Lavere "Buster" Harding (March 19, 1917 – November 14, 1965) was a Canadian-born 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 m ...

pianist, composer and arranger.

Early life

Born to Benjamin "Ben" and Ada (née Shreve) Harding in North Buxton,

Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central C ...

, Harding was raised in Cleveland, Ohio, where as a teenager he started on his own band.

Later life and career

In 1939, Harding went to work for the

Teddy Wilson Theodore Shaw Wilson (November 24, 1912 – July 31, 1986) was an American jazz pianist. Described by critic Scott Yanow as "the definitive swing pianist", Wilson had a sophisticated, elegant style. His work was featured on the records of many ...

big band, and then in the early 1940s went to work for the

Coleman Hawkins Coleman Randolph Hawkins (November 21, 1904 – May 19, 1969), nicknamed "Hawk" and sometimes "Bean", was an American jazz tenor saxophonist.Yanow, Scot"Coleman Hawkins: Artist Biography" AllMusic. Retrieved December 27, 2013. One of the first p ...

band, and later Cab Calloway. He became a freelance arranger and worked with Benny Goodman,

Artie Shaw Artie Shaw (born Arthur Jacob Arshawsky; May 23, 1910 – December 30, 2004) was an American clarinetist, composer, bandleader, actor and author of both fiction and non-fiction. Widely regarded as "one of jazz's finest clarinetists", Shaw led ...

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, Dizzy Gillespie, and

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 ...

, among others. In 1949, he was the musical director for

Billie Holiday Billie Holiday (born Eleanora Fagan; April 7, 1915 – July 17, 1959) was an American jazz and swing music singer. Nicknamed "Lady Day" by her friend and music partner, Lester Young, Holiday had an innovative influence on jazz music and pop s ...

recording sessions. In the early 1960s, Harding played with

Jonah Jones Jonah Jones (born Robert Elliott Jones; December 31, 1909 – April 29, 2000) was a jazz trumpeter who created concise versions of jazz and swing and jazz standards that appealed to a mass audience. In the jazz community, he is known for his wo ...

, though he was known primarily as an arranger and composer. Harding did not record as a leader.Yanow, Scot
" Buster Harding – Biography by Scott Yanow"
AllMusic. Retrieved January 25, 2016. He died on November 14, 1965, in New York City.

Select discography

With

*''

The Count! ''The Count!'' is an album by pianist/bandleader Count Basie recorded in 1952 and released on the Clef label in 1955.955 Year 955 ( CMLV) was a common year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. Events By place Europe * August 10 – Battle of Lechfeld: King Otto I ("the Great") defeats the Hungarians (also ...

- as arranger *'' Basie'' (Clef, 1954) - as arranger *''The Story of Jazz'' (

Philips Records Philips Records is a record label founded by the Dutch electronics company Philips. It was founded as Philips Phonographische Industrie in 1950. In 1946, Philips acquired the company which pressed records for British Decca's Dutch outlet in ...

) *''Basie Ball'' (

) *''Sounds of Jazz'' ( Fontana Records) *''One O'Clock Jump'' ( Columbia Records) With

*''All the Cats Join In'' (

MCA Records MCA Records was an American record label owned by MCA Inc., which later became part of Universal Music Group. Pre-history MCA Inc., a powerful talent agency and a television production company, entered the recorded music business in 1962 w ...

) With Dizzy Gillespie *''The Big Band Sound of Dizzy Gillespie'' (

Verve Records Verve Records is an American record label owned by Universal Music Group (UMG). Founded in 1956 by Norman Granz, the label is home to the world's largest jazz catalogue, which includes recordings by artists such as Ella Fitzgerald, Nina Simon ...

) *''Dizzy Gillespie: Best of Small Groups'' (

) *''

Dizzy and Strings ''Dizzy and Strings'' (also released as ''Diz Big Band'') is an album by trumpeter Dizzy Gillespie, released in 1955 by Norgran Records.

'' (Norgan Records, 1954) also released as ''Diz Big Band'' (

) - as arranger *''Jazz Spectrum Vol. 11: Dizzy Gillespie'' (Metro Records) With

*''Broadcast Performances, Vol. 1: Radio And TV Broadcasts (1949-52)'' (

ESP Disk ESP-Disk is a New York-based record company and label founded in 1963 by lawyer Bernard Stollman. History Though it originally existed to release Esperanto-based music, beginning with its second release (Albert Ayler's '' Spiritual Unity''), ESP ...

) *''Broadcast Performances, Vol. 2: Radio And TV Broadcasts (1953-56)'' (

)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Harding, Buster 1917 births 1965 deaths Swing pianists Swing arrangers American jazz pianists American male pianists American jazz composers American male jazz composers Black Canadian musicians Canadian jazz pianists Canadian jazz composers 20th-century American composers 20th-century Canadian pianists 20th-century American pianists Musicians from Cleveland Jazz musicians from Ohio 20th-century American male musicians 20th-century jazz composers