Snookum Russell (April 6, 1913 – August 1981) was an American

pianist A pianist ( , ) is an individual musician who plays the piano. Since most forms of Western music can make use of the piano, pianists have a wide repertoire and a wide variety of styles to choose from, among them traditional classical music, ja ...

and leader of a

territory band Territory bands were dance bands that crisscrossed specific regions of the United States from the 1920s through the 1960s. Beginning in the 1920s, the bands typically had 8 to 12 musicians. These bands typically played one-nighters, six or seven n ...

that played tobacco warehouses and dance halls in the South and Midwest in the 1930s, 1940s and 1950s. Russell was born in

Columbia, South Carolina Columbia is the capital of the U.S. state of South Carolina. With a population of 136,632 at the 2020 census, it is the second-largest city in South Carolina. The city serves as the county seat of Richland County, and a portion of the city ...

, United States. Members of his bands included

J. J. Johnson J.J. Johnson (January 22, 1924 – February 4, 2001), born James Louis Johnson and also known as Jay Jay Johnson, was an American jazz trombonist, composer and arranger. Johnson was one of the earliest trombonists to embrace bebop. Biograph ...

, who joined shortly after, and played with

Fats Navarro Theodore "Fats" Navarro (September 24, 1923 – July 6, 1950) was an American jazz trumpet player. He was a pioneer of the bebop style of jazz improvisation in the 1940s. He had a strong stylistic influence on many other players, including Cl ...

, Ray Brown,

Tommy Turrentine Thomas Walter Turrentine, Jr. (April 22, 1928 – May 13, 1997) was a swing and hard bop trumpeter and composer who was active between the 1940s and the 1960s. He rarely worked as a bandleader, and was known for his work as a sideman with dru ...

and

Herbie Phillips Herbert Daly Phillips, known professionally as Herbie Phillips (April 20, 1935 – September 13, 1995), was an American jazz trumpeter, composer, and arranger. He spent much of his life working in Las Vegas. He played trumpet in bands led by Lo ...

Discography

*1962: ''Jazz at Preservation Hall 4: The George Lewis Band of New Orleans'' - The George Lewis Band of New Orleans, with

George Lewis George Lewis may refer to: Entertainment and art * George B. W. Lewis (1818–1906), circus rider and theatre manager in Australia * George E. Lewis (born 1952), American composer and free jazz trombonist * George J. Lewis (1903–1995), Mexica ...

(cl) Isaac "Snookum" Russell (p)

Papa John Joseph Papa John Joseph (27 November 1877 – 22 January 1965) was an early New Orleans jazz string bass player. Joseph was born in St. James Parish, Louisiana, and moved to New Orleans by 1906. Early in his career he played with Buddy Bolden. He late ...

(b) Joe Watkins (d) (Atlantic LP 1411)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Russell, Snookum American jazz pianists American male pianists American jazz bandleaders 1913 births 1981 deaths 20th-century American pianists 20th-century American male musicians American male jazz musicians