Historical Dictionary of Jazz. John S. Davis
American jazz drummer, Catlett was known primarily for his work in swing music. His first gig was with Darnell Howard in 1928, after which he moved to New York and worked first with Benny Carter’s band, then McKinney’s Cotton Pickers, Fletcher Henderson, and Don Redman. He was the featured drummer in a big band led by Louis Armstrong from 1938 to 1941 before playing briefly as a member of Benny Goodman’s band. He led his own groups during the 1940s and also played with Duke Ellington, Ben Webster (who played in Catlett’s quartet), and Dizzy Gillespie (recording “Salt Peanuts” in 1945) before returning to Armstrong’s All Stars from 1947 to 1949. In 1951, Catlett collapsed backstage and died of a heart attack at the Chicago Opera House during a benefit for “Hot Lips” Page.
CELESTIN, OSCAR PHILLIP “PAPA” (1884–1954)
Celestin played cornet and was the leader of the Original Tuxedo Orchestra, one of the most popular of the early jazz bands based in New Orleans, Louisiana. From 1910, Celestin led the house band at the Tuxedo Dance Hall in the French Quarter of New Orleans, and later he founded the Tuxedo Brass Band. A shooting at the Tuxedo in 1913 closed the dance hall, but Celestin kept the band going. He established a network of Papa Celestin bands that played constant jobs throughout the city, and almost all of the best-known New Orleans jazz pioneers played with Celestin at one time or another, including Louis Armstrong, Jimmie Noone, and Clarence Williams. The Original Tuxedo Orchestra recorded a remarkable number of recordings, making 17 records between 1925 and 1928. Celestin disbanded his ensemble in 1932 due to the Great Depression, but he resumed his role as a bandleader again after World War II. The new Tuxedo Orchestra proved very popular and became a key New Orleans attraction. After his death in 1953, the band continued to record.
CHALLIS, WILLIAM “BILL” (1904–1994)
An American arranger, he got his start as the staff arranger for the Jean Goldkette band. After meeting cornetist Bix Beiderbecke, both would move to Paul Whiteman’s band in 1927 where Challis wrote much of Whiteman’s most jazz-oriented music. His association with Beiderbecke would also lead to writing for Frankie Trumbauer’s small group. Challis left Whiteman’s band in 1930 and went on to write arrangements for Fletcher Henderson, the Dorsey brothers, and Artie Shaw, among others. He remained active as an arranger into the 1960s.
CHALOFF, SERGE (1923–1957)
Baritone sax player and one of the first important soloists on the instrument. He played with Boyd Raeburn (1945), Georgie Auld (1945–1946), and Jimmy Dorsey (1946–1947) before joining Woody Herman’s Second Herd and becoming one of the famous “Four Brothers” (1947–1949). His playing was influenced by Charlie Parker. He kicked a drug habit in 1950, but the last portion of his life was marred by spinal paralysis, causing him to play his last recording session, a reunion of the Four Brothers in 1957, in a wheelchair.
CHAMBERS, PAUL (1935–1969)
One of the most well-known jazz bassists of the 1950s and 1960s, Paul Chambers grew up in Detroit, starting on the tuba before switching to the bass. He toured with Paul Quinichette in 1954 before moving to New York, where he played with the J. J. Johnson–Kai Winding Quintet (1955), Bennie Green (1955), and George Wallington (1955). Thereafter he joined Miles Davis, with whom he played from 1955 to 1963. After his time with Davis, he played with pianist Wynton Kelly until 1966. An alcoholic and heroin addict, he was nevertheless a popular sideman who recorded with artists including Sonny Rollins, Cannonball Adderley, Freddie Hubbard, Bill Evans, and John Coltrane (who titled his composition “Mr. P.C.” in honor of Chambers), among others. Also known for his bowed solos, Chambers contracted tuberculosis in 1968 and died early in 1969.
CHANGES
Musician’s term for the harmonic progression to a song, as in “chord changes.” See also IMPROVISATION.
CHANNEL
A term for the B section within the form of American popular song (AABA), usually a contrasting harmonic and melodic section. See also BRIDGE.
CHARLAP, WILLIAM MORRISON “BILL” (1966–)
A piano player, Charlap was born in New York City into a musical family. His father was a composer and his mother a successful singer. Charlap was thrust into the jazz world in the late 1980s when he joined baritone saxophonist Gerry Mulligan’s quintet. In 1994, he joined the Phil Woods Quintet, and in the same year he began his solo recording career. In 1997 Charlap formed the Bill Charlap Trio with bassist Peter Washington and drummer Kenny Washington, which is now recognized as one of the leading groups in jazz. He was named jazz pianist of the year by the Jazz Journalists Association in 2003 and has received two Grammy Award nominations. Charlap has been serving as director of jazz studies at William Patterson University in Wayne, New Jersey, since 2005 and is married to jazz pianist Renee Rosnes.
CHARLES, RAY (1930–2004)
An American pianist and songwriter, he was also instrumental in the development of soul music and was a prolific force in American popular music. Born in Florida in poverty, Charles contracted glaucoma at the age of five and was blind one year later. He studied music and composition at the St. Augustine School for the Deaf and the Blind and later formed a group and toured around the state of Florida before moving to Seattle in 1947. He signed with Atlantic in 1952 and recorded several albums, his first trademark performance coming with “I’ve Got a Woman” in 1955. His unique inflection and interpretation was further realized with successive albums including What’d I Say (1959). During his time with Atlantic he also recorded jazz albums with artists including Milt Jackson and David “Fathead” Newman.
Charles moved to the ABC label in order to gain more creative control over his music, recording hits including “Georgia on My Mind” (1960) and “Hit the Road Jack” (1961), followed by a foray into country music with “Modern Sounds in Country and Western Music” (1962). His momentum was slowed somewhat by a 1965 arrest for heroin possession, after which he took a year off from performing. He would record several other albums of varying styles before returning to jazz in 2000 with an appearance on Steve Turre’s In the Spur of the Moment. After his death from liver disease in 2004, his album Genius Loves Company was posthumously released and was awarded eight Grammy Awards, and a biopic, Ray, was released in 2005 starring Jamie Foxx as the title character, a role for which Foxx won the Academy Award for Best Actor. See also BLUES; RHYTHM AND BLUES (R&B).
CHARLESTON
A popular dance style of the 1920s, its popularity was aided by a dance song of the same name by James P. Johnson and Cecil Mack in 1923. The dance, named after the city of Charleston, South Carolina, where it possibly originated, symbolized the reckless abandon of the Roaring Twenties but eventually fell out of favor, and its movements were combined into a newer dance, the Lindy.
CHARLESTON CHASERS
The name given to several different studio dance bands led by Red Nichols, Dick Johnson, Phil Napoleon, and Benny Goodman that recorded on the Columbia record label between 1925 and 1931. At various times the groups included Tommy Dorsey, Jack Teagarden, Glenn Miller, and Gene Krupa, among others.
CHARLIE PARKER RECORDS
A record label and company founded in New York in 1961 by Charlie Parker’s