[Dixielandjazz] NYTimes Obit-- Buddy Colette

[Norman Vickers]

To: DJML and Musicians and Jazzfans lists

From: Norman Vickers, Jazz Society of Pensacola

 

Here's a NYTimes obituary on Buddy Colette.  You've likely seen one already
from LA Times, but I thought it worthwhile to send this, too.

 

Until I read the LA Times article, I wasn't aware of his activities In the
civil rights area.  Apparently he was one of the leaders in getting the
Musicians Union to consolidate their membership after WWII.  An interesting
historical note, there are still two Musicians Unions in New Orleans, I am
told.  This by mutual agreement.  I'm told further that foreign musicians
who immigrate to New Orleans to experience the music almost universally
chose to join the formerly Black  Musicians union.  Likely some scholar
and/or New Orleans musician would like to educate us further on this.

 




  _____  

September 27, 2010


Buddy Collette, Jazz Musician and Bandleader, Dies at 89


By DENNIS HEVESI
<http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/h/dennis_hevesi/
index.html?inline=nyt-per> 


Buddy Collette, a jazz saxophonist, flutist, clarinetist and bandleader who
blended his usually soothing, often pungent sounds with those of many jazz
greats and who was a leader in the struggle to break racial barriers in the
music industry, died on Sept. 19 in Los Angeles. He was 89. 

The cause was a respiratory ailment, his daughter Cheryl Collette-White told
The Los Angeles Times. 

Although Mr. Collette never attained the fame of many jazz stars, he played
beside them, from his days as a teenager in the 1930s until a stroke ended
his career in 1998. 

According to Ted Gioia's "History of Jazz" (Oxford University, 1997), one of
Mr. Collette's closest colleagues, the bassist Charles Mingus, went so far
"as to claim that his friend Buddy Collette could play as well as Bird" - a
reference to the nickname of the renowned saxophonist Charlie Parker
<http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/p/charlie_parker
/index.html?inline=nyt-per> . 

Besides Mr. Mingus and Mr. Parker, Mr. Collette performed with Duke
Ellington <http://www.nytimes.com/info/duke-ellington/?inline=nyt-per> ,
Count Basie, Thelonious Monk
<http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/m/thelonious_mon
k/index.html?inline=nyt-per> , Stan Kenton, Sarah Vaughan, Ella Fitzgerald
<http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/f/ella_fitzgeral
d/index.html?inline=nyt-per> , Frank Sinatra
<http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/s/frank_sinatra/
index.html?inline=nyt-per> , Nat King Cole, Nelson Riddle and Louie Belson. 

He came to national attention in 1955 as a member of the drummer Chico
Hamilton's quintet. But he had already made his mark, moving from small jazz
groups to big bands and from film studio work to television. 

In the estimation of The New Grove Dictionary of Jazz (Macmillan, 2002), Mr.
Collette brought a "virile approach" to the saxophone. And, as a flutist, it
said, "Collette's fluent playing helped shape a style of chamber jazz that
utilized a soft instrumentation, but was nonetheless improvisational,
swinging, and in its own way, hot." 

William Marcel Collette was born on Aug. 6, 1921, in the Watts district of
Los Angeles. His father, Willie, was, a pianist; his mother, Goldie Marie,
was a singer. In addition to his daughter Cheryl, Mr. Collette is survived
by two other daughters, Veda and Crystal; a son, Zan; eight grandchildren;
and nine great-grandchildren. 

As a child Mr. Collette went to a Louis Armstrong
<http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/a/louis_armstron
g/index.html?inline=nyt-per>  concert with his parents and soon turned from
piano lessons to the saxophone - and jazz. When he was 12, he formed his
first band. Among the youngsters in the group was Mr. Mingus, whom Buddy
convinced to switch from cello to bass. 

After serving in the Navy in World War II, during which he led a dance band,
Mr. Collette became a well-known name among the swing and be-bop players in
the night spots dotting Central Avenue in Los Angeles. In 1949, he broke a
color barrier by being chosen as the only African-American in the band for
the Groucho Marx
<http://movies.nytimes.com/person/992048/Groucho-Marx?inline=nyt-per>  show
"You Bet Your Life." 

Along with the alto saxophonist Benny Carter
<http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/c/benny_carter/i
ndex.html?inline=nyt-per>  and the pianist and arranger Marl Young, Mr.
Collette became a leader in the struggle to eliminate segregation in the
American
<http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/organizations/a/america
n_federation_of_musicians/index.html?inline=nyt-org>  Federation of
Musicians. On April 1, 1953, the black and white locals of the union in Los
Angeles merged. 

"I knew that was something that had to be done," Mr. Collette told The Los
Angeles Times in 2000. "I had been in the service, where our band was
integrated. My high school had been fully integrated. I really didn't know
anything about racism, but I knew it wasn't right. Musicians should be
judged on how they play, not the color of their skin." 

This article has been revised to reflect the following correction:

Correction: September 28, 2010

An earlier version referred incorrectly to two musicians who worked with Mr.
Collette to fight segregation in the American Federation of Musicians. Benny
Carter was a saxophonist, not a pianist, and Marl Young was a pianist as
well as an arranger.