[Dixielandjazz] Eldridge in Krupa's Band

[David Dustin]

Steve Barbone wrote:

I don't exactly know about the makeup of Krupa's bands, but 1941 would have
been among the early mixed bands if his included Eldridge. Especially in a
movie, which may have been why you saw the solo only and not Eldridge
sitting in a regular band chair. The  censors may well have killed most
references like that.

It was indeed an early mixed-race band.  Eldridge had earlier come out of
Teddy Hill¹s band in the early Œ30s (which included Cozy Cole and Ben
Webster), a lot of feature work on Fletcher Henderson recordings, and more
work with Zutty Singleton and various recordings on the Commodore and
Vocalion labels before launching his own Chicago band in the late Œ30s. It
didn¹t seem to work out. Krupa hired Eldridge in early 1941 and we can hear
the results with his stunning solos on the band¹s recordings of ³Green Eyes²
and ³After You¹ve Gone².

Merry Christmas/Happy Holidays to all,

David Dustin