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Roy Eldridge was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania on January 30, 1911 and died February 26, 1989. Early in his career, he played in the mid-west, appearing with the bands of Speed Webb, Horace Henderson and others. He moved to New York in 1930 and formed his own band. Although it was successful, he accepted the offer to join Gene Krupa in 1941. This engagement, which included extensive tours of the United States and numerous recordings, increased his profile markedly. However, despite the enormous boost to his popularity as the only black member of Krupa's otherwise all-white band, he suffered racial harassment that brought him great pain. 1
A fiery, combative player, Roy Eldridge is one of the chief figures in the established lineage of jazz trumpet-playing and is often cited as a link between trumpeters Louis Armstrong and Dizzy Gillespie. A proto-bop trumpeter, Eldridge was a giant who became an elder statesman of jazz without ever losing the fire and aggression that had always marked his style. His high-register playing, achieved with apparent ease, his verve and enthusiasm were such that he invariably brought out the best in his fellow musicians.
A master of his instrument, Roy Eldridge's career ended when he suffered a stroke in the 1980. He first met Oscar Peterson at Carnegie Hall in September 1949, when Oscar Peterson made his American musical debut in a concert which also featured Ella Fitzgerald and Coleman Hawkins. Subsequently, Eldridge and Peterson made a number of recordings and toured Europe together with Jazz at the Philharmonic. Roy Eldridge's stay in Europe convinced him that his place was in the mainstream of jazz, and that it was a place in which he was respected by musicians and admired by fans. 2
Selected Recordings
Roy Eldridge with the Oscar Peterson Quartet I (1953)
Jam Session #8 (1953, Clef Records MG C-711)
Roy Eldridge with the Oscar Peterson Quartet II (1954)
The Great English Concert (1958)
One Is Never Too Old to Swing (Sonet 1979)
Footnotes
1 Kernfeld, Barry. The New Grove Dictionary of Jazz. London: Macmillan Press Ltd, 1988.
2 Lees, Gene. Oscar Peterson: The Will to Swing. Rocklin, California: Prima Publishing & Communications, 1990.
O.P. & Friends
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