Leon Brown "Chu" Berry (September 13, 1908 – October 30, 1941) was an American jazz

tenor saxophonist The tenor saxophone is a medium-sized member of the saxophone family, a group of instruments invented by Adolphe Sax in the 1840s. The tenor and the alto are the two most commonly used saxophones. The tenor is pitched in the key of B (while t ...

during the 1930s. According to music critic Gary Giddins, musicians called him "Chu" either because he chewed on the mouthpiece of his saxophone or because he had a

Fu Manchu Dr. Fu Manchu () is a supervillain who was introduced in a series of novels by the English author Sax Rohmer beginning shortly before World War I and continuing for another forty years. The character featured in cinema, television, radio, comi ...

mustache.

Career

Berry was born in Wheeling, West Virginia. He graduated from Lincoln High School, in Wheeling, then attended West Virginia State College for three years. His sister Ann played piano. Berry became interested in music at an early age, playing alto saxophone, at first with local bands. He was inspired to take up the tenor saxophone after hearing

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 ...

on tour. Most of Berry's career was spent with

swing Swing or swinging may refer to: Apparatus * Swing (seat), a hanging seat that swings back and forth * Pendulum, an object that swings * Russian swing, a swing-like circus apparatus * Sex swing, a type of harness for sexual intercourse * Swing rid ...

bands: Sammy Stewart, 1929–1930, with whom he switched to tenor sax,

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 ...

, 1932–1933,

Teddy Hill Teddy Hill (December 7, 1909 in Birmingham, Alabama – May 19, 1978 in Cleveland, Ohio) was an American big band leader and the manager of Minton's Playhouse, a seminal jazz club in Harlem. He played a variety of instruments, including dru ...

, 1933–1935,

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 mus ...

, 1935–1937,

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 vocali ...

, his best-known affiliation, from 1937 to 1941. Berry is credited with turning Calloway's band into a legitimate jazz orchestra over the four years of his membership. Throughout his brief career, Berry was in demand as a

sideman A sideman is a professional musician who is hired to perform live with a solo artist, or with a group in which they are not a regular band member. The term is usually used to describe musicians that play with jazz or rock artists, whether solo ...

for recording sessions under the names of various other jazz artists, including

Spike Hughes Patrick Cairns "Spike" Hughes (19 October 1908 – 2 February 1987) was a British musician, composer and arranger involved in the worlds of classical music and jazz. He has been called Britain's earliest jazz composer. Later in his career, he ...

(1933),

Bessie Smith Bessie Smith (April 15, 1894 – September 26, 1937) was an American blues singer widely renowned during the Jazz Age. Nicknamed the " Empress of the Blues", she was the most popular female blues singer of the 1930s. Inducted into the Rock an ...

(1933), The Chocolate Dandies (1933),

Mildred Bailey Mildred Bailey (born Mildred Rinker; February 27, 1907 – December 12, 1951) was a Native American jazz singer during the 1930s, known as "The Queen of Swing", "The Rockin' Chair Lady" and "Mrs. Swing". She recorded the songs " For Sentimenta ...

(1935–1938),

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 ...

(1935–1938),

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 ...

(1938–1939),

Wingy Manone Joseph Matthews "Wingy" Manone (February 13, 1900 – July 9, 1982) was an American jazz trumpeter, composer, singer, and bandleader. His recordings included "Tar Paper Stomp", "Nickel in the Slot", "Downright Disgusted Blues", "There'll Come a ...

(1938–1939) and

Lionel Hampton Lionel Leo Hampton (April 20, 1908 – August 31, 2002) was an American jazz vibraphonist, pianist, percussionist, and bandleader. Hampton worked with jazz musicians from Teddy Wilson, Benny Goodman, and Buddy Rich, to Charlie Parker, Charle ...

(1939). During the period 1934–1939, while saxophone pioneer Hawkins was playing in Europe, Berry was one of several younger tenor saxophonists, such as Budd Johnson,

Ben Webster Benjamin Francis Webster (March 27, 1909 – September 20, 1973) was an American jazz tenor saxophonist. Career Early life and career A native of Kansas City, Missouri, he studied violin, learned how to play blues on the piano from ...

and

Lester Young Lester Willis Young (August 27, 1909 – March 15, 1959), nicknamed "Pres" or "Prez", was an American jazz tenor saxophonist and occasional clarinetist. Coming to prominence while a member of Count Basie's orchestra, Young was one of the most i ...

who vied for supremacy on their instrument. Berry's mastery of advanced harmony and his smoothly-flowing solos on uptempo tunes influenced such young innovators as Dizzy Gillespie and

Charlie Parker Charles Parker Jr. (August 29, 1920 – March 12, 1955), nicknamed "Bird" or "Yardbird", was an American jazz saxophonist, band leader and composer. Parker was a highly influential soloist and leading figure in the development of bebop, a form ...

