James "Rosy" McHargue (April 6, 1902 in

Danville, Illinois Danville is a city in Vermilion County, Illinois, United States, and its county seat. The populations was 29,204 as of the 2020 census. It is the principal city of the Danville micropolitan area. History The area that is now Danville was on ...

– June 8, 1999 in

Santa Monica Santa Monica (; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Santa Mónica'') is a city in Los Angeles County, California, Los Angeles County, situated along Santa Monica Bay on California's South Coast (California), South Coast. Santa Monica's 2020 United Sta ...

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

) was an American

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Its roots are in blues, ragtime, European harmony, African rhythmic rituals, spirituals, h ...

clarinetist, associated principally with the

Dixieland jazz Dixieland jazz, also referred to as traditional jazz, hot jazz, or simply Dixieland, is a style of jazz based on the music that developed in New Orleans at the start of the 20th century. The 1917 recordings by the Original Dixieland Jass Band ( ...

scene. McHargue worked professionally from age 15, with The Novelty Syncopators in 1917. His first recordings were with Roy Schoenbeck's Orchestra in 1922 on the track "Wow Wow Blues"; he also recorded early on with the Seattle Harmony Kings (1925),

Frankie Trumbauer Orie Frank Trumbauer (May 30, 1901 – June 11, 1956) was an American jazz saxophonist of the 1920s and 1930s. His main instrument was the C melody saxophone, a now-uncommon instrument between an alto and tenor saxophone in size and pitch. He al ...

(1931),

Ted Weems Wilfred Theodore Wemyes (September 26, 1901 – May 6, 1963), known professionally as Ted Weems, was an American bandleader and musician. Weems's work in music was recognized with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Biography Born in Pitcai ...

(1934), and

Jimmy McPartland James Dugald "Jimmy" McPartland (March 15, 1907 – March 13, 1991) was an American cornetist. He worked with Eddie Condon, Art Hodes, Gene Krupa, Benny Goodman, Jack Teagarden, and Tommy Dorsey, often leading his own bands. He was married ...

(1936). He was a member of The Wolverines shortly after

Bix Beiderbecke Leon Bismark "Bix" Beiderbecke ( ; March 10, 1903 – August 6, 1931) was an American jazz cornetist, pianist and composer. Beiderbecke was one of the most influential jazz soloists of the 1920s, a cornet player noted for an inventive lyrical a ...

's departure in 1925. His tenure with Weems lasted from 1934 to 1942. McHargue then moved to

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

, where he played with Eddie Miller,

Benny Goodman Benjamin David Goodman (May 30, 1909 – June 13, 1986) was an American clarinetist and bandleader, known as the "King of Swing". His orchestra did well commercially. From 1936 until the mid-1940s, Goodman led one of the most popular swing bi ...

Kay Kyser James Kern Kyser (June 18, 1905 – July 23, 1985), known as Kay Kyser, was an American bandleader and radio personality of the 1930s and 1940s. Early years Kyser was born in Rocky Mount, North Carolina, the son of pharmacists Emily Royster Kyser ...

(1943–46), and

Red Nichols Ernest Loring "Red" Nichols (May 8, 1905 – June 28, 1965) was an American jazz cornetist, composer, and jazz bandleader. He was one of the most prolific and influential jazz musicians in the late 1920s and early 1930s, appearing on over 4,000 ...

(1947-51). He later played with

Pee Wee Hunt Walter Gerhardt "Pee Wee" Hunt (May 10, 1907 – June 22, 1979) was an American jazz trombonist, vocalist, and bandleader. Hunt was born in Mount Healthy, Ohio. He developed a musical interest at an early age, as his mother, Sadie, played the b ...

and

Pete Daily Pete Daily (May 5, 1911 – August 23, 1986) was an American dixieland jazz cornetist and valve trombonist. Career Born Thaman Pierce Daily in Portland, Indiana, he started his career in 1930, playing with various bands in and around Chicago. I ...

, and recorded as a leader for

Jump JuMP is an algebraic modeling language and a collection of supporting packages for mathematical optimization embedded in the Julia programming language. JuMP is used by companies, government agencies, academic institutions, software projects ...

, Fairmont,

Audiophile An audiophile (from + ) is a person who is enthusiastic about high-fidelity sound reproduction. The audiophile seeks to achieve high sound quality in the audio reproduction of recorded music, typically in a quiet listening space in a room with ...

, and Protone in the 1940s and 1950s. In his old age, McHargue began singing and became extraordinarily active in the jazz preservation movement, working with historians in interviews and recalling the tunes and lyrics to many forgotten songs from the 1920s and earlier. He recorded again for

Stomp Off Stomp Off is an American jazz record company and label founded in 1980 by Bob Erdos in York, Pennsylvania. The label's first release was ''Feelin' Devilish'' by Waldo's Gutbucket Serenaders. It was described in 1986 as concentrating on "jazz in t ...

in 1992 and played jazz festivals into the late 1990s.

References

Scott Yanow Scott Yanow (born 1954) is an American jazz reviewer, historian, and author. Life and career Yanow was born in New York City and grew up near Los Angeles. Beginning in 1974, Yanow was a regular reviewer of many jazz styles and was the jazz e ...

, Rosy McHargueat

Allmusic AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Mus ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:McHargue, Rosy 1902 births 1999 deaths American jazz clarinetists American jazz singers Singers from Illinois 20th-century American singers The Wolverines (jazz band) members Island Records artists