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Edward Emanuel Barefield (December 12, 1909 – January 4, 1991) was an American
After the era of
Eddie Barefield profile
at the African American Museum of Iowa * {{DEFAULTSORT:Barefield, Eddie 1909 births 1991 deaths American jazz saxophonists American male saxophonists American jazz clarinetists 20th-century American saxophonists 20th-century American male musicians American male jazz musicians Musicians from Iowa Musicians from Des Moines, Iowa African-American jazz composers American jazz composers African-American jazz musicians The Cab Calloway Orchestra members 20th-century jazz composers 20th-century African-American musicians
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 ...
saxophonist, clarinetist and arranger most noteworthy for his work with Louis Armstrong
Louis Daniel Armstrong (August 4, 1901 – July 6, 1971), nicknamed "Satchmo", "Satch", and "Pops", was an American trumpeter and Singing, vocalist. He was among the most influential figures in jazz. His career spanned five decades and se ...
, Cab Calloway
Cabell Calloway III (December 25, 1907 – November 18, 1994) was an American singer, songwriter, bandleader, conductor and dancer. He was associated with the Cotton Club in Harlem, where he was a regular performer and became a popular vocalis ...
, Ella Fitzgerald
Ella Jane Fitzgerald (April 25, 1917June 15, 1996) was an American jazz singer, sometimes referred to as the "First Lady of Song", "Queen of Jazz", and "Lady Ella". She was noted for her purity of tone, impeccable diction, phrasing, timing, in ...
, and 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 bas ...
. Barefield's musical career included work as an arranger of the ABC Orchestra and for the "Endorsed by Dorsey: program on WOR. He also appeared in several films. He married performer Connie Harris.
Biography
Barefield was born in Scandia, Iowa, on December 12, 1909. He grew up inDes Moines
Des Moines () is the capital and the most populous city in the U.S. state of Iowa. It is also the county seat of Polk County. A small part of the city extends into Warren County. It was incorporated on September 22, 1851, as Fort Des Moines ...
. His father was a coal miner, boxer, baseball player, and guitarist, and his mother was a pianist. Barefield began playing the saxophone at the age of twelve. His mother bought him the instrument as a Christmas gift, and he took it apart to see how it worked.
He started playing throughout the Midwest, and gained his first major big-band experience with the Bennie Moten
Benjamin Moten (November 13, 1893 – April 2, 1935) was an American jazz pianist and band leader born and raised in Kansas City, Missouri, United States.
He led his Kansas City Orchestra, the most important of the regional, blues-based orchest ...
orchestra of 1932 (which later metamorphosed into the Count Basie Orchestra
The Count Basie Orchestra is a 16 to 18 piece big band, one of the most prominent jazz performing groups of the swing era, founded by Count Basie in 1935 and recording regularly from 1936. Despite a brief disbandment at the beginning of the 19 ...
). This opportunity led to work with Zach Whyte's band. When he was 24, he was offered a position in Cab Calloway
Cabell Calloway III (December 25, 1907 – November 18, 1994) was an American singer, songwriter, bandleader, conductor and dancer. He was associated with the Cotton Club in Harlem, where he was a regular performer and became a popular vocalis ...
's orchestra in 1933. Barefield arranged and wrote music for Calloway for over 40 years. Barfield conducted the orchestra for Ella Fitzgerald after 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. ...
died in 1939. In addition, Barefield performed with McKinney's Cotton Pickers
McKinney's Cotton Pickers were an American jazz band, founded in Detroit, Michigan, United States in 1926, and led by William McKinney, who expanded his Synco Septet to ten players. Cuba Austin took over for McKinney on drums, with the latter bec ...
, Les Hite
Les Hite (February 13, 1903 – February 6, 1962) was an American jazz bandleader.
Life and career
Born in DuQuoin, Illinois, United States, Hite attended the University of Illinois and played saxophone with family members in a band in the 1920s. ...
, Fletcher Henderson
James Fletcher Hamilton Henderson (December 18, 1897 – December 29, 1952) was an American pianist, bandleader, arranger and composer, important in the development of big band jazz and swing music. He was one of the most prolific black music ...
, Don Redman
Donald Matthew Redman (July 29, 1900 – November 30, 1964) was an American jazz musician, arranger, bandleader, and composer.
Biography
Redman was born in Piedmont, Mineral County, West Virginia, United States. His father was a music teacher ...
, and 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 ...
.
