Daniel Moses Barker (January 13, 1909 – March 13, 1994) 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. Its roots are in blues, ragtime, European harmony, African rhythmic rituals, spirituals, h ...

musician, vocalist, and author from New Orleans. He was a rhythm guitarist for

Cab Calloway Cabell "Cab" Calloway III (December 25, 1907 – November 18, 1994) was an American jazz singer and bandleader. He was a regular performer at the Cotton Club in Harlem, where he became a popular vocalist of the Swing music, swing era. His niche ...

Lucky Millinder Lucius Venable "Lucky" Millinder (August 8, 1910 – September 28, 1966) was an American swing music, swing and rhythm and blues, rhythm-and-blues bandleader. Although he could not read or write music, did not play an instrument and rarely sang ...

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 ...

during the 1930s. One of Barker's earliest teachers in New Orleans was fellow banjoist Emanuel Sayles, with whom he recorded. Throughout his career, he played with

Jelly Roll Morton Ferdinand Joseph LaMothe ( Lemott, later Morton; c. September 20, 1890 – July 10, 1941), known professionally as Jelly Roll Morton, was an American blues and jazz pianist, bandleader, and composer of Louisiana Creole descent. Morton was jazz ...

, Baby Dodds, James P. Johnson,

Sidney Bechet Sidney Joseph Bechet ( ; May 14, 1897 – May 14, 1959) was an American jazz saxophonist, clarinetist, and composer. He was one of the first important Solo (music), soloists in jazz, and first recorded several months before trumpeter Louis Ar ...

, Mezz Mezzrow, and

Red Allen Henry James "Red" Allen Jr. (January 7, 1908 – April 17, 1967) was an American jazz trumpeter and vocalist whose playing has been described by Joachim-Ernst Berendt and others as the first to fully incorporate the innovations of Louis Armst ...

. He also toured and recorded with his wife, singer Blue Lu Barker. From the 1960s, Barker's work with the Fairview Baptist Church Brass Band was pivotal in ensuring the longevity of jazz in New Orleans, producing generations of new talent, including Wynton and

Branford Marsalis Branford Marsalis (born August 26, 1960) is an American saxophonist, composer, and bandleader. While primarily known for his work in jazz as the leader of the Branford Marsalis Quartet, he also performs frequently as a soloist with classical ens ...

who played in the band as youths.

Biography

Danny Barker was born to a family of musicians in

New Orleans New Orleans (commonly known as NOLA or The Big Easy among other nicknames) is a Consolidated city-county, consolidated city-parish located along the Mississippi River in the U.S. state of Louisiana. With a population of 383,997 at the 2020 ...

in 1909, the grandson of bandleader Isidore Barbarin and nephew of drummers Paul Barbarin and Louis Barbarin. He took up

clarinet The clarinet is a Single-reed instrument, single-reed musical instrument in the woodwind family, with a nearly cylindrical bore (wind instruments), bore and a flared bell. Clarinets comprise a Family (musical instruments), family of instrume ...

and

drums The drum is a member of the percussion instrument, percussion group of musical instruments. In the Hornbostel–Sachs classification system, it is a membranophones, membranophone. Drums consist of at least one Acoustic membrane, membrane, c ...

before switching to a

ukulele The ukulele ( ; ); also called a uke (informally), is a member of the lute (ancient guitar) family of instruments. The ukulele is of Portuguese origin and was popularized in Hawaii. The tone and volume of the instrument vary with size and con ...

that his aunt got him, and then a

banjo The banjo is a stringed instrument with a thin membrane stretched over a frame or cavity to form a resonator. The membrane is typically circular, and in modern forms is usually made of plastic, where early membranes were made of animal skin. ...

from his uncle or a trumpeter named Lee Collins. Barker began his career as a musician in his youth with his streetband the Boozan Kings, and also toured

Mississippi Mississippi ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Deep South regions of the United States. It borders Tennessee to the north, Alabama to the east, the Gulf of Mexico to the south, Louisiana to the s ...

with

Little Brother Montgomery Eurreal Wilford "Little Brother" Montgomery (April 18, 1906 – September 6, 1985) was an American jazz, boogie-woogie and blues pianist and singer. Largely self-taught, Montgomery was an important blues pianist with an original style. He was ...

