Back Jimmy Rushing Danish Jimmy Rushing German Jimmy Rushing Esperanto Jimmy Rushing Spanish Jimmy Rushing French Jimmy Rushing Hungarian Джимми Рашинг Kazakh Џими Рашинг Macedonian Jimmy Rushing Dutch Jimmy Rushing Polish
Jimmy Rushing | |
|---|---|
.jpg) Rushing in 1946 | |
| Background information | |
| Birth name | James Andrew Rushing |
| Born | August 26, 1901 Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, U.S. |
| Died | June 8, 1972 (aged 70) New York City, U.S. |
| Genres | |
| Occupations |
|
| Instruments |
|
| Years active | 1924–1972[1] |
James Andrew Rushing (August 26, 1901[2] – June 8, 1972)[3] was an American singer and pianist from Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, U.S., best known as the featured vocalist of Count Basie's Orchestra from 1935 to 1948.[4]
Rushing was known as "Mr. Five by Five" and was the subject of an eponymous 1942 popular song that was a hit for Harry James and others; the lyrics describe Rushing's rotund build: "he's five feet tall and he's five feet wide".[4] He joined Walter Page's Blue Devils in 1927 and then joined Bennie Moten's band in 1929.[4] He stayed with the successor Count Basie band when Moten died in 1935.[4]
Rushing said that his first time singing in front of an audience was in 1924. He was playing piano at a club when the featured singer, Carlyn Williams, invited him to do a vocal. "I got out there and broke it up. I was a singer from then on," he said.[5]
Rushing was a powerful singer who had a range from baritone to tenor. He has sometimes been classified as a blues shouter. He could project his voice so that it soared over the horn and reed sections in a big-band setting. Basie claimed that Rushing "never had an equal" as a blues vocalist, though Rushing "really thought of himself as a ballad singer."[6][7] George Frazier, the author of Harvard Blues, called Rushing's voice "a magnificent gargle". Dave Brubeck defined Rushing's status among blues singers as "the daddy of them all."[5] Late in his life, Rushing said of his singing style, "I don't know what kind of blues singer you'd call me. I just sing 'em."[5] Among his best-known recordings are "Going to Chicago", with Basie, and "Harvard Blues", with a saxophone solo by Don Byas.
- ^ Applegate, Mark (January 25, 2014). "Mr. Five By Five Was A Five Star Artist". KUNC. Retrieved December 18, 2020.
- ^ "U.S. Social Security Act: Application for Account Number". June 4, 1938. Archived from the original on May 21, 2010. Retrieved May 31, 2017.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link) - ^ Cite error: The named reference
NYTwas invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ a b c d Russell, Tony (1997). The Blues: From Robert Johnson to Robert Cray. Dubai: Carlton Books. p. 164. ISBN 1-85868-255-X.
- ^ a b c Rushing, Jimmy (1968). Livin' the Blues. Bluesway. Archived from the original on December 31, 2013. Retrieved December 31, 2013.
- ^ Barlow, William (1989). "Looking Up at Down": The Emergence of Blues Culture, pp. 245–246. Philadelphia: Temple University Press. ISBN 0-87722-583-4.
- ^ Basie, Count (1985). Good Morning Blues. New York: Random House. p. 182. ISBN 0-394-54864-7.