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Milt Buckner
A colorful and versatile musician who was comfortable while on the piano, or stretching out on the Hammond organ. Milt Buckner was also quite the character and very much the jovial entertainer.
Orphaned as a child, Buckner was taught music by an uncle in Detroit. He started playing piano and arranging for local bands such as The Harlem Aristocrats and The Dixie Whangdoodles - by the late 1920s. After joining drummer Don Cox's band in 1932, Buckner began experimenting with patterned parallel chords, becoming famous as the earliest purveyor of what came to be known as "block chords" or "locked hands" style;, he then attracted the attention of McKinney's Cotton Pickers in 1934 for whom he wrote arrangements.
Buckner continued working with the local Detroit groups of Don Cox and Jimmy Raschel, until he joined Lionel Hampton's big band as pianist and arranger in November 1941, acting as pianist and staff arranger, and remained there for seven years, where his recorded arrangements included “Tempo's Birthday,” “Slide Hamp Slide,” “Overtime,” “Rockin' In Rhythm,” and the perennial “Hey! Ba-Ba-Re-Bop,” and “Hamp's Boogie Woogie.” Hamp's free-wheeling orchestra suited Milt admirably; the on-stage histrionics, the jump and swing repertoire and the musical and visual appeal of the band fit his charact er like a glove.
While with Hampton, Milt broke away sporadically to pursue his own career on Savoy Records from 1946 to 1948, after getting an early taste recording a lone side under his own name for Hamp's Hamp-Tone label. Recording with a small quartet or quintet, he achieved sufficient success to quit Hamp's band in 1948 at which time Milt quickly formed his own orchestra which recorded for MGM Records.
Around this time that Buckner began to concentrate on playing organ, and he worked as a solo or in harness with Jo Jones, Sam Woodyard and Illinois Jacquet, frequently returning to Hampton for record and concert dates.
Milt returned to Hampton in 1950 for another two years during which time he switched from piano to organ - after being influenced by Wild Bill Davis' playing on Louis Jordan's “Tamburitza Boogie” - an instrument he was largely to stick with for the rest of his life.
As a jazz organist he recorded for Regent (1952), Scooter (1952-53), Brunswick (1953), Capitol (1955-57), Argo (1959-61) and Bethlehem (1962-63) before recording extensively in Europe throughout the 1960s and 1970s for the likes of Black & Blue, whe re he was the resident session man for visiting musicians. He also did recordings for MPS and Jazz Odyssey.
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Backgrounder: Milt Bucker's 'Block Chords Parade'
![Backgrounder: Milt Bucker's 'Block Chords Parade'](https://s3.amazonaws.com/allaboutjazz/coverart/large/11217d8486b5394d27c24107ccd47acc.jpg)
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JazzWax by Marc Myers
What are block chords? That's when a pianist (or guitarist) plays a melody with chords rather than individual notes. This is done with the top note of the chord playing the melody line with chord notes below creating the harmony. Block chords are often played on piano with a locked hands" technique, when both hands play block chords in unison or lock-step. To illustrate, let's visit with the great Dick Hyman... As Dick notes, Milt Buckner pioneered the block-chords sound, ...
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Milt Buckner: Locked Hands
![Milt Buckner: Locked Hands](https://s3.amazonaws.com/allaboutjazz/coverart/large/98b28994bc0d300e52b45dece05af0bc.jpg)
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JazzWax by Marc Myers
Yesterday I posted on Go Power!, saxophonist Illinois Jacquet's 1966 album with Milt Buckner on organ and Alan Dawson on drums. In the post, I mentioned that Buckner had created the locked-hands technique on the piano keyboard. Unleashing this difficult approach requires that both hands play the same chords with the song's melody note up on top. Thrilling for the listener, challenging for the player. Buckner (above) began playing this way on the piano while with Lionel Hampton in the ...
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Milt Buckner: Block Chords Parade
![Milt Buckner: Block Chords Parade](https://s3.amazonaws.com/allaboutjazz/photos/logo/1024pxMarcMyers.jpg)
Source:
JazzWax by Marc Myers
When pianist Billy Taylor asked fellow keyboard legend George Shearing in 1984 how he developed the Shearing Sound," Shearing said he sandwiched the styles of two different musicians. Recalled Shearing: When I came back to the States [in late 1947], I went to all of the big talent agencies. They seemed determined to make another Alec Templeton out of me. But I didn't want to do what I had already done. [Audiences] didn't need the English Art Tatum, or the English ...
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