. In 1930, he moved to

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

and switched to the guitar. On the day of his arrival in New York, his uncle Paul took him to the Rhythm Club, where he saw an inspiring performance by

McKinney's Cotton Pickers McKinney's Cotton Pickers were an American jazz band, founded in Detroit, Michigan, United States in 1926, and led by Bill McKinney (drummer), Bill McKinney, who expanded his Synco Septet to ten players. Cuba Austin took over for McKinney on drum ...

. It was their first performance in New York as a band. Barker played with several acts when he moved to New York, including Fess Williams, Billy Fowler and the White Brothers. He worked with Buddy Harris in 1933,

Albert Nicholas Albert Nicholas (May 27, 1900 – September 3, 1973) was an American jazz clarinet player, who was mostly based in Europe after 1953. Career Nicholas's primary instrument was the clarinet, which he studied with Lorenzo Tio in his hometown ...

in 1935,

from 1937 to 1938, and

in 1938. During his time in New York, he frequently played with

West Indian A West Indian is a native or inhabitant of the West Indies (the Antilles and the Lucayan Archipelago). According to the ''Oxford English Dictionary'' (''OED''), the term ''West Indian'' in 1597 described the indigenous inhabitants of the West In ...

musicians, who often mistook him for one of them due to his Creole style of playing. From 1939 to 1946, he frequently recorded with

, and started his own group featuring his wife Blue Lu Barker after leaving Calloway. On September 4, 1945, he recorded with

Ohio Ohio ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Lake Erie to the north, Pennsylvania to the east, West Virginia to the southeast, Kentucky to the southwest, Indiana to the ...

's native jazz pianist, Sir Charles Thompson, and saxophonists

Dexter Gordon Dexter Gordon (February 27, 1923 – April 25, 1990) was an American jazz tenor saxophonist, composer, and bandleader. He was among the most influential early bebop musicians. Gordon's height was , so he was also known as "Long Tall Dexter" an ...

and

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

. In 1947, he was performing again with Lucky Millinder, and also with

Bunk Johnson Willie Gary "Bunk" Johnson (December 27, 1889 – July 7, 1949) was an American prominent jazz trumpeter from New Orleans. Biography Birth Johnson gave the year of his birth as 1879, although Johnson stated on his 1937 application for Socia ...

. He returned to working with Albert Nicholas in 1948 and in 1949 rejoined efforts with his wife in a group. During the 1950s, he was primarily a

freelance ''Freelance'' (sometimes spelled ''free-lance'' or ''free lance''), ''freelancer'', or ''freelance worker'', are terms commonly used for a person who is self-employed and not necessarily committed to a particular employer long-term. Freelance w ...

musician, but worked with Paul Barbarin from 1954 to 1955. In the mid-1950s he went to

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

to record again with Albert Nicholas. He performed at the 1960

Newport Jazz Festival The Newport Jazz Festival is an annual American multi-day jazz music festival held every summer in Newport, Rhode Island. Elaine Lorillard established the festival in 1954, and she and husband Louis Lorillard financed it for many years. They hire ...

with

Eubie Blake James Hubert "Eubie" Blake (February 7, 1887 – February 12, 1983) was an American pianist and composer of ragtime, jazz, and popular music. Blake began his career in 1912, and during World War I he worked in partnership with the singer, drum ...

. In 1963 he was working with Cliff Jackson, and then in 1964 appeared at the World Fair leading his own group. Sometime in the early 1960s, he formed a group he called Cinderella. In 1965, Barker returned to New Orleans and took up a position as assistant to the curator of the

New Orleans Jazz Museum The New Orleans Jazz Museum is a music museum in New Orleans, Louisiana, United States, U.S., dedicated to preserving and celebrating the history of jazz music. Originally a separate museum, the collection is now affiliated with the Louisiana St ...

