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Doc Cheatham

One of the very last survivors of the early days of jazz, trumpeter Adolphus "Doc" Cheatham attracted attention from the historically- inclined right up to his death in 1997 at the age of 91. His career recapitulated much of the history of jazz as a whole: he came of age hearing and playing with the New Orleans masters of the music's classic period; he participated in the big band movement that defined jazz in the 1930s; after the Second World War he affiliated himself with popular Latin dance orchestras on one hand and appeared with select, connoisseur-oriented small-group jazz combos on the other. As if defying time, his later recordings and performances were his best, and it was toward the end of his life that he allowed himself more often to step into the spotlight as a soloist.

Doc Cheatham was born in Nashville on June 13, 1905. Cheatham took up the cornet and soon after the trumpet as a teenager, taking lessons from two itinerant circus trumpeter brothers named Professor N. C. Davis and Professor C. M. Davis. He landed a job in the pit orchestra at Nashville's Bijou theatre, which played host to great performers of the black touring circuit of the 1920s such as Bessie Smith. He also played in a small band based at Nashville's historically black Meharry Medical College, acquiring the nickname "Doc" as a result.

His parents hoped that he would indeed become a doctor, but instead Cheatham headed for Chicago, a city that was just coming into its own as a jazz mecca when he arrived in 1925. Rubbing elbows with already-legendary trumpeters like Louis Armstrong, Freddie Keppard, and "King" Oliver, he took another crucial step forward musically when he learned to read musical notation. "I was in {pianist} Charlie Johnson's band only one night," he recalled in a Down Beat interview. I was fired that same night. . . .I couldn't read the show music. So that's when I got busy down there. I found a teacher, Viola something." In 1927 Cheatham made his first recording.

Cheatham moved to the East Coast in 1927 and did stints with several celebrated bands, including McKinney's Cotton Pickers. Stable employment came during an eight-year tenure with bandleader Cab Calloway, from 1932 to 1940. Cheatham had been recommended by jazz musician Benny Carter. Calloway's band, often performing at New York's renowned Cotton Club, was one of the most successful of the era.

The rigors of life on the road took a toll on Cheatham's health, and in 1939 he was hospitalized for nine weeks suffering from anemia and exhaustion, this lead to a hiatus and turning point in Cheatham's career. During World War II he essentially put his performing career on hold, opening a teaching studio in New York and taking a job with the U.S. post office. But he would reenter the music world again.

Joining a band led by Eddie Heywood Jr. Cheatham backed vocalist Billie Holiday in performances at the Cafe Society club, and took solos that showed some of the directions in which he would later develop. New popular musical forms also proved suited to his talents; Cheatham found ready employment after the war when trumpet-oriented Latin dance bands began to gain popularity. For a time, Cheatham played in the orchestra of the incredible Cuban-born bandleader Perez Prado. He continued making jazz appearances as well, and backed Holiday again on a widely viewed 1957 CBS television broadcast called "The Sound of Jazz."

Cheatham's big break came at the age of 60, early in 1966, when he was asked by clarinetist Benny Goodman to join his quintet for a series of performances at the Rainbow Room club. "I was honored to play on the same bandstand as him, whether I played good or not," Cheatham told Down Beat. Later that year Cheatham toured Europe with a Goodman ensemble. The performances ushered in a astonishing period of late-life creativity.

Cheatham embarked on a seven-year regimen of practice and study, aiming to transform himself into a great soloist. Even in 1993 he told Time that "I study my jazz all the time, trying to improve myself." From the late 1970s onward, he was a fixture of New York's live jazz scene, and recording opportunities often flowed his way. There was “Swingin’ Way Down in New Orleans,” in ’95 where he plays traditional standards brilliantly.He joined 23-year-old Nicholas Payton for a series of duets on his final recording, 1997's “Doc Cheatham & Nicholas Payton.” Doc performed right up until the end of his long and productive life, and left us an inspiring legacy.

, Cheatham was influenced by legends like Armstrong, but created a style uniquely his own. This courtly, restrained musician lived nearly the entire history of jazz, and ended up being accorded his own chapter in that history. Show less

Records and Record Dates: Part 1

by Monk Rowe
March 8, 2023

One nighters, life on a bus and minimal salaries may seem worth it when jazz musicians finally find themselves in a recording studio. Doc Cheatham, Toshiko Akiyoshi, John Best and others speak about memorable records and recording sessions. ...

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