Leonard Ware (December 28, 1909 – March 30, 1974) was one of the first American jazz guitarists to play electric guitar.

Career

Ware was born in

Richmond Richmond most often refers to: * Richmond, British Columbia, a city in Canada * Richmond, California, a city in the United States * Richmond, London, a town in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames, England * Richmond, North Yorkshire, a town ...

, Virginia. He went to college at the

Tuskegee Institute Tuskegee University (Tuskegee or TU; formerly known as the Tuskegee Institute) is a Private university, private, Historically black colleges and universities, historically black land-grant university in Tuskegee, Alabama, United States. It was f ...

and learned how to play the oboe. In 1938, Ware played electric guitar on recordings by

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 ...

. The duo he then started with Jimmy Shirley was one of the first groups to have two electric guitarists. Ware performed in a trio during the 1940s and recorded as a leader in 1947. He also recorded with

Don Byas Carlos Wesley "Don" Byas (October 21, 1912 – August 24, 1972) was an American jazz tenor saxophonist, associated with swing and bebop. He played with Count Basie, Duke Ellington, Art Blakey, and Dizzy Gillespie, among others, and also l ...

, Albinia Jones, Buddy Johnson, and

Big Joe Turner Joseph Vernon "Big Joe" Turner Jr. (May 18, 1911 – November 24, 1985) was an American blues shouter from Kansas City, Missouri. According to songwriter Doc Pomus, "Rock and roll would have never happened without him". Turner's greatest fa ...

. In December 1938, he played at

Carnegie Hall Carnegie Hall ( ) is a concert venue in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. It is at 881 Seventh Avenue (Manhattan), Seventh Avenue, occupying the east side of Seventh Avenue between 56th Street (Manhattan), 56th and 57th Street (Manhattan), 57t ...

with the Kansas City Six (

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 ...

and

Buck Clayton Wilbur Dorsey "Buck" Clayton (November 12, 1911 – December 8, 1991) was an American jazz trumpeter who was a member of Count Basie's orchestra. His principal influence was Louis Armstrong, first hearing the record " Confessin' that I Love You" ...

); in 1939 he recorded with

Benny Goodman Benjamin David Goodman (May 30, 1909 – June 13, 1986) was an American clarinetist and bandleader, known as the "King of Swing". His orchestra did well commercially. From 1936 until the mid-1940s, Goodman led one of the most popular swing bi ...

("Umbrella Man"). Ware was the co-composer of " Hold Tight" (which he recorded with Bechet) and " I Dreamt I Dwelt in Harlem" (with Jerry Gray and

Buddy Feyne Buddy Feyne (born Bernard Feinstein; June 9, 1912 – December 10, 1998) was an American lyricist during the swing era. He wrote the lyrics for " Tuxedo Junction", which went to No. 1 on the ''Billboard'' chart in 1940 when Glenn Miller recorded ...

), which was recorded by

Glenn Miller Alton Glen "Glenn" Miller (March 1, 1904 – December 15, 1944) was an American big band conductor, arranger, composer, trombonist, and recording artist before and during World War II, when he was an officer in the United States Army Air Forces ...

and The Delta Rhythm Boys in 1941. A few years later, he dropped out of music. He died in 1974.

Discography

* ''1937–1938'', Sidney Bechet (Classics)

References

Sources

* Bielefelder Katalog 1988 * Richard Cook & Brian Morton: ''

The Penguin Guide to Jazz ''The Penguin Guide to Jazz'' is a reference work containing an encyclopedic directory of jazz recordings on CD which were (at the time of publication) currently available in Europe or the United States. The first nine editions were compiled b ...

on CD'' 6th edition. *

Leonard Feather Leonard Geoffrey Feather (13 September 1914 – 22 September 1994) was a British-born jazz pianist, composer, and producer, who was best known for his music journalism and other writing. Biography Feather was born in London, England, into an u ...

, Ira Gitler: ''The Biographical Encyclopedia of Jazz.'' Oxford University Press, Oxford usw. 1999; * John Jörgensen, Erik Wiedemann ''Jazzlexikon''. Mosaik, München, 1967 {{DEFAULTSORT:Ware, Leonard 1909 births 1974 deaths Musicians from Richmond, Virginia African-American jazz guitarists American male jazz composers American jazz guitarists 20th-century American guitarists Jazz musicians from Virginia American male guitarists 20th-century American male musicians 20th-century American jazz composers 20th-century African-American musicians