. In 1970, he founded and led a church-sponsored

brass band A brass band is a musical ensemble generally consisting primarily of brass instruments, most often with a percussion section. Ensembles that include brass and woodwind instruments can in certain traditions also be termed brass bands (particularl ...

for young people—the Fairview Baptist Church Marching Band. Reverend Andrew Darby, Jr., the Pastor of Fairview Baptist Church commissioned 'Brother' Barker to form a Christian band, and Barker went throughout the neighborhood of the church enlisting young musicians. The Fairview band launched the careers of musicians who performed in

and mainstream

contexts, including

Wynton Marsalis Wynton Learson Marsalis (born October 18, 1961) is an American trumpeter, composer, and music instructor, who is currently the artistic director of Jazz at Lincoln Center. He has been active in promoting classical and jazz music, often to young ...

, Leroy Jones, Kirk Joseph,

Nicholas Payton Nicholas Payton (born September 26, 1973) is an American trumpet player and multi-instrumentalist. A Grammy Award winner, he is from New Orleans, Louisiana. He is also a writer who comments on subjects including music, race, politics, and life i ...

, Shannon Powell,

Lucien Barbarin Lucien Barbarin (July 17, 1956 – January 30, 2020) was an American trombone player. Barbarin toured internationally with the Preservation Hall Jazz Band and with Harry Connick Jr. He made his debut at the age of six, playing drums in the Onwar ...

, and Dr. Michael White, among others. As Joe Torregano—another Fairview band alumnus—described it, "That group saved jazz for a generation in New Orleans." In later years the band became known as the

Dirty Dozen Brass Band The Dirty Dozen Brass Band is an American brass band based in New Orleans, Louisiana. The ensemble was established in 1977, by Benny Jones and members of the Tornado Brass Band. The Dirty Dozen incorporated funk and bebop into the traditional D ...

. During that time, he also led the French Market Jazz Band. Barker played regularly at many New Orleans venues from the late 1960s through the early 1990s, in addition to touring. During the 1994

Mardi Gras Mardi Gras (, ; also known as Shrove Tuesday) is the final day of Carnival (also known as Shrovetide or Fastelavn); it thus falls on the day before the beginning of Lent on Ash Wednesday. is French for "Fat Tuesday", referring to it being ...

season, Barker reigned as King of

Krewe du Vieux The Krewe du Vieux is a New Orleans Mardi Gras krewe more fully known as the Krewe du Vieux Carré. History and formation The parade begins in the Marigny and slowly meanders its way through the Vieux Carre (a term for the city's French Q ...

. He also published an

autobiography An autobiography, sometimes informally called an autobio, is a self-written account of one's own life, providing a personal narrative that reflects on the author's experiences, memories, and insights. This genre allows individuals to share thei ...

and many articles on New Orleans and jazz history. Barker composed a number of songs, some of which other New Orleans bands perform regularly into the 21st century. His sexually suggestive song lyrics include "Palm Court Strut" and "Stick It Where You Stuck It Last Night". Barker wrote and had published two books on jazz from the

Oxford University Press Oxford University Press (OUP) is the publishing house of the University of Oxford. It is the largest university press in the world. Its first book was printed in Oxford in 1478, with the Press officially granted the legal right to print books ...

. The first was ''Bourbon Street Black'', cowritten with Dr. Jack V. Buerkle, in 1973, which was followed by ''A Life In Jazz'' in 1986. He also enjoyed painting and was an amateur landscape

artist An artist is a person engaged in an activity related to creating art, practicing the arts, or demonstrating the work of art. The most common usage (in both everyday speech and academic discourse) refers to a practitioner in the visual arts o ...

