmatel
/ref>
Discography
As leader
* ''I Only Have Eyes For Shu'' (Bethlehem
Bethlehem (; ar, بيت لحم ; he, בֵּית לֶחֶם '' '') is a city in the central West Bank, Palestine, about south of Jerusalem. Its population is approximately 25,000,Amara, 1999p. 18.Brynen, 2000p. 202. and it is the capital o ...
, 1955)
As sideman
With Gene Krupa
Eugene Bertram Krupa (January 15, 1909 – October 16, 1973), known as Gene Krupa, was an American jazz drummer, bandleader and composer who performed with energy and showmanship. His drum solo on Benny Goodman's 1937 recording of " Sing, Sing, ...
* ''The Rocking Mr. Krupa'' (Clef, 1954)
* ''The Gene Krupa Quartet'' (Clef, 1955)
* ''Drummer Man Gene Krupa in Highest Fi'' (Verve, 1956)
* ''Jazz at the Philharmonic'' (American Recording Society, 1956)
* ''Jazz Rhythms of Gene Krupa'' (American Recording Society, 1956)
* ''Hey...Here's Gene Krupa'' (Verve, 1959)
With others
* Lionel Hampton, ''Hamp Stamps'' (Glad-Hamp, 1967)
References
* Scott Yanow, at 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 databa ...
{{DEFAULTSORT:Shu, Eddie
1918 births
1986 deaths
Musicians from New York (state)
20th-century American male musicians
20th-century American saxophonists
American harmonica players
American jazz saxophonists
American male saxophonists
American multi-instrumentalists
Harmonica players
Jazz harmonica players
American male jazz musicians
Ventriloquists