After the era of big band
A big band or jazz orchestra is a type of musical ensemble of jazz music that usually consists of ten or more musicians with four sections: saxophones, trumpets, trombones, and a rhythm section. Big bands originated during the early 1910s ...
s ended, Barefield continued to work by conducting shows, free-lancing, and playing in Europe at the jazz festival in Nice. Barefieled was the musical director for the original Broadway production of ''Streetcar Named Desire'' in 1947. He spent a decade in the band of the Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Circus
The Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus (also known as the Ringling Bros. Circus, Ringling Bros., the Barnum & Bailey Circus, Barnum & Bailey, or simply Ringling) is an American traveling circus company billed as The Greatest Show on Ear ...
, and composed and arranged for Benny Goodman
Benjamin David Goodman (May 30, 1909 – June 13, 1986) was an American clarinetist and bandleader known as the "King of Swing".
From 1936 until the mid-1940s, Goodman led one of the most popular swing big bands in the United States. His conc ...
, Glenn Miller
Alton Glen Miller (March 1, 1904 – December 15, 1944) was an American big band founder, owner, conductor, composer, arranger, trombone player and recording artist before and during World War II, when he was an officer in the US Army Air Forc ...
, Paul Whiteman
Paul Samuel Whiteman (March 28, 1890 – December 29, 1967) was an American bandleader, composer, orchestral director, and violinist.
As the leader of one of the most popular dance bands in the United States during the 1920s and early 1930s, W ...
, and Jimmy Dorsey
James Francis Dorsey (February 29, 1904 – June 12, 1957) was an American jazz clarinetist, saxophonist, composer and big band leader. He recorded and composed the jazz and pop standards " I'm Glad There Is You (In This World of Ordinary Peop ...
. Later in his life, Barefield worked with the Illinois Jacquet
Jean-Baptiste "Illinois" Jacquet (October 30, 1922 – July 22, 2004) was an American jazz tenor saxophonist, best remembered for his solo on " Flying Home", critically recognized as the first R&B saxophone solo.
Although he was a pioneer of ...
big band.
Barfield also appeared in films, including ''Cab Calloway's Hi-De-Ho
''Cab Calloway's Hi-De-Ho'' (also known as ''Hi-De-Ho'') is an American musical short film directed by Fred Waller and released by Paramount Pictures in 1934. The film stars jazz bandleader Cab Calloway and actress Fredi Washington. In 2001, th ...
'' (1934), Al Jolson
Al Jolson (born Eizer Yoelson; June 9, 1886 – October 23, 1950) was a Lithuanian-American Jewish singer, comedian, actor, and vaudevillian. He was one of the United States' most famous and highest-paid stars of the 1920s, and was self-billed ...
's ''The Singing Kid
''The Singing Kid'' is a 1936 American musical film directed by William Keighley and written by Warren Duff and Pat C. Flick. Starring Al Jolson, Sybil Jason, Beverly Roberts, Edward Everett Horton, Lyle Talbot and Allen Jenkins, it was released ...
'' (1936), ''Every Day's a Holiday'' (1937), and '' The Night They Raided Minsky's'' (1968).
Barfield lived in the Bronx with his wife Connie Harris, a dancer who is in 35 films.
Barefeld died of a heart attack at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York on January 4, 1991. He was survived by his wife and daughter, Patricia Poindexter.
Discography
Albums
* 1974: ''Eddie Barefield'' (RCA
The RCA Corporation was a major American electronics company, which was founded as the Radio Corporation of America in 1919. It was initially a patent trust owned by General Electric (GE), Westinghouse, AT&T Corporation and United Fruit Comp ...
)
* 1977: ''The Indestructible Eddie Barefield'' (Famous Door)
*1982: ''Jazz'' (Comprehensive Video Supply Corporation)
Appearances
* 1971: ''L' Aventure Du Jazz – Musique Du Film'' (Jazz Odyssey) * 1975: ''Swing Today Volume Three'' (RCA)See also
*List of Jazz Arrangers
The American Federation of Musicians defines arranging as "the art of preparing and adapting an already written composition for presentation in other than its original form. An arrangement may include reharmonization, paraphrasing, and/or develo ...
References
External links
Eddie Barefield profile
at the African American Museum of Iowa * {{DEFAULTSORT:Barefield, Eddie 1909 births 1991 deaths American jazz saxophonists American male saxophonists American jazz clarinetists 20th-century American saxophonists 20th-century American male musicians American male jazz musicians Musicians from Iowa Musicians from Des Moines, Iowa African-American jazz composers American jazz composers African-American jazz musicians The Cab Calloway Orchestra members 20th-century jazz composers 20th-century African-American musicians