. Living during a period when

segregation Segregation may refer to: Separation of people * Geographical segregation, rates of two or more populations which are not homogenous throughout a defined space * School segregation * Housing segregation * Racial segregation, separation of human ...

was still common practice in the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

, Barker faced many obstacles during his career. Barker suffered from

diabetes Diabetes mellitus, commonly known as diabetes, is a group of common endocrine diseases characterized by sustained high blood sugar levels. Diabetes is due to either the pancreas not producing enough of the hormone insulin, or the cells of th ...

throughout most of his adult life, and was often in general poor health. He died of

cancer Cancer is a group of diseases involving Cell growth#Disorders, abnormal cell growth with the potential to Invasion (cancer), invade or Metastasis, spread to other parts of the body. These contrast with benign tumors, which do not spread. Po ...

in New Orleans on 13 March 1994 at age 85. He was buried from St. Raymond Catholic Church in New Orleans.

Personal life

Barker was raised

Baptist Baptists are a Christian denomination, denomination within Protestant Christianity distinguished by baptizing only professing Christian believers (believer's baptism) and doing so by complete Immersion baptism, immersion. Baptist churches ge ...

and

Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

Film

Barker is featured posthumously in the 2011 non-fiction film by Darren Hoffman, '' Tradition is a Temple''. Musicians from the

documentary A documentary film (often described simply as a documentary) is a nonfiction Film, motion picture intended to "document reality, primarily for instruction, education or maintaining a Recorded history, historical record". The American author and ...

speak at length of the profound impact that Barker had on their lives and careers and New Orleans poet Chuck Perkins reads a poem written for and dedicated to his memory. In 1957 Barker appeared in the

CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS (an abbreviation of its original name, Columbia Broadcasting System), is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainme ...

TV program '' The Sound of Jazz'', performing with

Pee Wee Russell Charles Ellsworth "Pee Wee" Russell (March 27, 1906 – February 15, 1969) was an American jazz musician. Early in his career he played clarinet and saxophones, but he eventually focused solely on clarinet. With a highly individualistic and sp ...

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 ...

and others. Barker appears in

Les Blank Les Blank (November 27, 1935 – April 7, 2013) was an American documentary filmmaker best known for his portraits of American traditional musicians. Life and career Leslie Harrod Blank Jr. was born November 27, 1935, in Tampa, Florida. He atten ...

's New Orleans documentary '' Always for Pleasure'', including an interview (with Blue Lu) and several performance sequences. Barker also appeared in the 1987 American television drama film ''

A Gathering of Old Men ''A Gathering of Old Men'' is a novel by Ernest J. Gaines published in 1983. Set on a 1970s Louisiana cane farm, the novel addresses racial discrimination in the post-civil rights era South. The novel's title characters each admit to the mu ...

'', in which he played the role of Chimlee.

Discography

Awards

* 1994 - Big Easy Entertainment Awards - Best Traditional Jazz Group for Danny Barker * 1993 - Big Easy Entertainment Awards - Lifetime Achievement In Music * 1993 - Big Easy Entertainment Awards - Best Traditional Jazz Group for Danny Barker * 1991 -

National Endowment for the Arts The National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) is an independent agency of the United States federal government that offers support and funding for projects exhibiting artistic excellence. It was created in 1965 as an independent agency of the feder ...

(NEA) NEA Jazz Masters Award * 1991 - Big Easy Entertainment Awards - Best Traditional Jazz Group for Danny Barker * 1990 - Big Easy Entertainment Awards - Best Traditional Jazz Group for Danny Barker and the Jazz Hounds * 1989 - Big Easy Entertainment Awards - Best Traditional Jazz Group for Danny Barker and the Jazz Hounds with Blue Lu Barker

References

External links

Danny Barker
in The Red Hot Jazz Archive] {{DEFAULTSORT:Barker, Danny 1909 births 1994 deaths 20th-century African-American male singers 20th-century American male singers 20th-century American singers 20th-century American guitarists African-American banjoists African-American guitarists African-American male singer-songwriters American male singer-songwriters American jazz guitarists American jazz singers American male guitarists American male jazz musicians Fairview Baptist Church Marching Band members Guitarists from Louisiana Jazz musicians from New Orleans Louisiana Creole people Mills Blue Rhythm Band members Onward Brass Band members Singer-songwriters from Louisiana The Cab Calloway Orchestra members African-American jazz guitarists NEA Jazz Masters