Fate Marable
Fate Marable | |
---|---|
Birth name | Fate Marable |
Born | December 2, 1890 |
Origin | St. Louis, Missouri, U.S. |
Genres | Jazz |
Occupation(s) | Bandleader, musician |
Instrument(s) | Piano, calliope |
Years active | 1907-1940 |
Fate Marable (December 2, 1890 – January 16, 1947) was an American jazz pianist and bandleader.
Early life
Marable was born in Paducah, Kentucky to James and Elizabeth Lillian (Wharton) Marable, a piano teacher. Fate had five siblings, including two brothers, Harold and James, and three sisters, Mabel, Juanita, and Neona. Elizabeth Marable, known as "Lizzie," gave her son music lessons, both in reading music and playing piano.[1]
Music career
At the age of 17, Marable began playing on the
Later in 1907, he became bandleader for a paddlewheeler on the
As a bandleader, Marable shared the lessons from his mother with his musicians. Many of the musicians he hired played by ear, and he augmented their skills by teaching them to read music, and expected them all to learn how to play from sheet music on sight.[7] As his one-time drummer, Zutty Singleton put it: "There was a saying in New Orleans. When some musician would get a job on the riverboats with Fate Marable, they'd say, 'Well, you're going to the conservatory.'"[8][5] While he was training these musicians to better perform the dance arrangements for the steamboat passengers, he also boosted many of their careers when they were ready to move on. Streckfus Steamers' alumni went on to play with bandleaders such as Cab Calloway, Count Basie, Duke Ellington, Jimmie Lunceford, Fats Waller, and Chick Webb.[7]
Members of Marable's bands were expected to be able to play a wide variety of music, from hot numbers to light classics, playing by memory or ear, and from sheet music. Above all they were expected to keep the dancers happy. Marable was a strict bandleader, demanding musical proficiency and rigid discipline from all his bandmembers, yet allowing them to develop their individual strong points. For instance, Louis Armstrong's gift for improvisation was recognised as such by Marable, and he allowed him to improvise his breaks rather than play them note for note. Marable's band served as an early musical education for many other players who would later become prominent in jazz, including Red Allen, Baby Dodds, Johnny Dodds, Pops Foster, Erroll Garner, Narvin Kimball, Al Morgan, Jimmy Blanton, Elbert Pee Wee Claybrook, Joe Poston , and Zutty Singleton.
In 1916, Marable published the only original composition of his career, Barrell House Rag, co-written with Clarence Williams.[9]
A young George Russell, later the deviser of the Lydian Concept, grew up listening to Marable's music.[10]
Death
Fate Marable died of pneumonia in
Notes
- ^ Kenney, William Howland (2005). Jazz on the River. Chicago: University of Chicago. p. 40.
- ^ Kenney (2005), pp. 40–41.
- JSTOR 779421.
- ^ Kenney, (2005), pp. 40–42.
- ^ a b c Laurence Bergreen (1997). Louis Armstrong: An Extravagant Life. New York: Broadway Books. pp. 144–147.
- ^ Kenney (2005), p. 39.
- ^ a b Kenney (2005), p. 38.
- ISBN 9780679445517.
- ^ Kenney (2005), 43–44.
- ISBN 0-300-07193-0.
External links
- Fate Marable - Pittsburgh Music History Archived 2016-04-16 at the Wayback Machine