Jimmy Cheatham
Encyclopedia
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
jazz
Jazz
Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...
trombonist and teacher who played with Duke Ellington
Duke Ellington
Edward Kennedy "Duke" Ellington was an American composer, pianist, and big band leader. Ellington wrote over 1,000 compositions...
, Lionel Hampton
Lionel Hampton
Lionel Leo Hampton was an American jazz vibraphonist, pianist, percussionist, bandleader and actor. Like Red Norvo, he was one of the first jazz vibraphone players. Hampton ranks among the great names in jazz history, having worked with a who's who of jazz musicians, from Benny Goodman and Buddy...
and Ornette Coleman
Ornette Coleman
Ornette Coleman is an American saxophonist, violinist, trumpeter and composer. He was one of the major innovators of the free jazz movement of the 1960s....
. In 1978, Cheatham was invited to head the jazz program at University of California, San Diego
University of California, San Diego
The University of California, San Diego, commonly known as UCSD or UC San Diego, is a public research university located in the La Jolla neighborhood of San Diego, California, United States...
and, in 1979, he was appointed head of the African American and jazz performance programme there. He retired in 2005.
Biography
Born in Birmingham, AlabamaBirmingham, Alabama
Birmingham is the largest city in Alabama. The city is the county seat of Jefferson County. According to the 2010 United States Census, Birmingham had a population of 212,237. The Birmingham-Hoover Metropolitan Area, in estimate by the U.S...
, it was while serving in the United States Army
United States Army
The United States Army is the main branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for land-based military operations. It is the largest and oldest established branch of the U.S. military, and is one of seven U.S. uniformed services...
during and just after World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, that Cheatham played in the 173rd Army Ground Force Band.
Cheatham met his wife, Jean Evans, in 1956 in Buffalo, New York
Buffalo, New York
Buffalo is the second most populous city in the state of New York, after New York City. Located in Western New York on the eastern shores of Lake Erie and at the head of the Niagara River across from Fort Erie, Ontario, Buffalo is the seat of Erie County and the principal city of the...
, when the local musicians' union
American Federation of Musicians
The American Federation of Musicians of the United States and Canada is a labor union of professional musicians in the United States and Canada...
chief called them separately to replace two musicians who could not make a job at the local Elks Ballroom. They married in 1959.
In the mid-1980s Cheatham formed The Sweet Baby Blues Band with his wife. The Sweet Baby Blues Band played Kansas City
Kansas City, Missouri
Kansas City, Missouri is the largest city in the U.S. state of Missouri and is the anchor city of the Kansas City Metropolitan Area, the second largest metropolitan area in Missouri. It encompasses in parts of Jackson, Clay, Cass, and Platte counties...
style blues
Blues
Blues is the name given to both a musical form and a music genre that originated in African-American communities of primarily the "Deep South" of the United States at the end of the 19th century from spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts and chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads...
. Cheatham's Sweet Baby Blues album
Album
An album is a collection of recordings, released as a single package on gramophone record, cassette, compact disc, or via digital distribution. The word derives from the Latin word for list .Vinyl LP records have two sides, each comprising one half of the album...
won a French Grand Prix du Disque
Grand Prix du Disque
The Grand Prix du Disque is the premier French award for musical recordings. The award was inaugurated by l'Académie Charles Cros in 1948 and offers prizes in various categories. The categories vary from year to year, and multiple awards are often made in any one category in the same year...
. Their album Luv in the Afternoon was voted blues album of the year in a 1991 critics poll in Down Beat
Down Beat
Down Beat is an American magazine devoted to "jazz, blues and beyond" to indicate its expansion beyond the jazz realm which it covered exclusively in previous years. The publication was established in 1934 in Chicago, Illinois...
magazine.
Cheatham also taught jazz at Bennington College
Bennington College
Bennington College is a liberal arts college located in Bennington, Vermont, USA. The college was founded in 1932 as a women's college and became co-educational in 1969.-History:-Early years:...
in Vermont
Vermont
Vermont is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. The state ranks 43rd in land area, , and 45th in total area. Its population according to the 2010 census, 630,337, is the second smallest in the country, larger only than Wyoming. It is the only New England...
and at the University of Wisconsin
University of Wisconsin–Madison
The University of Wisconsin–Madison is a public research university located in Madison, Wisconsin, United States. Founded in 1848, UW–Madison is the flagship campus of the University of Wisconsin System. It became a land-grant institution in 1866...
in Madison
Madison, Wisconsin
Madison is the capital of the U.S. state of Wisconsin and the county seat of Dane County. It is also home to the University of Wisconsin–Madison....
, Wisconsin
Wisconsin
Wisconsin is a U.S. state located in the north-central United States and is part of the Midwest. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake Michigan to the east, Michigan to the northeast, and Lake Superior to the north. Wisconsin's capital is...
.
Cheatham's legacy is carried on by several students who went on to become, like him, prominent composer/performer/educators: flutist Nicole Mitchell
Nicole Mitchell (musician)
Nicole Mitchell is an American jazz flautist and former president of the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians .-Biography:...
, bassist Karl E. H. Seigfried
Karl E. H. Seigfried
Karl E. H. Seigfried is a German-American jazz, rock, and classical bassist, guitarist, composer, bandleader, writer and educator based in Chicago....
, and drummer Vikas Srivastava.
Cheatham died in San Diego, California
San Diego, California
San Diego is the eighth-largest city in the United States and second-largest city in California. The city is located on the coast of the Pacific Ocean in Southern California, immediately adjacent to the Mexican border. The birthplace of California, San Diego is known for its mild year-round...
, in January 2007 following heart surgery, at the age of 82.
As leader
- 1984 Sweet Baby Blues
- 1985 Midnight Mama (Concord)
- 1987 Homeward Bound (Concord)
- 1988 Back to the Neighborhood (Concord)
- 1990 Luv in the Afternoon (Concord)
- 1991 Basket Full of Blues (Concord)
- 1993 Blues and the Boogie Masters (Concord)
As sideman
With Chico HamiltonChico Hamilton
Chico Hamilton , is an American jazz drummer and bandleader.-Early life through 1960s:Hamilton was born in Los Angeles, California. He had a fast-track musical education in a band with Charles Mingus, Illinois Jacquet, Ernie Royal, Dexter Gordon, Buddy Collette and Jack Kelso...
- El ChicoEl Chico (album)El Chico is an album by American jazz drummer Chico Hamilton featuring performances recorded in 1965 for the Impulse! label.-Reception:The Allmusic review by Scott Yanow awarded the album 3 stars stating "The influences of Latin jazz, bossa nova, and the avant-garde are mixed into the unusual...
(Impulse!, 1965) - The Further Adventures of El ChicoThe Further Adventures of El ChicoThe Further Adventures of El Chico is an album by American jazz drummer Chico Hamilton featuring performances recorded in 1966 for the Impulse! label.-Reception:...
(Impulse!, 1966) - The DealerThe DealerThe Dealer is a 1966 release by jazz drummer/bandleader Chico Hamilton. It was first released by Impulse! Records and has been subsequently reissused on CD with the addition of bonus tracks from Chic Chic Chico, Definitive Jazz Scene Vol. 3 and Passin' Thru...
- arranger and conductor (Impulse!, 1966)