Luis Russell (August 5, 1902 – December 11, 1963) was a pioneering Panamanian

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 major ...

pianist, orchestra leader, composer, and arranger.

Career

Luis Carl Russell was born on Careening Cay, near Bocas del Toro, Panama, in a family of African-Caribbean ancestry. His father was a music teacher, and Russell learned to play guitar, piano, and violin. He had begun playing professionally, accompanying silent films by 1917 and later at a casino in Colón, Panama. In 1919, he won $3,000 in a lottery and used it to move to the United States, with his mother and sister, settling in

New Orleans New Orleans ( , ,New Orleans
Merriam-Webster. ; french: La Nouvelle-Orléans , es, Nuev ...

Louisiana Louisiana , group=pronunciation (French: ''La Louisiane'') is a state in the Deep South and South Central regions of the United States. It is the 20th-smallest by area and the 25th most populous of the 50 U.S. states. Louisiana is borde ...

, where he worked as a pianist. He moved to

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Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolita ...

, in 1925 and worked with

Doc Cook Charles L. Cooke (September 3, 1891 – December 25, 1958), known as Doc Cook, was an American jazz bandleader and arranger. Cook was a Doctor of Music, awarded by the Chicago Musical College in 1926. Born in Louisville, he first worked as a com ...

and

King Oliver Joseph Nathan "King" Oliver (December 19, 1881 – April 8/10, 1938) was an American jazz cornet player and bandleader. He was particularly recognized for his playing style and his pioneering use of mutes in jazz. Also a notable composer, he wr ...

. The Oliver band moved to

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

, and Russell left to form his own band. By 1929, Russell's band became one of the leading jazz groups in New York City. It had several former Oliver sidemen. Performers in his band included trumpeter

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

, trombonist

J. C. Higginbotham J. (Jack) C. Higginbotham (May 11, 1906 – May 26, 1973) was an American jazz trombonist. His playing was robust and swinging. Biography He was born in Social Circle, Georgia, United States, and raised in Cincinnati, Ohio. In the 1930s a ...

, and alto saxophonist

Albert Nicholas Albert Nicholas (May 27, 1900 – September 3, 1973) was an American jazz clarinet player. Career Nicholas's primary instrument was the clarinet, which he studied with Lorenzo Tio in his hometown of New Orleans, Louisiana, United States. Late ...

Louis Armstrong Louis Daniel Armstrong (August 4, 1901 – July 6, 1971), nicknamed "Satchmo", "Satch", and "Pops", was an American trumpeter and vocalist. He was among the most influential figures in jazz. His career spanned five decades and several era ...

took over the band in 1935. Between 1926 and 1934, Russell recorded 38 sides (mostly using his own name), plus those issued under Red Allen (1929) and a handful where Armstrong led his band. After the

OKeh Okeh Records () is an American record label founded by the Otto Heinemann Phonograph Corporation, a phonograph supplier established in 1916, which branched out into phonograph records in 1918. The name was spelled "OkeH" from the initials of Ott ...

contract ended in September 1930, Russell recorded a handful of sessions for Melotone, Brunswick and

Victor The name Victor or Viktor may refer to: * Victor (name), including a list of people with the given name, mononym, or surname Arts and entertainment Film * ''Victor'' (1951 film), a French drama film * ''Victor'' (1993 film), a French shor ...

. After no recordings under his name between late 1931 and late 1934, Russell recorded a session for ARC (Melotone, Perfect, Oriole, Banner, Romeo) in 1934, which yielded six sides (three featured Sonny Woods's novelty vocals, one featured the vocal group the Palmer Brothers). The band returned to Russell's name, while Armstrong played in California and Europe in the early 1930s; Russell and Armstrong were reunited in 1935. That same year, Armstrong took over the orchestra altogether, and for the next eight years they functioned as back-up band for Armstrong, with Russell acting as the musical director. Russell led a new band from 1943 to 1948 that played at the

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and

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and made a few recordings. These included his 1946 version of the pop standard, "

The Very Thought of You "The Very Thought of You" is a pop standard that was recorded and published in 1934 with music and lyrics by Ray Noble. The song was first recorded by Ray Noble and His Orchestra with Al Bowlly on vocals for HMV in England in April 1934. This re ...

". In 1948, Russell retired from music and opened a notions shop, with irregular band gigs and teaching music on the side. In 1959, he visited Panama where he gave a piano recital of classical music. He died in New York City at the age of 61. His daughter, Catherine Russell, is a jazz singer.

Selected discography

As leader * ''1929–1934'' (2-CD, Retrieval Records 006 * ''Saratoga Shout'' ( ASV Living Era 007 With

* ''Louis & Luis, 1929–1940'' (ASV Living Era

994 Year 994 ( CMXCIV) was a common year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. Events By place Byzantine Empire * September 15 – Battle of the Orontes: Fatimid forces, under Turkish gener ...

References

External links

Luis Russell at RedHotJazz.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:Russell, Luis 1902 births 1963 deaths American jazz bandleaders American jazz pianists American male pianists Big band bandleaders Big band pianists Deaths from cancer in New York (state) Jazz musicians from New Orleans Swing pianists Manor Records artists 20th-century American pianists Panamanian emigrants to the United States 20th-century American male musicians American male jazz musicians