Walter "King" Fleming (May 4, 1922 – April 1, 2014) 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 ...

pianist and bandleader.Campbell, Robert L.; Pruter, Robert and Büttner, Armin "The King Fleming Discography"
He was born in

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolita ...

Life and career

A classmate of

Sonny Cohn George Thomas Cohn (March 14, 1925 – November 7, 2006), known professionally as Sonny Cohn, was an American jazz trumpeter whose career spanned over six decades. After working for fifteen years with Red Saunders (1945–1960), Cohn went on ...

, after playing trombone in the McKinley High School band, Fleming went on to study at the Midwest College of Music. He had already led several informal bands before King Fleming and His Swing Band first performed in September 1942. When he was drafted into the

U.S. Army The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, cl ...

in July 1943, the band continued performing under the leadership of other bandmembers until too many of its members had been called up for it to be viable. Discharged in 1945, Fleming started doing session work in Los Angeles and joined Johnnie Alston & His All Stars for recording dates backing Wynonie "Blues" Harris on

Apollo Apollo, grc, Ἀπόλλωνος, Apóllōnos, label=genitive , ; , grc-dor, Ἀπέλλων, Apéllōn, ; grc, Ἀπείλων, Apeílōn, label=Arcadocypriot Greek, ; grc-aeo, Ἄπλουν, Áploun, la, Apollō, la, Apollinis, label= ...

. Johnny Alston and His Orchestra later signed for the

Bihari Brothers The Bihari brothers, Lester, Jules, Saul and Joe, were American businessmen of Hungarian Jewish origins. They were the founders of Modern Records in Los Angeles and its subsidiaries, such as Meteor Records, based in Memphis. The Bihari brothers wer ...

Modern Modern may refer to: History * Modern history ** Early Modern period ** Late Modern period *** 18th century *** 19th century *** 20th century ** Contemporary history * Moderns, a faction of Freemasonry that existed in the 18th century Phil ...

label, and Fleming and

Al "Cake" Wichard Al "Cake" Wichard (born Albert C. Wichard, August 15, 1918 or 1919 — November 14, 1959) was an American blues and jazz drummer, especially active as a recording artist in the late 1940s. Biography He was born in Morrilton, Arkansas Morril ...

were joined by

Addison Farmer Addison Gerald Farmer (August 21, 1928, Council Bluffs, Iowa – February 20, 1963, New York City) was an American jazz bassist. He was the twin brother of Art Farmer. Early life Farmer was born an hour after his twin brother, on August 21, 1928, ...

. By mid-1946, Fleming had joined the Swing combo Oliver "King" Perry's Pied Pipers with Norman Bowden (trumpet); George "Happy" Johnson (trombone);

Wesley Prince Clarence Wesley Prince (April 8, 1907 - 30 October 1980Bob L. Eagle, Eric S. LeBlanc:. '' Blues: A Regional Experience '', 2013, p 408) was an American jazz and R&B musician. He played the double bass. Life and work Prince was born in Pasade ...

(bass) and Joe Harris (drums) before returning to Chicago to lead his own King Fleming's Four with Jay Peters (tenor sax), "Hog" Mason (bass), and Tommy Hill (drums) and getting a write-up in ''

Down Beat ' (styled in all caps) is an American music magazine devoted to "jazz, blues and beyond", the last word indicating its expansion beyond the jazz realm which it covered exclusively in previous years. The publication was established in 1934 in Chi ...

'' for June 18, 1947. In 1950 he was a member of the Dallas Bartley Quartet, with Johnny Thompson (tenor sax) and Oliver Coleman (drums), and that summer he recorded as a session pianist for the vocal group, the Dozier Boys, at their recording session for

Chess Records Chess Records was an American record company established in 1950 in Chicago, specializing in blues and rhythm and blues. It was the successor to Aristocrat Records, founded in 1947. It expanded into soul music, gospel music, early rock and roll ...

. Later that year he joined Oliver Coleman's Palmaires; the other members were Nelson Berry (tenor saxophone) and Sylvester Hickman (bass). In 1954 he finally recorded under his own name, on the Blue Lake label, with John Neely (tenor saxophone); Russell Williams (bass); Aubrie Jones (drums);

Lorez Alexandria Lorez Alexandria (born Dolorez Alexandria Turner; August 14, 1929 – May 22, 2001). was an American jazz singer, described as "one of the most gifted and underrated jazz singers of the twentieth century". She became established in the midwest b ...

(vocals) and in 1955 for the Chess label. The Chess brothers invited him back the following year, again with vocalist Lorez Alexandria, to record "

Stompin' at the Savoy "Stompin' at the Savoy" is a 1933 jazz standard composed by Edgar Sampson. It is named after the famed Harlem nightspot the Savoy Ballroom in New York City. History and composition Although the song is credited to Benny Goodman, Chick Webb, Edgar ...

". In 1957, his group backed Lorez Alexandria on her first two albums for the King label, and collaborated with

Muhal Richard Abrams Muhal Richard Abrams (born Richard Lewis Abrams; September 19, 1930 – October 29, 2017) was an American educator, administrator, composer, arranger, clarinetist, cellist, and jazz pianist in the free jazz medium. He recorded and toured the Uni ...

, who wrote arrangements for a King Fleming-led big band. Between 1960 and 1965, he recorded three piano trio albums for

Argo In Greek mythology the ''Argo'' (; in Greek: ) was a ship built with the help of the gods that Jason and the Argonauts sailed from Iolcos to Colchis to retrieve the Golden Fleece. The ship has gone on to be used as a motif in a variety of sour ...

and

Cadet Records Cadet Records was an American record label that began as Argo Records in 1955 as the jazz subsidiary of Chess Records. Argo changed its name in 1965 to Cadet to avoid confusion with the similarly named label in the UK. Cadet stopped releasing ...

, which were

Phil Phil may refer to: * Phil (given name), a shortened version of masculine and feminine names * Phill, a given name also spelled "Phil" * Phil, Kentucky, United States * ''Phil'' (film), a 2019 film * -phil-, a lexical fragment, used as a root te ...

and

Leonard Chess Lejzor Szmuel Czyż (March 12, 1917 – October 16, 1969), best known as Leonard Sam Chess, was a Polish-American record company executive and the co-founder of Chess Records. He was influential in the development of electric blues, Chicago blu ...

's jazz labels. He also appeared on two singles released locally by singer George Green. After many years during which his trio worked steadily in the Chicago area without drawing interest from the recording industry, King Fleming resurfaced on the Southport label in 1996.

Death

Fleming died at the age of 91 at a retirement home in

Manteno, Illinois Manteno is a village in Kankakee County, Illinois, United States. The population was 9,204 at the 2010 census, up from 6,414 at the 2000 census. It is part of the Kankakee-Bourbonnais-Bradley Metropolitan Statistical Area. History Origins ...

on April 1, 2014.

Discography

*1961: ''Misty Night'' - King Fleming Trio *1962: ''Stand By'' *1965: ''Weary Traveler'' *1996: ''King! The King Fleming Songbook'' *2000: ''The King and I''

References

External links

Discogs
{{DEFAULTSORT:Fleming, King 1922 births Musicians from Chicago American jazz pianists American male pianists Modern Records artists 2014 deaths 20th-century American pianists People from Manteno, Illinois Jazz musicians from Illinois 20th-century American male musicians American male jazz musicians Argo Records artists