. The latter named his first son Leon in Chu's honor. Berry was one of the jazz musicians who took part in

jam sessions A jam session is a relatively informal musical event, process, or activity where musicians, typically instrumentalists, play improvised solos and vamp over tunes, drones, songs, and chord progressions. To "jam" is to improvise music without ext ...

Minton's Playhouse Minton's Playhouse is a jazz club and bar located on the first floor of the Cecil Hotel at 210 West 118th Street in Harlem, Manhattan, New York City. It is a registered trademark of Housing and Services, Inc. a New York City nonprofit provider o ...

in New York City, which led to the development of

bebop Bebop or bop is a style of jazz developed in the early-to-mid-1940s in the United States. The style features compositions characterized by a fast tempo, complex chord progressions with rapid chord changes and numerous changes of key, instrum ...

. "Christopher Columbus", which Berry composed with lyrics by

Andy Razaf Andy Razaf (born Andriamanantena Paul Razafinkarefo; December 16, 1895 – February 3, 1973) was an American poet, composer and lyricist of such well-known songs as " Ain't Misbehavin'" and " Honeysuckle Rose". Biography Razaf was born in Wash ...

, was the last important hit recording of the Fletcher Henderson orchestra, recorded in 1936. It is one of the most popular

riff A riff is a repeated chord progression or refrain in music (also known as an ostinato figure in classical music); it is a pattern, or melody, often played by the rhythm section instruments or solo instrument, that forms the basis or accompanim ...

tunes from the swing era. It was incorporated into

Jimmy Mundy James Mundy (June 28, 1907 – April 24, 1983) was an American jazz tenor saxophonist, arranger, and composer, best known for his arrangements for Benny Goodman, Count Basie, and Earl Hines. Mundy died of cancer in New York City at the age of 7 ...

's arrangement of Sing, Sing, Sing 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 conce ...

's band. Four sessions were organized with Berry as leader, in 1937, 1938, and 1941. Berry died on October 27, 1941 in Conneaut, Ohio, after being in a car accident."Chu Berry Obituary." The Afro-American (Baltimore) - November 8, 1941, p. 14
From Ohio County Public Library. Retrieved April 3, 2013.

The Chu Berry saxophone

Chu Berry is the unofficial name of a series of saxophones produced by the C.G. Conn company during the 1920s, though it is more accurate to refer to them as the Conn New Wonder Series II. C.G. Conn never used the term "Chu Berry" to refer to any of their saxophones. Berry played a model of tenor sax generally known as the Conn Transitional and is not known to have ever played a New Wonder Series II. Some saxophone owners use the term "Chu Berry" in reference to any Conn saxophone made between 1910 and the mid-1930s, including soprano, alto, baritone and C melody saxophones, none of which Berry played.

Discography

As leader

* "Now You're Talking My Language"/"Too Marvelous for Words" (Variety, 1937) * "Indiana"/"Limehouse Blues" (Variety, 1937) * "Sittin' in"/"Forty-six West Fifty-two" (Commodore, 1938) * "Stardust"/"Body and Soul" (Commodore, 1938) * "Blowing Up a Breeze"/ "Monday at Minton's" (Commodore, 1941) * "On the Sunny Sides of the Street" / "Gee, Ain't I Good To You" (Commodore, 1941) * ''Chu Berry'' (Commodore, 1959) * ''Sittin' In'' (Mainstream, 1965)

As sideman on compilations

* 1992 '' The Original American Decca Recordings'', Count Basie * 1995 '' The Complete RCA Victor Recordings'', Dizzy Gillespie * 2002 ''Quintessence : New York-Chicago 1924–1936'', Fletcher Henderson * 2003 ''Quintessence New York-Chicago: 1933–50'', Teddy Wilson * 2007 ''The Complete Lionel Hampton Victor Sessions 1937–1941'', Lionel Hampton * 2012 ''The Billie Holiday Collection: 1935–42'', Billie Holiday

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Berry, Chu 1908 births 1941 deaths Musicians from Wheeling, West Virginia Jazz musicians from West Virginia African-American jazz musicians American jazz tenor saxophonists American male saxophonists Swing saxophonists 20th-century American saxophonists 20th-century American male musicians American male jazz musicians The Cab Calloway Orchestra members The Chocolate Dandies members Road incident deaths in Ohio 20th-century African-American musicians