Cyrus St. Clair | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1890 Cambridge, Maryland, U.S. |
| Died | 1955 (aged 64–65) New York City, New York, U.S. |
| Genres | Jazz |
| Instruments | Tuba, double bass |
Cyrus St. Clair (1890 – 1955) was an American jazz tubist and double-bassist.[1]
Early life
St. Clair was born in Cambridge, Maryland; both his father and uncle were tubists. He played locally as a cornetist before switching to tuba.[2]
Career
St. Clair relocated to New York City in 1925 and played with Wilbur De Paris, Charlie Johnson, Clarence Williams, and Bessie Smith in the second half of the 1920s. He worked briefly in 1930 with Cozy Cole before rejoining Williams, with whom he recorded copiously until 1937. He also played with Leroy Tibbs and King Oliver. St. Clair then left music for a period, though in 1947 he returned to performing, working as a double-bassist with Tony Parenti and Knocky Parker and performing on Rudi Blesh's radio program This Is Jazz. He died in New York City in 1955.
References
- Footnotes
- ↑ Morgenstern, Dan (2009-08-19). Living with Jazz: A reader edited by Sheldon Meyer. Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group. ISBN 978-0-307-48760-5.
- ↑ Goldsby, John (2002-09-01). The Jazz Bass Book: Technique and Tradition. Rowman & Littlefield. ISBN 978-1-61713-218-6.
- General references
- "Cyrus St. Clair". The New Grove Dictionary of Jazz. 2nd edition, ed. Barry Kernfeld, 2004